Please see the information below. If your pet is microchipped with a HomeAgain microchip, you probably should register and verify that your chip is still in their base and is accurately recorded. If you use Avid or another service, you are not impacted HOWEVER it doesn’t hurt to verify anyway. Mistakes can happen and you want to find out now….not when it is too late! If your dogs are not microchipped at all, please consider getting it done!
We highly recommend that, about a month after you have registered the microchip, you call the company and verify that they have the information on their base. Do this even if you receive the confirmation letter. And do it again annually. Always report any name, address or phone number changes also.
NOTE: If your microchipped dog ever has an MRI, verify afterwards that the microchip still works. The MRI equipment can affect the microchip.
The following is from Home Again in response to a question:
We are responding to recent concerns about the transition of the HomeAgain registry from the AKC CAR to the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service. To offer an improved service, Schering-Plough Animal Health transitioned the HomeAgain registry from the AKC CAR on February 3, 2005.
(1) Since the AKC was under contract to manage the HomeAgain registry, ALL REGISTRATIONS PRIOR TO FEB. 3 ARE MAINTAINED IN THE HOMEAGAIN PET RECOVERY SERVICE DATABASE AND CAN NOW BE VIEWED ONLINE. There is no additional fee for this added benefit.
(2) Now, you can view your contact information online as well as make updates. To obtain a User Name and Password to access the new online enrollment system at http://public.homeagain.com/index.html, e-mail: found@HomeAgainID.com with your microchip number or call the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service at 1-866-PET-ID24 (1-866-738-4324). This is provided at no charge.
(3) All new (since Feb. 3, 2005) HomeAgain microchips must be registered through the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service to be in the HomeAgain registry to take full advantage of the online access to the online HomeAgain registry.
(4) The recovery telephone numbers on all HomeAgain collar tags are still – and will remain – operational.
The transition from the AKC to the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service is a direct benefit to pet owners and will lead to the successful recovery of an even greater number of lost pets. For more information, please visit www.HomeAgainID.com .
PLEASE NOTE: ANNUAL FEE INFORMATION
If your dog has a Home Again Microchip, you may get a letter asking you to pay an annual fee. If you get this letter, please know that the annual fee is optional. If you read the letter carefully, you will see that your dog’s chip is registered and will remain registered. The fee they reference is for “additional services”. So please check into those services and see if they are worth paying the extra annual fee. If not, then just disregard the letter and know that the chip IS registered.