i voted other. my rabbits are strictly indoors, so i don’t feel the need to have it done. i think that if your rabbits are *ever* allowed outside, xpen/run/leash, i’d definitely have it done. without a question. bunnies can surpass even the best supervision.

I voted no – I will never take my rabbit outside so I don’t think it’s necessary. 

Pepper came chipped

I agree with Beka and Knowltons – mine are NEVER allowed outside.

Did Pepper come from a shelter? I think that’s wonderful she came that way.

While I have occasionally taken my buns out into the back yard – on harnesses – The whole micro chip thing is just a little to Big Brother for me.
I fear people will start doing it to their kids.

to be honest i didnt know bunnies could be chipped, both my dogs are chipped but at almost £150 ($300) to get each one done is very expensive and frankly i cant afford it and even if i could i dont think i would seeing as they never go outside unless strictly supervised and i doubt if they got found they would be checked for a chip anyway.. so no its to expensive and just not worth it!

really? 300 bucks? i saw a sign at the local petstore/groomer that they do it for, i think, 20 or 30 bucks.

no its really expensive here because you have to put loads of data on this computer system like tests to say they have no diseases and are up to date with shots and everything and u have to fill out paperwork, it is actually less for the chip itself you have to pay for rather than an hour of a vets time and the paper trail etc. really annoying but so worth it for dogs and cats.

You know I have to agree with kimberlyanddarren too that I wonder if shelters would even check for chips in rabbits…I doubt rabbit rescues even have the scanner to check for chips in rabbits either. But that’s just where I live.

yes its true, unless it was a rabbit shelter specific for rabbits who may have a chance to think of checking for a chip a regular shelter would never expect a rabbit to be chipped they probably woudnt even advertise it as found.

I think Osprey said they chip their buns at the Rabbit Haven? Or they had talked about it? Hopefully he chimes in on this one.

Our scanner at the shelter can fit a bun but I have never seen a bun around here chipped. I know at our shelter no one would even think of checking them to see if they are chipped. And to be honest, if they did get “lost” outside there are slim chances they would survive long enough to recover them and check for a chip.

Two of the shelters that we pull from (Scotts Valley and Watsonville shelters) microchip all bunnies after they are spayed/neutered.  We do not chip our bunnies at The Haven.  According to our rabbit advocate at the Watsonville shelter, they routinely scan for microchips only if a rabbit comes in that is already spayed/neutered.  I asked the people at the Palo Alto shelter (this is my local shelter) and they said that all incoming stray animals are scanned for chips, but that may depend on who is on duty at that time.

In terms of price, doing at my vet would cost somewhere in the $50 range for the chip, inserting it and registering it.  The Palo Alto shelter does it for around $35 and the Watsonville shelter will do it for around $20.

This is BB in Admin mode! But I saw this and just had to say something about it. I definitely plan on chipping them. Even though they are indoors, if an emergency ever happened (earthquake or ??) and they escaped out of the rubble, I’d want to be able to know if they were found (dead or alive)

I even think of fires, where you just grab everyone and go, and you may not have time to get the carrier, but just get the animal out. Hopefully though you could hold on to them, but just in case…

There have also been incidents where people have had the home robbed and their pets were taken. Then sometimes, later the pets were given away or sold.  Even if there is the slightest chance my pet could get back to me if they were scanned somewhere, or ended up becoming stray, I’d want to know.

If there is any chance your animal could also escape out of an accidentally left open door…

Just unforseen incidents.

It’s not that expensive around here either.  It is true that many shelters don’t think about checking rabbits for microchips, but that is because it is still new to do so.  I think that will become more common – it is around here at many of the Bay Area shelters already. 

you really know how to scare the cr@p out of a person BB…

i’m suddenly completely rethinking everything i just said…

Sorry Beka. Maybe it’s living in earthquake country where emergency preparation for humans and pets is common.  We’re also dealing with a fires all around so that is in the forefront of my mind too.

Also after volunteering at rabbit rescues for so long, and working at animal shelters before, (during my college summer days) I have dealt first hand with seeing what happens – the heartbreaking stories AND amazing happy-ending of people looking for their animals after some hard-knocks – robbery, domestic issues, house fires,etc,etc. And  now I can see how a microchip can  really  help with happy endings!

I also remember how frustrating it would be to have an animal be microchipped, but the owners didn’t keep up with the new addresses. So, if anyone does get their animals microchipped, it’s so important to keep contact information updated.

So, of course, I don’t want to freak people out -I just know that it’s always “hind-sight” that bites us hard. Though those things will most likely never happen, it’s those kinds of things “IF” they do, you wish you would have…

EDITED TO ADD:  Someone had mentioned that if their rabbit did get out, they weren’t sure how long their bunny would survive, but shelters are filled with strays, so many do survive at least long enough to be rescued – and many times it can be rather long time, where an owner looked for them and then gave up, but later the bunny was found – a microchip sure would come in handy too in that case.  

California is always ahead on these things before the rest of the country too.

I’m afraid our shelters wouldn’t even think to microchip a rabbit but I could be wrong. Hopefully they would scan them in the event of a disaster though.

Just one thing to remember with a chip – your pet can’t have an MRI with a chip in. Granted, the need for a bunny to ever have an MRI is slim, but just something to keep in mind.