Microchip Registry ?

[hosspuller]

I’ve always micro chipped the dogs with “Home Again” I’ve recently learned there are other registries such as “microchipregistrationcenter.com”

I’ve a new puppy with an unregistered “Home Again” brand chip

As a test, I’ve tried some on line-chip look up sites with the old dog’s chip. His chip is registered at “Home Again”. Some sites don’t recognize the “Home Again” chip number or say the chip is unregistered. “petmicrochiplookup.org” merely says the chip is registered at “Home Again”. No owner info is displayed.

What sites do shelters and vets used for found animals? Are there regional preferences?

Any words of wisdom or experiences from the COTH brain trust?

[Horsegal984]

A lot of times I know who the company is by the number style of the chip. If I’m not sure I love Petmicrochiplookup.com because its quicker than calling the companies. However the most important thing is to make sure your chip is registered with the manufacturer. I would say 90+ percent of the time vets/shelters can get ahold of the right company but if that only leads them to the shelter/vet who implanted it many of them won’t do the extra leg work, assuming that clinic/shelter is even still open.

I prefer Home Again because they offer some extra benefits over Avid and 24PetWatch. Plus all of their chips are ISO so they’re good around the world and can be read by any chip scanner.

[Nicker]

When an animal is brought into our shelter, for any reason, the first thing we do is scan for a chip. If the dog scans positive we record the chip number and call the company it belongs to. Every once in a while we come across a chip that it’s not obvious which company it belongs to. When that happens we use petmicrochiplookup.org to see what company the chip is with. If that fails I call every microchip company I can find and hope someone has something to help! Even if it’s just the name of the vet/shelter the chip was sold to. Most keep records of the animal that the chip was implanted in and who the owner is. If I didn’t do that extra leg work I could face disciplinary action at my job. We don’t mess around with microchips! I have yet to find a website that will give you the owners information, that is something that we have always had to call the microchip company for.

It amazes me how many people truly don’t understand that they have to register their information with the company after the chip is implanted. It’s been so bad that our local humane society does the registration for the owner before the dog leaves the clinic. I’ve picked up the same dog multiple times and even though the owner has been adv’d to register, she has yet to and it’s been close to a year now.

[hosspuller]

Follow-up…

petmicrochiplookup.org and Petmicrochiplookup.com are the same site. They correctly identified the chip number as Homeagain registered

http://www.registermicrochip.com only seems to search their own registry. They say my Homeagain registered chip is unregistered.

https://www.petlink.net only searches their own registry. They give some misleading info on their site. example: they say if the chip starts with 985 call Homeagain. My Homeagain chip starts with 490

Thanks to all who have responded.

[Horsegal984]

Just a side note, if you need to call pet poison control Home Again will cover the cost of your call. If your registration has lapsed the ASPCA will connect you to HomeAgain to update your registration and then you can proceed. The $18 registration is cheaper than the $60 ASPCA poison control charge.