Question for Pet Owners

pihlaja · Post by **pihlaja** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 2:14 am

For those of you who entered Finland with a pet after the new rules were put into effect (NOV 2004), what brand of microchip did you use?

I would especially like to hear from those who came from the U.S. I'm currently back home and it seems another Louisiana kitten has found me, and I'm debating strongly about bringing him back with me.

I'd like to know the brands you used, though, because it seems like it might be a bit difficult here to get a chip that meets the ISO standards here in the U.S.

Thanks in advance.

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mumboman · Post by **mumboman** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:33 pm

I came from Canada, the vet knew the specifications and had the information available for the chip. I would think the vet would have all the answers required. If your not sure all the information is available at
http://www.mmm.fi/english/veterinary/ just take what's needed to the vet and they will use the correct microchip

graham · Post by **graham** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:49 pm

Both my hounds were micro chipped in the UK as per regs.

One snag though is that the damn things can't be read here as the equipment is different, but be buggered if I could bring them over without chipping them first. What a total waste of time and money considering it became a pointless exercise!

Both UK and Finnish authorities accept and admitted to me that the whole thing was utter pants but well bloodt beurocracy again.

Personally I wouldn't chip your animal till you get here if you can get away with it and I know some people who have done this.

pihlaja · Post by **pihlaja** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:58 pm

graham wrote:Personally I wouldn't chip your animal till you get here if you can get away with it and I know some people who have done this.

I'd LIKE to do that, but the pessimist in me says that if I were to attempt that, it would be just my luck they check for the chip at customs.

Even though last time not a SINGLE soul acknowledged I had cats and there weren't even guys standing there at the customs booth!

I know sometimes I have too much heart, and my dear Finnish hubby thinks another cat would be too much, but to me, I have a soft spot for Louisianalaiset kissat.

I told hubby he should let this kitten come live with us because he survived both Hurricane Katrina and Rita and has so much sisu, he deserves to be in Finland.

Anyway, I plan on taking the ISO information to a vet here, but I have a feeling I might be going to SEVERAL vets before I find one intelligent enough to know what I need. My old home is located amongst rednecks, you know.

I just wanted to see what brands people used to know if they worked or not. On the Avid site, it states they DO make an Avid EuroChip or some such that is supposed to be up to EU standards, but I'm not sure if it really is or not.

emimi · Post by **emimi** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:07 pm

The most used microchip brands in the EU are DataMars and Indexel.

The standars are ISO 11784 and ISO 11785 (=the chip has to be one of these) or in case of another type of a chip you must have your own chip reader to be accepted.

Remember that the chip must be put before the latest rabies vaccination!

pihlaja · Post by **pihlaja** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:39 pm

emimi wrote:Remember that the chip must be put before the latest rabies vaccination!

Thanks for the clarification--I had been wondering if it should be put in BEFORE or at the same time. So, I guess if I decide to bring him back, I'll chip him and then wait a week or so and then have him get his rabies shot. Then there would be no question that the chip was in first. The Avid EuroChip complies with ISO 11785. So, if anything, I suppose I can ask my vet here to order that particular chip type for me if nothing else? The Finnish site said the chip must comply with ISO 11784, but I'm having a hard time finding information on a manufacturer here that complies with that (or at least states they do). So ISO 11785 would be sufficient?

Edit: It seems 24PetWatch runs on the 134.2 kHZ frequency ( http://www.americanhumane.org/site/Page ... _microchip ) like most European chips and is ISO compliant. I suppose that one could be a consideration, too.

pihlaja · Post by **pihlaja** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:57 pm

Note 2:

It seems I found a good site that explains all of this fairly well. A good source for anyone else who is a bit confused about all of this.

http://www.advancedidcorp.com/vet_faqs.html

emimi · Post by **emimi** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 11:19 am

I checked the chip standards from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry website (the Finnish version) so I guess these are correct. If you can't find a good chip, you can also have the dog tattooed. In adult animals it requieres sedation, but is still not a major operation.

The English version says:
2. Identification

The animal must be identified by a microchip or clearly readable tattoo. If the microchip does not comply with ISO Standard 11784 or Annex A to ISO Standard 11785, the importer must provide the means necessary for reading the microchip. As of 3 July 2011 only a microchip will be approved as identification. The animal must be identified before the rabies vaccination. The information on the identification of the animal must also be entered to the vaccination certificates and the result of the laboratory test

Väinämöinen · Post by **Väinämöinen** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 7:19 am

I brought a dog with an Avid chip from the States in June. I had no problems.

amayer · Post by **amayer** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:25 pm

Hi all:

Just got my pets chipped for my pending move from the US to Tampere in January; I have a great vet and they did a lot of sleuthing for me, so here are the results:

(they found this great website: http://www.pettravel.com, see especially http://www.pettravel.com/passports_pet_microchip.cfm)

In the US, the "Home Again" brand (manufactured by Destron Fearing Corp) is compliant with the newer EU-ISO standard. If you get the Avid microchip, MAKE SURE to get the "Eurochip" version. The vet also found out that most microchip companies will, for a deposit, loan out microchip readers for 30 days, so if you're in doubt and not a risk taker, you can bring a compatible reader with you.

The vet also noticed from the http://www.mmm.fi website that the animals all need to be de-wormed within 30 days of getting to the country (this is the Echinococcus treatment). Either it's 3 days of getting the animals to choke down a powder with their food, or one pill and then another 2 weeks later. Animals also need to be accompanied by an international veterinary certificate (since we don't have the EU "pet passport" thing), which is good for four months (but requires the microchip number, the rabies vaccination and de-worming dates).

With a cooperative/trusting vet, you can get away with two trips (they'll hopefully trust you to give the second deworming pill).

Of course, the above assumes that someone is actually there at customs to check all this.....

emimi · Post by **emimi** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:15 pm

There are many "single pill" dewormers that are good for the echinococcus certificate. The substance in these is praziquantel, in Europe e.g. Drontal, Cestal and Milbemax are often used brands. I'm 100% sure there are similar deworming pills also in the States (I checked: Drontal Plus is a prescription dewormer in the States, this is just perfect for the requiered treatment!)

Remember to have this form filled (seems to be a new thing, I guess it is an alternative when a pet passport is not available)
http://lomake.mmm.fi/ShowFile;jsessioni ... LUOKKA=592

amayer · Post by **amayer** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:40 pm

Thanks emimi... already had the form but I will forward my vet the single-dose info. Actually, I think a technician was telling me about the 3-day-powder vs. 2X pill, but the vet visit was a bit chaotic so it's kind of a blur.

I'm just wondering... has anyone here who's brought in pets from a non-EU country ever been stopped by customs (either in Finland or in another EU-country on the way to Finland) and had all these papers/microchips checked? Both times I've flown to Finland I've had a stopover in either Sweden or Germany, and I go through customs there... I've never seen a Finnish customs agent. I'm just wondering if it's going to be a wave of the hand as I dump all this stuff on the customs desk, or if they actually take some interest in it.

emimi · Post by **emimi** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:58 pm

Once when flying with a dog from Hugary to Finland (I've done that several times and this was the only time someone at least looked at the papers...) the customs lady came to pet the dog and checked his birthday (note: not the vaccinations etc) on the pet passport - and told her own dog was celebrating her 2nd birthday that day

There was a very well-published case in the spring when a puppy coming to Finland from Ukraine was sent back because of missing documents. So sometimes they do check.

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