Permanent Identification of our Cats

I have long had the stance that less is more. That we feel the need in general to up and up and up the ante. If clean is good then sanitary must be better - if sanitary is good then sterile must be better. Well now we know that all we are doing is predisposing our bodies to become sicker and more readily sick from this type of behavior. So this leads me to our cats, and permanent identification i.e. micro chipping.  I have long felt that not enough is known about how a cat's body will react. We know that certain vaccines have direct causative links to vaccine site sarcomas (cancer!) hence the very name! We know that the AAFP (American Association of Feline Practitioners) discourages all vets from even giving these suspect vaccines unless under very very limited and specific circumstances. So it has stood to reason - in my mind - that once again, less is more.

However I have recently been reading more and more about how effective micro-chipping is esp for cats. And even that  the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has maintained a database since 1996 with over 4 million animals having been chipped and only 391 total cases of adverse reactions being reported. Now some of those animals did grow tumors. And when these chips were in testing - some of the lab rats and mice also grew tumors. But one has to ask - how many is "some" and obviously 391 from 4 million is statistically insignificant. However we must also remember that all reporting of adverse reactions is entirely voluntary

And then one runs across this particular article - about a police K-9 who was euthanized due to lack of identification.

Police Dog Escapes, Then Gets Euthanized by the Humane Society

By Pete Kotz in Animal Cruelty, Police bungling

Monday, Nov. 30 2009 @ 7:04AM

14 comment(s)

The Humane Society whacked Felony the police dog after deeming it unsuitable for adoption

Felony, a police dog in Howard Lake, Minnesota, decided it would be a good idea to escape the working life. So the 10-year-old Labrador broke away from its kennel.

It was picked up by a stranger, who then handed it over to the dog catcher, who in turn left it with the Humane Society. Police called the dog catcher to see if Felony had been nabbed, but there was a mishap in communication; the dog catcher said no...

Felony, as it turns out, had no tags. The Humane Society couldn't locate an owner, and since it deemed Felony to be aggressive -- and thus unsuitable for adoption -- the dog was euthanized after the group's standard five-day waiting period. "
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So - given the fact that all of my dogs are micro chipped. And any dog who wished to obtain an OFA health certification for any reason such as hips - elbows, DNA etc MUST be permanently identified. It leads me to also wonder about all those breeders who DNA test their cats - for a variety of reasons (such as a multiple sire litter) and the animals being tested are NOT positively and permanently identified.  Now the average person on the whole is honest forthright and ethical. But we all know there are "those". So say I present a cat for sale to another breeder who is from parents x & y - who then goes on to produce - z. But z is a "statistical impossibility" according to the registering body. Now if those cats were all permanently identified then there would be no question. A strait forward DNA test would positively prove or disprove and no further room for doubt would exist.   Or what if I wanted to ship an animal abroad ? Or what happens if I am at a show and my cat should happen to get loose? Or what about me sending a cat to someone for breeding? Or someone sending a cat to me for breeding? Or any number of other situations that can and do occur?

I am beginning to see a need to protect my cats. And wondering just how big the risk really is?