A Sussex company is taking to the road to promote identity microchip implantation for pets across the country.

Avid plc, of Sheffield Park, near Uckfield, helps to reunite owners with miss-ing pets, using the firm's established Pettrac system. In the last decade, Avid has implanted microchips into more than 500,000 pets in the UK, enabling animal wardens and vets to check the identity of lost animals delivered to their care.

The firm has now set up a programme of roadshows to demonstrate the latest devices and encourage more people to use the service.

Sales co-ordinator for AVID Denise Chaloner said: "The microchip technology has come a long way. When it was first used on horses back in the Eighties, the chips were the size of Smarties. Today, they are no larger than a grain of rice.

"There are many types of animals which can be chipped. We have implanted dogs, cats, bears, horses and even fish.

"We have been working with councils, animal charities and kennels to arrange promotional events and open days throughout the year, starting close to home in West Sussex in March."

Pettrac was one of the first animal chipping services to be developed and most systems in use today operate with similar technology. The Pettrac chip is a sterile transponder injected using equipment designed to meet human medical standards.

The chip has no batteries or moving parts to wear out and is designed not to need replacing during an animal's lifetime. A chip begins to emit a low-power radio signal when a special scanner is passed over it. The signal is a unique code registered against the owner's address and contact details.

Miss Chaloner said: "Once implanted an animal is oblivious to a chip's presence, as it rests in the soft tissue are between the shoulder blades, and activation has no effect on the animal whatsoever.

"However, some animal owners are concerned about the effect on their pets. They can be assured, in most cases the animal is completely unaware of the imp-lantation and their fears are unfounded. The advantages of microchipping will far outweigh any momentary discomfort."

The Avid team has recently developed technology to identify all types and makes of microchips, including those originating from Europe, North America and Asia.

Miss Chaloner said: "Owners have their animals chipped by the nearest service, usually the local vet.

"People and pets do not stay in the same place and being able to recognise all variants of animal microchips means we can help return more missing animals than ever before to their correct owners. We are the first company in the UK to have this technology.

"There was a case of a cat which had been chipped in North America and escaped on a flight to Bangkok.

"A chip reader was used to identify the animal was in the wrong continent and it was sent home."

Old Clayton Kennels and Cattery, Storrington Road, Washington, is holding an open day on March 17 where Avid will be offering discounted micro-chipping.

www.avidplc.com