For years, our Missouri Lost & Found Paws core team has been involved with countless efforts to research microchips for found pets. You might be asking, what is there to research? Let us explain!
When pets are found, one of the first things we encourage the finder to do is to have the pet scanned for a microchip using a universal scanner. Most people will naturally turn to a local shelter or veterinary clinic for assistance. Unfortunately, there are microchip scanners on the market which do not pick up all frequencies of microchips. Add the complexity of a competitive marketplace, there are countless manufacturers of microchips, many falling into different categories of frequency. As a result, it is imperative to ensure a universal scanner is used. Otherwise, a microchip WILL be missed, thereby leading a pet to never be reunited with its rightful owner.
Registered Microchips
When a pet is found to have a properly registered microchip with current contact information, the finder can reach the owner quickly and easily.
Incomplete Microchip Registration
The unhappy use cases include:
- registered but does not have up to date contact information.
- registered but the contact information is for the previous owner.
- registered to a shelter or rescue agency which is no longer in business.
- registered but the owner is not responding to attempts for communication.
- unregistered but can be traced to a veterinary clinic which placed the microchip.
- unregistered but can be traced to a low cost/spay neuter clinic which placed the microchip.
- unregistered but can be traced to a shelter or animal control facility.
- unregistered but can be traced to a shelter of animal control facility which is no longer in business.
- unregistered but can be traced to a veterinary clinic which is no longer in business.
We want to help!
Here is where our Missouri Lost & Found Paws team comes in! We use a number of public information sites to help trace down the owners. Often times, we are able to find the owner and educate them on the importance of getting the microchip updated. Sometimes, we are able to track down the owner only to find that the pet had been rehomed and the current owner information is unknown, which leads to the pet not being reunited.
How we can help
Our volunteers are fully committed to our mission at Missouri Lost & Found Paws. We believe every pet deserves the right to be reunited! We have provided this backend support for many years, and recently realized, we want to get the word out about how we can help! We have positioned dedicated volunteers to focus on tracing microchips. All data sources used for tracing ownership are based upon public access information.
Contact us today so our Microchip Investigator can help YOU return a pet back HOME:
- Include your name and contact information
- Microchip ID number
- Closest intersection found, as well as town
- If you have dropped the found pet off with someone, please provide the name and contact information for that person as well
Contact Us
You can reach us via email or via direct message on our Facebook page.