A lot of Veterinary practices recently took our survey. We changed it up a little this year. Here are some of the key findings:
Do you know how much your microchip database of choice charges pet owners to update their details?
This one surprised me a little, given how many questions we’ve had on it from veterinary practices this year. 71% of respondents didn’t know how much their database of choice charges pet owners to keep their details up to date.
What else struck me was of the 29% who said they did know, just over half actually didn’t as they got the figure wrong in a later question.
If you don’t know how much a database charges your customers it’s worth checking. These charges are one of the main reason pet owners don’t update their microchip details.
How comfortable are you and your team with how microchip databases work in the UK?
This was pretty much as we expected and we experience. The vast majority of veterinary team members understand microchip databases and how to get pet owner details. We do have some useful sample policies and posters. You can request them by clicking HERE.
How do you register pet microchips for your customers within your practice?
Here’s a breakdown of how veterinary practices register microchips. This is pretty interesting. With MyPet you can register microchips in all of these ways unlike some databases. To find out more about our different registration methods check out our veterinary registration options page HERE.
Do you have any written documentation you share with customers on microchipping?
One of the things we’ve heard from some pet owners is that in the busyness of a vet visit, they sometimes forget the instructions a veterinary team member gives them on microchipping. We think some written materials can be useful. It looks like this is pretty well adopted already with 73% giving some written documentation to a pet owner.
We provide a card with every microchip which has links via QR code to our website. We also have a range of helpful items you can share in practice. Click HERE to request these.
Do you have a process in place if a lost pet is handed into your practice?
Nearly everyone has a lost pet process. Over half of the respondents had a written policy. We have a sample policy and a flow chart available. If you’d like to request this click HERE.
Do you check if a pet's microchip is working on annual vaccine appointments?
Do you check a pet's microchip is registered and their details are up to date when a new client joins your practice?
This is the 2 main occasions we suggest to scan for a pet’s microchip here’s why:
- Although it’s incredibly rare microchips do fail, so a check once a year is good thing just to be safe
- When a new pet moves to your practice it’s always good to check the microchip and to check their registration. We find quite a number of incorrect microchip registrations through these checks. (This is where a pet owner has been given the incorrect number and registered it)
We have a sample policy including this. Click HERE to have this emailed to you.
Conclusion
Here’s my couple of key conclusions and takeaways from the survey:
- The true cost of microchips is being better recognised. There's a growing understanding of how much it's costing pet owners to keep their details up to date.
- The understanding of how pet microchips databases work in the UK is consistently growing year over year. Click HERE if you want to understand this better.
- There hasn't been a huge change in how veterinary practices register microchips.
- Veterinary practices are providing more documentation to pet owners about microchipping.
- Over 50% of our respondents have a written policy for lost pets. This is a huge increase on what we expected, but more of our respondents this year were corporate owned practices.
- There are more checks happening on pet microchips. The more this happens the better!
More about MyPet
MyPet is the fastest-growing pet microchip supplier and database in the UK. Veterinary practices are choosing us because:
- High quality german made microchips
- It's always 100% free for pet owners to register, update and transfer MyPet Microchips
- Multiple easy to use registration methods for veterinary teams and pet owners
- The easiest to use microchip database rated over 4.9 out of 5.
- Customer service consistently delivering customer satisfaction scores above 95%
If this has you interested, click the button below to request no-obligation samples and pricing!
