Every microchip has an original manufacturer and the best practice is to keep your information up to date with them (address, phone number, emails, backup contacts, etc). Some common brands in the United States for these companies are HomeAgain, 24PetWatch, PetLink, IDTag, and AKC Reunite. After your initial registration with the manufacturer, you CAN register it with other companies, but that doesn’t update info on the original registration or anywhere else… only with the new company. So the best policy is to keep your info current with the manufacturer registration.
WITH THAT BEING SAID: The microchip company Save This Life has unexpectedly gone out of business and they have unlinked their database with national registries. One of the most well known registries can be found on AAHA.org, where you can enter a chip number at: https://www.aaha.org/for-veterinary…/microchip-search/ and it will tell you what companies the chip is registered with and who the chip manufacturer may be. Most organizations who find pets plug the number into these registries that return all the information rather than going to the website for every manufacturer and seeing if the chip belongs to them. So, if a STL chip is entered into AAHA it will now show unregistered and/or you won’t be able to update a pet as lost/found or get info from STL about the pet to get it home. There is NO WAY for a finder to contact you about your lost pet. If your pet was chipped with a Save This Life chip you MUST now reregister the chip with another company in order for it to show up in the national microchip registries. The photo attached shows a few well established companies you can re-register with. Please do so immediately to protect your pet in the event the worst happens and they escape.
