Microchipping, at your kitchen table
A microchip is a two-second procedure attached to twenty minutes of travel stress, unless the vet comes to you. Here's how home microchipping works, what it costs, and the registration step people get wrong.
Updated August 2026
The procedure
The chip, rice-grain sized, is injected under the skin between the shoulder blades. It takes seconds, stings about as much as a vaccination, and needs no anaesthetic. At home it's usually done mid-treat and barely noticed. The vet scans it immediately to confirm it reads, and again at any later visit.
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What it costs at home
The chip and implant typically run $50 to $90 on top of the visit fee, and chipping is exactly the kind of job worth bundling with a vaccination or health check so the call-out earns its keep. Multi-pet households: chip everyone in one visit; the per-pet cost drops the same way consults do.
Registration is the part that actually matters
A chip is only a number; the registry entry is what brings a lost pet home. Microchipping is legally required in most Australian states and territories (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, and the ACT among them, with breeder/point-of-sale rules varying), and the implanting vet lodges the initial registration. Your job is keeping the contact details current: moved house, new phone, rehomed pet all mean updating the registry (free on the major Australian registries, done online in minutes). The commonest microchip failure isn't the chip: it's a chip pointing at a number disconnected years ago.
Common questions
My pet is chipped but I don't know the details. Can the vet check?
Yes, any home visit can include a scan, and the vet can tell you which registry the number sits on so you can check the contact details are yours.
Do chips ever fail or move?
Rarely fail; occasionally migrate a little under the skin, which is harmless. Scanning covers the shoulder region for exactly that reason. A scan at annual visits confirms all is well.
Is a chip a GPS tracker?
No, it's a passive ID number readable by a scanner. It can't locate a pet; it identifies one who has been found.
Bundle it with the annual jab
Chip + vaccination + check in one home visit is the efficient version. Ask a home visit vet for the bundled price.