Microchips and Birds

Why Microchip Your Bird?

A microchip provides a permanent, unique identification for your bird. This provides proof of ownership in the sad eventuality that your bird is stolen, enabling the police to return your bird. A microchip also helps if your bird is lost and later found by a member of the public. All vets have scanners that can search for a microchip in any stray bird. A microchip may also be a legal requirement for certain birds eg. Green Wing Macaws to conform to CITES (Control in Traffic of Endangered Species) laws.

How does a Microchip Work?

The microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is enclosed in a glass case. When a scanner is passed over the microchip, the scanner can read the unique 15-digit long number (eg. 762034674832845). This number can then be given to the database holder eg. Petlog and Petrac who store your details allowing you to be contacted. The microchip should stay in the same place and has been designed to cause no reaction to the bird.

How is the microchip implanted

As the microchip is relatively large compared to the size of a bird and to avoid upsetting the bird, the microchip is always implanted under anaesthetic. This also ensures the safety of the vet and nurse holding the bird. A very short anaesthetic ( 1 to 2 minutes) is all that is needed and we use a gas called isoflurane. This is the safest anesthetic available and has been used many times in complete safety but we cannot guarantee 100% safety. We do feel that the benefits do outweigh the risks and a microchip is highly recommended in any healthy parrot.

Please contact us at the surgery if you would like more information or to book an appointment.