Reading between the lines of the FAQ on the site of HomeAgain, the company that supplied the RFID microchip implanted between Oscar’s shoulders, I am led to believe that the US took a market approach, as is typical here, with two incompatible pet identification chip systems, and eventually developed “universal” scanners after several years of fighting. The *rest of the world*, in contrast, got a later start but standardized from the get-go on an International Standards Organization specification for all chips. And of course the universal ISO chip, used in a bunch of countries, is not compatible with the AVID and HomeAgain chips used in the US and Canada, and of course our scanners, even the newest ones, can’t reliably read the ISO chips.
It’s the same story over and over again. Electricity, TV broadcast, cell phone systems, and on and on.
Though most people don’t routinely bring their pets to other countries, but they do commonly bring electrical devices. Yeah, it happens, but I think that all the paperwork, quarantines and such will be bigger issues.
But if Oscar does wander off and end up in Europe, I’ll be on the lookout and will make sure he is wrung out, dried off and returned as soon as possible.