Does anyone know the side-effects of a microchip in a dog?

[ksacres]

Long term studies are finding a corelation between microchipping and localized tumors. I will never chip any of my animals voluntarily.

But Corgis and Duschunds often have spinal issues due to their elongated torsos. They even make little wheelchair thingies for them b/c it usually leads to hind leg paralysis.

 

[ksacres]

Here's a link to a site that sells them.

http://www.k9carts.com/

 

[nccatnip]

I agree with the others, i doubt it is a chip issue. How about a dog chiropractor or someone that does reiki if you have exhausted all avenues with your vet. How about have a tick borne blood panel run?

 

[CovenantCreek]

Thanks for all your responses. We don't have any "major" medical facilities nearby, so to get an MRI or CT scan would require a long drive out to Knoxville -- not exactly something I can easily do. I guess I'll call the chiropractor/vet and see what he can do since the the acupuncturist/vet didn't help much for all the pain his treatment caused (joint injections rather than acupuncture).

 

[snugglepup]

A regular xray may be able to show a narrowing of the disk space without having to do anything fancy. Any vet with an xray machine should be able to help.

A myelogram is a contrast study, meaning they inject a dye that shows up on xray picutres into the space around his spinal cord. It does require knowlege of the technique and skill but no special machines like a CT or MRI would.

I'd at least get some good xray views of his spine. 3 yrs old is waaay too young to be permanently disabled. It would be worth doing the diagnostics. At his age, even if he has some disk disease it would probably be fixable. But the longer he goes with damage to his spine the less chance he'll be able to regain full function.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Like ksacres says, there is a proven increased cancer risk to microchipping. So there ARE side-effects, but I doubt that your concern is caused by microchipping.

 

[CovenantCreek]

Thanks for your continued interest and concern. I just talked to the vet this afternoon. He suggested either taking Chance to a surgical specialist (who would probably do a myelogram), or going ahead and scheduling a CT scan (I was wrong, there is a facility in Nashville). His preference was to go ahead and do the CT scan since it would provide the most information and would be useful if surgery were recommended.

I asked him about seeing a chiropractor, but he didn't know there was one in town and couldn't say whether it would do any good or not. Right now, my wallet is doing most of the thinking -- chiropractor, $95, CT scan, $700... I am leaning toward calling the chiropractor first to rule in or out any possible "simple" solution. We've had x-rays done, mostly to see his hips, but in both cases his spine was quite visible and all the disc spaces looked normal. There was a mild abnormality in his hips, but it hadn't changed in the year between the two. There haven't been any injuries that I can remember, but he loved chasing the horses and may have twisted something just wrong.

 

[hollyclyff]

A Dachshund showing symptoms like you describe would likely be automatically assumed to have disc disease. It may not be the case, but it's so common that it would be the first thing the vet assumes. X-rays are not very helpful in most cases of intervertebral disc disease. They can show calcifications, but calcifications don't always equal a problem. And there can be problems without calcifications. Only a myelogram can show for sure and they are not without risks. If you can't do anything else, you might want to try what we would do for a Dachshund with rear end paralysis for whom surgery is not a viable option. We would put the dog on steroids for a little while, possibly muscle relaxants, and also strict crate rest for about 6 weeks. That means only carrying the dog out for potty breaks and nothing else. Often crate rest alone can result in improvement. It is not so much the long back that is the problem as it is the dwarfism. Even achondroplastic people are prone to disc disease. It has to do with the makeup of the cartilage itself.

I have been very fortunate in that I've had Dachshunds my whole life, but just one with disc problems. He was treated as described above and made a full recovery. I supplemented him with Cosequin the rest of his life and he never had any further trouble. We never had any tests run on him. The vet simply went on the symptoms and his breed and prescribed treatment. Since it's a noninvasive treatment, it really can't do much harm other than delaying possible treatment for something else. And the cost is very little. I would mention it to the vet and see what they say.

 

[snugglepup]

I agree with hollycliff. I'd treat it as if I assumed spinal injury, if only to prevent further injury. If it's something else, crate rest won't hurt. And if it's disk disease too much activity could result in disaster.

Keep us posted!!

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck with the dog. As with any medical implanted device, which the chip would be (and glucose sensors, bone plates, screws, prosthetics), there will be side effects that are related to damaged tissue and the foreign body response. Generally, an implanted material will be encapsulated by the body as it does not recognize it as "self", which can be expressed as a "tumor" which is just a fibrous capsule will be hard and near the site of implant.

As for causing a real cancer, not too sure about that one if the microchip that was implanted was made of an appropriate bio material that was correctly manufactured. If not done right, or without controls... it is possible leachables from plasticisers or coatings on the device could cause problems, but here I am assuming implantable devices are under the same regulations for animals as they are for humans... could be wrong on that though.