Good info. I'm glad there was a happy ending in this case - often there is not. I'm am astounded on a daily basis at the number of dogs/cats locally who are reported missing on one or more of the local FB groups or people posting about an animal they found and checked but no have chip.

Very good to know! I see this all the time on FB and the rescues that I have coming up on my newsfeed. All the time, they will say the dog has a chip but no information and then sometimes the information is old and the phone numbers they give are disconnected. People really do need to make sure their chip information is up to date! The dogs often times end up at the pound or animal charity, wherever the people that find them decide to take them. If the chip is up to date, a simple phone call to the owner would get the dog back to his/her home quickly!

Thanks for the reminder and the link.

This is very good information. We recently found a darling little dog wandering around, and he was chipped, but as it turned out, the contact information was really out of date--the people had moved at least twice, and had not updated the information. The phone numbers did not work at all. Very fortunately, the photo that we posted on our neighborhood listserv was enough for someone to recognize this sweet little guy. So this story also had a happy ending, but I would urge you to be sure your contact information is up to date.

Thank you for the info.

Thank you for this reminder. I need to do this. Also, chips can stop working so having your vet scan the chip every so often might not be a bad idea. My previous dog's chip stopped working and we needed to have her re-chipped.

Great reminder! So many people fail to register their chips. All 5 of our cats have microchips and I have them scanned every time I go to the vet to make sure they're still working and so I can confirm location - sometimes the chips migrate to other places in the body, even the legs. When a cat or dog is found, the whole body should be scanned, not just the back of the neck.

Yes, so many great points here. Be sure your vet has the chip number, too, especially if they didn’t insert it. Our vet did Panda’s, but Blue had a chip from the rescue, and we needed to register it and get them the info.

So glad he made it back home. Lulu was chipped but there was no registration. The man who had her when she was surrendered to the shelter hadn't even checked her for a chip. The shelter and rescue say a search was done and exhausted, but I also know they didn't want that man to have her because he hadn't cared for her. I didn't want to take a chance on thinking she was mine and then have another owner show up, so I searched myself and verified that the microchip people couldn't trace any records. Sometimes they can trace to a vet or breeder who bought that chip, but even that can be a needle in a haystack.

When you register, you need to name your vet. PetLink is the network for reporting microchip numbers and they will release the vet's name, so the vet will be the person contacted. I was told they may not give out owner's contact info for security reasons, but I don't know if that would be the case if that is all they have. I just wouldn't want to take a chance and would want to make it as easy as possible for someone to find us. I put Lulu's microchip number on her collar tag (ex: MC123456789) hoping someone without a chip reader could figure that out. Hope we never have to test it.

lascatx, I've found many lost pets, only a few of which had chips. (Just this past Saturday I found two dogs roaming together at 9pm, and fortunately, one of them had a chip). Anyway, my heart always does a little leap when a chip shows up, but honestly, I've had soooo many problems connecting with the owners, that I've grown a little cynical. And you're right, in my experience, most chip companies will not release owner contact info to a person -but only to a shelter or vet. So sometimes when we're in that position, and our calls to the chip company result in "still no contact from owner," I've reached out to vets and/or shelters to have them call chip company and get the info. And often that works. I don't know whether the shelters/vet are just more diligent or what, but it's funny how that happens.

We've found pets with collars and tas, but none that didn't have a collar or tag that had a microchip so checking has been the end of the that trail for me. Lots of posters made. One of them turned into my foster failure. I found her at a gas station one night, took her home and then to the vet to check for a chip in the morning, paid for essential care she needed, then put her into the county shelter's adoption program which meant I paid a surrender fee because I'd had her for more than a few days. I continued to foster her and take her to adoption events - then paid the adoption fee to keep her when she was looked over. She was such a sweetie. But I'm glad this discussion came up. Our vet hadn't yet opened her new practice when Lulu was registered, so this was a good reminder to go and update her information.

lascatx, by now you probably realize that I spend way too much of time time worrying about, reuniting, and volunteering for stray pets.... you may not be far behind! Anyway, do you know that in shelters across the nation, the 'reunited with owners' statistic is about 20%? Isn't that just pitifully astounding? I can't tell you how many well-trained, healthy looking dogs I've walked as a volunteer -and nobody has come for them. When a dog looks less well-cared for, ins't well-socialized, etc., I'm not as surprised. Sadly, that element of society exists. But when I see a gorgeous German Shepherd, or lab, or something that looks like it has a good home, I'm just always so surprised.

Yes, and my sons have a bit of the gene too. My youngest is the reason we spent a month of the pandemic tracking a stray who started across the street one evening, in our yard the next day and was later recovered more than 10 miles and a number of very major streets away. He spotted and reunited at least two other dogs that summer.

I wonder about Lulu a lot. She had been shaved, but when she had enough fur to start brushing her, she seemed eager for it. She walked perfectly on a leash, even "heels" - a bit reluctantly but she can, plays fetch, is mild mannered and so affectionate. I can't imagine that anyone would willingly part with her or not be looking for her. By the way, Lulu continues to get fluffier. Poor thing doesn't have enough toys -- can you tell?

Lulu has the sweetest little face……

Thanks. I think so too. That is the first straight on face shot I have gotten of her that didn't look silly. Her coat has grown out past the shaved and past the awkward now.