Microchipping your pet is only the first step in helping to protect your pet should he ever become lost or stolen and helping to reunite him with you. A microchip alone is useless unless pet parents register the number with the manufacturer’s registry and we also recommend registering the number with a company that has the ability to search multiple registries.
Aztec uses Datamars microchips and their registry is found at www.petlink.net.
If you’ve never registered your pet’s microchip, aren’t sure you have or if someone else told you they would register it (for example, a shelter you may have adopted your pet from or a vet’s office) follow the steps below to make sure it has been registered correctly. If you have moved, changed your email address or phone number also follow the steps below. You should be regularly checking to make sure all information is correct, never assume it is.
1. Get Your Pet’s Microchip Number. If you don’t have it in your records you can call your vet’s office as they may have it in their records. You can also take your pet to the vet, a shelter or animal control and have him scanned. There should not be a charge to do this. Ask if they are using a “universal scanner” as not all microchips operate on the same frequency.
2. Get Your Pet’s Microchip TYPE/BRAND. Once you have the microchip number you can also view if the number has been registered, when the last time the contact information was updated and how to contact the registry to check/update your information by accessing the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Universal Pet Microchip Lookup site at www.petmicrochiplookup.org.
3. Check And Update Your Contact Information With The Registry. Call or go online to register or check/update your contact information.
NEVER, EVER ASSUME! In the course of writing this article I decided to personally check out how well the sites work that I am recommending to you by inputting a family member’s dogs’ microchip information. They got out their records that gave the microchip numbers for both their dogs, a mother and daughter adopted at the same time from a local shelter 5 years ago. They were under the understanding that the shelter had taken care of registering both microchip numbers. I used the AAHA Universal Pet Microchip Lookup site in #2 above. I was only able to find information for one of the numbers so I called the registry to find out more information. It turned out only one of the dogs was registered but under a previous owner. Talk about an eye opener! I took care of the problem immediately by correcting the information with the current company and then I registered both dogs with PetLink which is the company Aztec uses.
There can be fees involved to register with a recovery registry. If you microchip your pet through Aztec and register your chip number with PetLink the lifetime registration is free because they are the registry for Dropmars, the manufacturer of the microchips that Aztec uses. However, their lifetime fee for other brands is very reasonable. I only paid $20 per dog for a lifetime registry whereas the first company was asking $29.95 for the first year, $19.95 per year thereafter or $94.95 per lifetime registration.
Even if you are pretty certain
your contact information is up to date or nothing has recently changed it is still a good idea to periodically check to make sure everything is correct. A small price to pay for ensuring your pet can be reunited with you again should the worst happen.
