How Do I Register My Dog's Microchip

No thing how careful we are with our pets, there'south no question that some are built-in escape artists. And fifty-fifty the about docile pets aren't immune to the occasional wander.

According to statistics, 1 in 3 pets will go missing at some point in their lifetime. If you've ever felt that trauma start-hand or the simple thought of information technology fills you with dread, one thing is for certain: Yous know there's zip you wouldn't do to get a lost dog or true cat nestled safely back in your arms...fast.

Here'southward the good news: If your pet is microchipped, the fundamental to a speedy and successful reunion is already in place. Just in lodge to unlock its power, there'southward 1 more crucial step you lot need to have: annals your pet's microchip. It'south the single most important affair you lot tin can do to ensure your pet'southward safe render. Luckily, it'due south too the easiest!

And enquiry proves that this one elementary step is absolutely worth the few minutes it takes to consummate. According to a 2009 study of 7,700 lost pets, 52% of microchipped dogs and 39% of microchipped cats were successfully reunited with their families.

Unfortunately, of the chipped pets who did not make it home safely, the study revealed unregistered microchips or those with outdated data were the primary reasons.

Simple Microchip Registration

Co-ordinate to experts, an estimated 40% of microchipped pets are walking effectually with unregistered chips. That's like splurging on shiny new tags for your dog or true cat, just leaving them blank...If someone finds your lost pet, how volition they know how to contact yous?

While microchip registry sounds like a no-brainer, even the nearly responsible pet parents sometimes get derailed past pretty common scenarios. Such as:

Many shelters automatically microchip animals in their care. But brand new pet parents might non realize they demand to register the chip.
Some people confuse chip registration with needing to obtain a local license for their pet.
Even experienced pet parents sometimes forget to register a flake in the excitement of welcoming a new family member.
And what happens if you lot misplace your paperwork and can't effigy out how to update your registry or whether your pet was ever chipped to begin with?

No demand to worry...or to permit these unanswered questions keep you from reuniting with a lost pet i second longer than yous have to. In ii piece of cake steps, here's how to ensure your pet'due south microchip is properly registered, once and for all.

Step ane: Verify Your Pet's Microchip

If you're 1 of those organizationally-gifted people who can summon their pet's microchip number at a moment'south find, huzzah! You can proceed directly to Footstep two.

The rest of us may need a bit of assist. Luckily, you lot have enough of options:

Call your vet. Even if your files aren't the tidiest, if y'all've e'er shared your pet'due south microchip registry number with your vet, the office should have information technology on record. This is the option of get-go resort for many pet parents. It's convenient, fast, and free!

Contact your breeder, shelter or rescue. No matter where you got your pet, it's possible they came to you lot already microchipped. So don't hesitate to contact a breeder or shelter for your pet'due south microchip number...fifty-fifty if you're afraid it volition make you look like a bad pet parent. It'southward typically gratis, and it's much more than mutual than yous recollect.

Become your pet scanned. If y'all still tin can't confirm your pet's microchip number, it's time to bring them to a pro. Well-nigh veterinarians, animal shelters, and even animal control offices tin can scan your pet to run into if they take a microchip — ofttimes free of charge. Be sure to call ahead to confirm cost and brand sure they use a universal scanner, which reads all frequencies and so it's more than probable to detect any chip, regardless of manufacturer.

Step 2: Register Your Pet'south Microchip

In one case you lot've confirmed your microchip number, registering it is complimentary and takes no more than a few minutes. You can do it yourself on the 24PetWatch Pet Registry Portal or by calling ane-866-597-2424 to work directly with a Pet Registry Specialist.

That'south information technology! Once y'all're done, your pet'south unique microchip ID will forever be linked to the information you entered in the registry. Congrats on taking the about important footstep you can, to assist ensure your pet makes it home to you safely.

But what does that really mean? Tin you track your pet wherever they go like you can with some nutrient delivery services? Now that y'all've registered your pet's microchip, it's of import to understand exactly what they tin can — and can't — do.

How Do Microchip Registries Work?

Your pet'due south microchip is a tiny piece of technology — no larger than a grain of rice — that stores a unique ID number. Retrieve of it like a barcode, Microchip Scanner except that it resides safely and securely inside your pet's trunk just nether the surface of their pare, so it can never get lost.

In that location are many dissimilar microchip manufacturers, simply information technology doesn't matter who made the fleck within your pet. Some microchips operate on different frequencies, just a universal scanner tin read them all. Even then, the just thing a scan volition reveal is the microchip'south unique ID number.

That's why registering the chip is so important. When a lost pet is found and scanned, a shelter can quickly search that ID number in a database to find out where that pet is registered, then alert the registry that the pet has been found. If the microchip is registered properly, that registry then alerts the pet parent on file to arrange the happy reunion!

What microchips don't practise is track your pet's location 24/7 and so you can find them the minute they go missing. They as well don't store any private data. And they're all-time used in addition to — not instead of — standard pet ID tags.

How To Get The Almost Out Of Your Microchip Registry

Hopefully, by now, in that location's no uncertainty in your mind but how of import it is to properly register your pet's microchip. But when a pet is missing, you desire to make sure y'all have the best possible chance of reuniting with them.

Co-ordinate to Dana Rayman, Manager of the 24PetWatch Call Center, here's how to go even more than out of your microchip registry and improve your odds of a successful reunion.

Costless Microchip Registry

"When you register your microchip with 24PetWatch, you lot get free admission to the online portal and lost pet recovery services. That means when your pet goes missing, you can accept immediate action and get our Lost Pet Recovery Squad on the instance, instead of but worrying or hoping for the best," said Rayman.

Hither'due south how that works:

The minute you realize your pet is missing, yous can written report your lost pet at any time of the twenty-four hours or night.
The Lost Pet Recovery Team will then search for your pet's microchip ID in their nationwide database of found pets.

If they get a hit, they'll notify you using the contact information you included in your registry. (Even more than reason to brand sure that info is always updated!)

Pet Protection Services Membership

However, finding a lost pet is seldom elementary, and most pet parents want to practice everything in their ability to reunite with their lost pets equally chop-chop as possible. That's why 24PetWatch offers enhanced Pet Protection Services equally part of an Annual Membership ($29.95/twelvemonth) or Lifetime Membership ($94.95).

"A Pet Protection Membership is the equivalent of 911 for pet parents," says Rayman. "Instead of self-service reporting and updates if there's a hit in the database, you get instant, live admission to a Lost Pet Recovery Specialist who can not only expedite your search, but also provide boosted back up and ideas to help you go your pet back faster."

Here'south how that works:

Experienced Recovery Experts are on call 24 hours a day, vii days a week, 365 days a year, ready to speak with yous straight the infinitesimal y'all report your pet missing.
In addition to searching their database in real time, Recovery Experts also reach out to local facilities and shelters and so they tin be on the lookout for your pet.
They provide tried-and-true suggestions, similar placing your pet's bed outside your door to help them olfactory property their style dwelling house, and even help you create a custom Lost Pet poster.
Best of all, with DirectConnect, Recovery Experts accept the ability to instantly connect you directly with the facility or finder who has your pet the second they are plant to arrange a condom, happy reunion.

"The all-time function of working directly with our members is that there's no filibuster," said Rayman. "If we become a telephone call at 4:00 AM proverb someone found your pet, you can bet we're waking you up to give you the practiced news."

"Membership also gives y'all unlimited updates to your registry data, so information technology's easy to keep it up to date. And y'all tin can even add trusted friends and family as contacts. That's key if nosotros can't attain you or if your number has changed; We'll call your secondary contacts until we find someone who tin get your pet right away."

Lifetime Pet Protection Membership offers a range of additional benefits, including a $25 PetCo coupon, sectional discounts, and year-long admission to a 24/vii Vet Hotline and 24PetMedAlert^®.

But the biggest benefit of registering with 24PetWatch is the extensive network of shelters and facilities that work with the visitor every bit a long-standing leader in the field of lost pet recovery. Thanks to that partnership, over 90% of pets adopted from shelters are already chipped and registered to their pet parents through 24PetWatch, said Rayman.

"On average, nosotros're reuniting betwixt three,000-iv,000 pets with their parents each month...most of them through DirectConnect. And there's nothing similar hearing the relief in someone's voice when they know nosotros're nearly to connect them to someone who has their pet, safe and sound."

Click for more than information on registering your microchip or Pet Protection Service Membership, or call a 24PetWatch representative at 1-866-597-2424.

Karen Vitale is a long-fourth dimension writer, creator and animal lover whose work has been featured everywhere from Disney Studios to The Smithsonian Institutions.