An older article I found, but the explanations were good:
Pet microchip companies square off in a scientific 'scan-off' | petMD
Pet microchip companies square off in a scientific 'scan-off' | petMD
Thank you, that makes sense!When we have a lost pet come in to our hospital we will automatically call the microchip company that we use, which is Homeagain, unless it's an Avid or AKC chip. AVID chip #s all start with the letters AVID and AKC chips all start with TR. In those cases we call AVID or AKC since the chip should presumably be registered with them. If the chip was not made by the company we end up calling they can look up who manufactured the chip and give us the number to call to hopefully find out the owners registration. If you have an AVID chip put in, but register it with another company then there is no way for anyone except the company you registered with to no how to look up your information. You should always at minimum register your info with the manufacturer of the microchip. The only reason to register with an additional company is if the 2nd company offered additional services beyond keeping my info. For example Homeagain has a recovery program and will help pay to get your pet returned home if there is a long distance to travel and they notify all the local vets & shelters about your lost pet. That's what the yearly fee I'd paying for, but if you choose not to pay the yearly program fee the chip will still work just like any other chip, they just don't help pay to get them back or send out flyers about your lost pet.
As my three microchipped critters were all microchipped in different places, I've got three different registries!Aspen is chipped with Home Again. Thankfully, I haven't had to know if it's good or notI do pay annually but I want to say it's about $20- not bad. I get emails from Home Again all the time saying there's a lost pet in my area. I don't know if every company does that but I love it. As soon as a pet is reported missing, they blast out an email to everyone in that area who is registered with them.
I was literally going to write the same thing Aspen did. XDAspen is chipped with Home Again. Thankfully, I haven't had to know if it's good or notI do pay annually but I want to say it's about $20- not bad. I get emails from Home Again all the time saying there's a lost pet in my area. I don't know if every company does that but I love it. As soon as a pet is reported missing, they blast out an email to everyone in that area who is registered with them.