Royal Oak, MI Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Royal Oak's general dog-licensing chapter, §§ 195-10 through 195-13, ties a license to a rabies-vaccination certificate and a metal tag, but contains no citywide microchip mandate. Microchipping only appears once a dog has already been through the § 195-24 dangerous-dog classification process: § 195-25(4) requires the owner of a dog classified as dangerous to have an identification number tattooed on the animal or a microchip injected under its skin, at the owner's own option and expense, performed by or under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian; if a tattoo is chosen instead, it must go on the upper inner left rear thigh in indelible or permanent ink.

Notably, § 195-26, which lists the requirements for a merely 'potentially dangerous' dog, one step below fully dangerous, does not include this tattoo-or-microchip requirement at all, so the obligation applies only to the more serious classification. Article VI's parallel regime for nondomestic animals uses identical language: § 195-43B(2)(d) requires the owner of a dangerous or potentially dangerous nondomestic animal, such as a big cat, wolf-dog crossbreed, primate or venomous reptile kept under the licensed exception in § 195-40B(1), to choose a tattoo or a veterinarian-implanted microchip at the owner's expense.

Because the choice between tattoo and microchip is the owner's, an owner cannot be cited under either section for choosing a tattoo over a chip, but failing to do either once classified as dangerous is itself a compliance failure that can lead to confiscation.