BadgerNaboo

Been here a week now and I have tried to find out as much as possible but it's still not too clear.

Will our dogs microchips be able to be read in the US?

One of them is chipped with Virbac and I'm not sure of the other.

While on the topic of dogs that move from the UK to the US anything else I should know?

Thank you

BadgerNaboo

Also what is the closest thing to the Pedigree Dental sticks as they will not eat Greenies..

dunroving

As far as I know, UK chips should work in the US.

If you haven't already done so, make sure your dogs have had rabies vaccinations and are on heartworm preventive. If you haven't done the latter, the vet will require them to be tested negative for heartworm forst (because giving heartworm preventive to a dog that has heartworm is bad for them).

Dogs in the US tend to be more badly behaved (or have worse owners) than in the UK so be careful when meeting other dogs in public.

Depending on where you live, if your dogs are outside for any length of time, be sure they have access to plenty of water. My dog would empty her water bowl in a day (and it would evaporate more quickly than in the UK).

That's all I can think of for now.

Have you taken your dogs to a US vet yet?

Thydney

It's been a while but as I recall if the chip is suitable for international travel then they should read ok

1chumly

Where are you in the US?

You can get Pedigree Dentastix here. I get them at Petsmart.

Please take note of what Dunroving said about Heartworms. That is very important wherever you live. Heartworms are nasty, nasty things. If you don't give them the tablets and your dogs should get them (and most likely would if you live in the south), the treatment will be very expensive and can be life-threatening in itself so 'an ounce' of prevention etc. Not trying to scare you, its just a fact and can be so easily prevented.

BadgerNaboo

Hi

We are in San Francisco wish the vet had said something about heart worm when they had their fit to fly check.

I think Badgers wormer covers her but I'm not sure Drontal does.

Do they sell the wormers at Petsmart?

BadgerNaboo

Is there anywhere I can get the wormer without vet prescription I really want to get them done today if I can find anywhere.

Nutmegger

It isn't a "wormer" in the conventional sense that a dog gets a worm in the intestinal tract and gets "wormed." The heartworm originates from mosquito bites and eats into the heart muscle. Before a vet will put the dog onto a heartworm medication, a blood test must be given to ensure that the animal doesn't already have heartworms present. Then the dog takes a monthly chewable medication to prevent heartworm disease. You need to talk to your vet about this.

BadgerNaboo

I have found a vet not to far on public transport so will try to get an appointment 1st thing tomorrow

Weeze

Hiya
Yep, heartworm treatment asap. Was about $230 for our health check, heart worm blood tests, kennel cough and 6 months heartworm treatment.
It depends on which scanners the vets are using as to if they can find a UK microchip. Our vets have machines which can read US and UK microchips but not all do. When we got our new tag for Sam's collar we put on it that he had a UK microchip. We were warned that not all the dog catchers have scanners that can read both so we put that on the tag to make sure if anything happened, they knew he had one.
You should carry the rabies certificate with you as well when you are out with your dog. It's really the only way you can prove that if anything happens, yours is rabies free.
Google bark parks in your area if you haven't already. They are dog friendly parks where the dogs can play off their leads. Some around here are great with big lakes they can swim in. The lakes are all treated with antibacterial stuff and are safe to swim in with no snakes/gators.

Nutmegger

Most vets give out a numbered tag for the collar that shows that the dog is registered as having an up-do-date rabies vaccination and which can be checked in case of emergency.

Weeze

I'll definately look into this. Thanks

Maggs

When I first arrived here in 2003 the vets scanner couldn't read my dogs microchip, nor my cats microchip in 2004. Fast forward to this year and we tried it again and their new scanners can read the chip number on the dog and the cat. So we have recorded the numbers in their files at the vets. The numbers aren't associated with any national database like it would have been when the chips were put in back in the UK or like our younger dog that was microchipped here in the US.

Maggie

BadgerNaboo

So if you dog / cat was lost or stolen how would the info be read if it was not on a data base?

Thanks

Hellopaul

Yes (to the microchip). Our dog was chipped in Europe, was readable in England and in USA. I think the microchip is the Avid system.

You can get Pedigree Dentastix cheaper online - I recently got a load of them from a supplier through Amazon. I can't remember who the supplier was - they mainly sell DIY stuff like drills.