Iowa Pet Adoptions

Community Events

The overall goal of Iowa Pet Adoptions is to promote responsible pet relationships. We want to help pet owners take care of their pets, and reduce pet homelessness.

Check the Chip

A working, properly registered microchip is important if your pet is ever lost. Unfortunately, the pet microchip is confusing. It is not enough to simply have a chip implanted in your pet. The microchip must also be working and properly registered.

At Check the Chip events, volunteers with Iowa Pet Adoptions will scan pets to make sure the chip can is working, and check the registration. If the chip is not registered, Iowa Pet Adoptions can register the chip for $12. We register chips through AKC CAR which offers free lifetime updates, and a $10 fee to transfer the chip information to a new pet owner.

If the setting is appropriate - indoor with enough space and volunteers - we may also be able to insert chips at these events, at a cost of $15 per pet. This includes inserting a chip and registration in the AKC CAR database, with free lifetime updates for pet owner contact information. AKC CAR charges $10 to change the ownership of a chip.

How Pet Microchips Work

This is what happens when a stray pet is found:

The pet is scanned for a microchip
If the microchip is found, the scanner displays a microchip number
The microchip number must be registered in a microchip database, to connect that microchip with your current phone number
If the person who finds your pet cannot quickly locate you, the pet may be adopted to a new owner or killed

There are many companies which register microchip numbers. The person who found your pet must find the correct chip registration to be able to find you.

Most of the microchip registries participate in PetMicrochipLookup.org creating an effective single database.

If you know your pet's microchip number, look it up at PetMicrochipLookup.org If your chip is registered with a company that participates in this important program, it should be listed here.

However, not all microchip registries participate in this database. Most notably, 24PetWatch does not participate. 24PetWatch is popular with many shelters because they sell chips cheaply to shelters, and then 24PetWatch charges large fees to the new pet owner. If your pet's microchip is the 24PetWatch chip, you may want to register it both with 24PetWatch and one of the companies which participates in the PetMicrochipLookup database, to be sure you can be easily located.

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