UK Dog Microchip Databases

[maz]

I was surprised recently to discover that there are 22 government-listed dog microchip databases in the UK. This seems an excessive number so I thought I'd have a little delve into the subject.

Get your dog or cat microchipped

The databases listed on the UK government website are described as 'compliant' rather than 'authorised'. This compliance is self-assessed, and doesn't seem to be actually checked by any statutory authority. Apparently from time to time the odd non-compliant database also appears on search engine lists. In fact I think I found one this morning - Safe Chip database is not listed as compliant so I would be wary of that one.

Safe Chip

The onus is on you as an owner to ensure your dog is registered on a compliant database, and you can be fined up to £500 if your dog is registered on a non-compliant database.

In April 2016, when the Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015 came into force, there were 4 compliant databases. By March 2022 there were 17; currently there are 22. Presumably there is easy money to be made from microchip databases. Interestingly, in Scotland only 13 of these 22 databases is government approved.

A website called Check-a-chip allows you to check which database a particular microchip is registered on. However it is not able to access that database's information directly; you have to contact the relevant database to determine owner details. This is known to cause administrative problems for vets, animal welfare charities and local authorities as they attempt to trace animals.

Check-a-chip

I'm not sure that the Check-a-chip site is particularly useful anyway as the compliant databases all seem to search their rival databases and report which one a particular microchip is registered to. Having said that, this morning I discovered that two of the compliant databases, PetChipRegister and ProtectedPet, were unable to trace my dog's microchip - a technical glitch?

In September 2021, the government's Pet Theft Taskforce reported several recommendations to combat increasing levels of pet abduction. These included a recommendation for 'a single point of access to microchipping databases'. As a result of this report DEFRA launched a consultation in March 2022 to seek views on improvements to the pet microchipping system.

DEFRA Consultation on dog and cat microchipping legislation in England

The consultation closed on 20 May 2022 and a summary of responses was supposed to be published on the DEFRA website. However well over a year later there is still just a note saying 'We are analysing your feedback. Visit this page again soon to download the outcome to this public feedback'.

Where there is supposed to be a summary of responses

In the absence of this summary of responses I have trawled through a number of veterinary and animal welfare websites. The overwhelming consensus of opinion is that there should be a single point of access to all databases.

In February 2023 the Association of Microchip Database Operators (AMDO) was launched - a trade association to represent its members interests. So far 8 out of the 22 compliant databases have joined this association.

Association of Microchip Database Operators

On 17 April 2023 there was a debate in the House of Commons on the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023. Most of this debate focussed on the introduction of cat microchipping into the new regulations, however Rebecca Pow (Under Secretary of State at DEFRA) managed to include the following statement:

Source: Broken Link Removed

On 16 May 2023 the existing Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015 was revoked and the replacement Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023 came into force.

Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023

The regulations which deal with databases and their operators are sections 6, 7 and 8; these are exact copies of sections 5, 6 and 7 in the old regulations. There is nothing in these new regulations that requires a single point of access to all databases - for this to happen an amendment to the regulations will need to be implemented. So far there is no sign of an amendment .......

My dog was microchipped way back in 2011 and registered on Petlog. I can't now remember how this came about but back then there were probably very few databases anyway.

So I'm interested to know which UK databases Funster's dogs are registered on. Did you choose this database yourself or did the vet who implanted the microchip decide for you?

 

[poki]

All our dogs were with pet log, including the 1 we have now ..it depends which the breeders choose .

Silvia

 

[Googlebot]

Wow, I never even knew.

I couldn’t even tell you which database ours are on.

Seems very poorly thought out legislation.

 

[DBK]

It's a dog's dinner. A complete mess. Unlike say checking a car registration number there is no single portal which you can use to check a microchip.

 

[maz]

Wow, I never even knew.

I couldn’t even tell you which database ours are on.

Seems very poorly thought out legislation.

If you put your dog's microchip number into the search engine on Check-a-chip it will give you the name of the database your dog is registered on.

UK Pet MicroChip Search | check-a-chip.co.uk | Identify The UK Pet MicroChip Database A MicroChip Might Be Registered With

This website is a means to try and identify which UK pet MicroChip Database a MicroChip might be registered with, according to the format of the MicroChip numbers

www.check-a-chip.co.uk

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[golly]

ours is with PetTrac, she has 2 chips as the vet picked her up from the litter twice Just checked and she is on their data base,

 

[maz]

ours is with PetTrac, she has 2 chips as the vet picked her up from the litter twice Just checked and she is on their data base,

Does that cause any problems with Pet Passports or AHCs?

 

[golly]

Does that cause any problems with Pet Passports or AHCs?

Never had her abroad, but the vet said it shouldnt be a problem, I registered both numbers to me so whichever chip is read it will come back to me. I only found out when I took her for her check when we first got her, I went back to the breeder and said " what is going on" as I thought there was something not right, but I also checked with the vet who chipped her to make sure all was "kosher". I can imagine there may well be problems with AHCs etc but she won't be going abroad anyway.

 

[rb62]

Thanks for that,I have now found out that ours is with PetLog which must have been the one the vets was using at the time.

 

[Guigsy]

Please remember that if you move, you need to update the address the pet is registered to. I've adopted several cats over the years that have had a chip, but the owner couldn't be traced.

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[ctc]

Our rescue dog has 2 chips, one put in by the original owners and one by us. We finally contacted the original owners who did not want her back, during the search we were told these companies did not communicate with each other unless forced to, and were mostly un cooperative.

 

[Guigsy]

Our rescue dog has 2 chips, one put in by the original owners and one by us. We finally contacted the original owners who did not want her back, during the search we were told these companies did not communicate with each other unless forced to, and were mostly un cooperative.

We've always just had the chip details associated with us.

 

[Zigisla]

Does that cause any problems with Pet Passports or AHCs?

One of our dogs had two chips. The first one read by the vet was put on her pet passport and the second one was registered on the “other info” page. During reading I would scan and hand over the reader only to be told to rescan until her registered chip was read. Never a problem on UK pp, our first or second AHC or her EU pp. It was just a talking point.

 

[maz]

Our rescue dog has 2 chips, one put in by the original owners and one by us. We finally contacted the original owners who did not want her back, during the search we were told these companies did not communicate with each other unless forced to, and were mostly un cooperative.

Under the regulations, the database operators are required to redirect telephone calls or online enquiries to whichever database the microchip is registered on. So they have to communicate with one another at that level at least.

Out of interest, why did you have a second microchip implanted?

 

[maz]

Please remember that if you move, you need to update the address the pet is registered to. I've adopted several cats over the years that have had a chip, but the owner couldn't be traced.

One of the criticisms of the microchip databases is that many of them charge for each address change, which doesn't exactly encourage people to update them.

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[Guigsy]

One of the criticisms of the microchip databases is that many of them charge for each address change, which doesn't exactly encourage people to update them.

We paid a bit more for the Premium service. We can change via their website as often as we like. If we go on holiday and leave him with a friend, we can change it just for a couple of weeks.

 

[ctc]

Under the regulations, the database operators are required to redirect telephone calls or online enquiries to whichever database the microchip is registered on. So they have to communicate with one another at that level at least.

Out of interest, why did you have a second microchip implanted?

Nobody found the first one. The French vet at Maillerais, I know it's misspelt, found it on her neck very near where it's supposed to be.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Our dogs were registered with the service picked by our vet for one and the service picked by the breader for the younger dog. We always have a disk on the collar when the dogs are out, when abroad we have different disks offering a reward, as the cost of calling a UK number would be high for a local who found the dog. We use the local language as well. So far we have not lost a dog

 

[maz]

We paid a bit more for the Premium service. We can change via their website as often as we like. If we go on holiday and leave him with a friend, we can change it just for a couple of weeks.

Yes, Nix is on the premium version of Petlog from back in 2011. This proved to be a good investment as when we were fulltiming our address changed frequently.

 

[Ava the Adria]

So I'm interested to know which UK databases Funster's dogs are registered on. Did you choose this database yourself or did the vet who implanted the microchip decide for you?

Our Max is on Petlog; nothing to do with us, he came "ready chipped" when we picked him up from the breeder.

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[maz]

As puppies and rescue dogs should all go to their new owners ready microchipped, I've been wondering how these newer microchip databases get in on the act. Why would a vet or registered implanter choose a new database over one that has been established for years?

The answer seems to be that these databases offer 'incentives' to vets and registered implanters - free microchips and 'rewards' for each pet that they register on a particular database. The new owner then has to pay a transfer of ownership fee to register the pet in their name.

For example, the first one on the government's compliant database list, AnimalData:

Source: AnimalData Implanter Info

 

[gus-lopez]

Mine were both with petlog when we moved here.Vet changed them on to the spanish system for 15€ ,both.I assume that there is only one system here as any vet can access the data ?

I have just checked & yes it is only one gov.es sysstem
here
https://www.reiac.es/index.php?lang=ESP

just put Alf's chip number in & it all comes up.

 

[maz]

Mine were both with petlog when we moved here.Vet changed them on to the spanish system for 15€ ,both.I assume that there is only one system here as any vet can access the data ?

I have just checked & yes it is only one gov.es sysstem
here
https://www.reiac.es/index.php?lang=ESP

just put Alf's chip number in & it all comes up.

Yes, that seems eminently more sensible. I have just started looking into how other countries manage their microchip database(s). In Spain it seems that dogs are registered on your local Autonomous Community database. REIAC is the overarching organisation which links the Autonomous Community databases. There is also ANICOM which seems to cover just Catalonia.

It is interesting to see that REIAC is a member of PetMaxx - one of the Europe-wide portals that can search a number of databases across different countries. The other one is EuroPetNet.

PETMAXX.com

Europetnet - Pet ID-search

www.europetnet.org

I still can't work out tho' whether these portals can directly provide full information about a dog's owner when searched, or whether they just tell you on which database a particular chip is registered (along the lines of Check-a-chip) and you then have to contact that database yourself.

My dog is registered with Petlog which is the only UK database to be a full member of EuroPetNet. When I put her microchip number into the EuroPetNet search engine, it just tells me that she is registered with Petlog and gives details of how to contact that database. It also says that 'This record was last updated on 11/08/2011 on the EuroPetNet database'. Now this was two days after my dog was registered with Petlog, but I have changed the address details several times since. So if EuroPetNet acts as a single point of access to all the databases, I would expect the date of my latest address change to be shown. However, I am not a vet or a registered animal shelter so perhaps that is why it shows only limited information?

 

[maz]

I have come to the conclusion that EuroPetNet and PetMaxx are both only capable of providing the name of the database to which a particular microchip is registered. This database then has to be contacted directly to obtain details of a dog's owner. So they are not single points of access to a number of databases across a number of countries. I'm guessing that to achieve this would be a major headache technically.

Having two European-wide organisations that link individual countries' databases just seems to me to make each of them less effective. Most databases are only listed on one or the other of them, not both. This is probably down to cost. The following is taken from the EuroPetNet website (I have been unable to find the equivalent for PetMaxx):

Source: EuroPetNet statutes

Admittedly these figures are maximum fees but they seem pretty hefty.

However, for anyone across Europe to be able to find out in which country a particular microchip is registered must surely help in reuniting lost dogs with their owners, and also make it more difficult for stolen dogs to be trafficked.

Interestingly, I have learnt that Ireland has 4 authorised microchip databases, and all four of them are full members of EuroPetNet. This is an actual condition for them to become authorised.

 

[maz]

Update on SCAM microchip databases

The database that currently appears top of the Google search list for 'UK pet microchip database' is PetChip Details.

This database is a SCAM. Not only is it not listed as a UK government 'compliant' database, it is a reincarnation of the UK Pet Chip Registry scam website that was reported to Trading Standards back in 2021. A previous reincarnation of this same database was called AllPaws.

Why is this database still being allowed to operate?

Other scam websites that I have found include Safe Chip:

and PetsMicrochips:

Neither of these sites could find my dog (who is registered on Petlog) and just wanted me to register - at a cost of £14.99 for the former and £20 for the latter. Neither are listed as 'compliant' databases.

Please be aware that these sites exist and avoid them!

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[maz]

Update

Today DEFRA have finally got round to publishing the Summary of Responses to their consultation, close on two years after it ended. If anyone is interested you can read the document in the link below:

Summary of responses and government response

www.gov.uk