ArcaMax

Microchipping saves lives. This is an accepted fact among those in the veterinary and animal welfare community. However, some microchip companies may now be compromising a system that's reunited countless numbers of pets and their owners.

A small chip (approximately the size of a grain of rice) is injected into the pet. If a pet is lost, a universal scanner can "read" the data on the chip (no matter which company originally sold the chip), ideally providing current contact information for the family of the pet, or at least identifying the chip provider.

The handful of established microchip providers have always made it easy for shelters, vets and pet owners to contact them; they can reach out online and typically dial a 24/7 "hotline" phone number. Once reached, the company may have information that can help locate a lost pet.

Until recent years, each microchip company had a distinct company ID prefix number. Today, however, there are at least six microchip companies with the same 900 company ID prefix number, making them nearly impossible to distinguish from one another. These companies appear to play by their own rules, rather than by industry standards.

Increasingly, animal shelter officials are voicing their frustration, even outrage over these 900-only chip businesses because they mislead consumers and reduce the chance that lost pets will be returned.

"I can't figure these companies out; how they're even allowed to operate this way," says Abby Smith, executive director of Felines and Canines, a Chicago, IL animal shelter.

The established microchip providers have dedicated ID numbers associated with their individual companies. For example, if scanned, PetLink chips read, 981; HomeAgain chips read, 985, etc. These numbers are used to look up contact information for a pet's owner.

With the 900-only chips, the number on any individual chip could be associated with any number of companies.

"Animal shelters don't have the time to sit on the phone and try five or six or more companies (when there's a 900-only prefix code). We don't even know for sure who all these companies are," Smith says.

Meghan Conti, Virginia Beach, VA Animal Enforcement Officer adds, "We've called these companies when lost pets have a 900-only chip prefix number -- if there's a phone number to even call. Of course, we leave a message, and to date, not ever a single phone call back. We sure don't get pets back to owners this way. Who are these people?"

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