There are a few reasons why you may have received an “already registered” message when trying to register a microchip in our system. 
 
 If you recently adopted from a shelter or had your pet’s chip implanted or scanned at a clinic: Found Animals Registry works with many animal care organizations to automatically register pets at the time of adoption or microchipping. If your provider is one of our partner organizations it is possible that an account has already been created in your name using the information that you supplied at the time of service. If you provided an email address at the time of adoption/microchipping, Found Animals Registry sent you a message with information on how to log into your account. Be sure to check your spam folder for this confirmation email. If you still need assistance, Contact Us using this form. Our customer service team will get back to you within 24-48 hours. 
 
 
 
 ||||| The Microchip Advantage 
 
 Tiny Microchip Huge Protection 
 
 A pet microchip–the size of a grain of rice–goes beneath your pet's skin like a vacination. A microchip for dogs & cats gives the best protection with permanent ID that can never be removed or become impossible to read. We use this ID to contact you and reunite you with your pet. ||||| By Josh Weiss-Roessler 
 
 Because you’re the Pack Leader, you got your dog microchipped. You wanted to make sure that she could be found and brought back to you even if her dog tag was lost or removed. So you headed to your vet and had the simple procedure done — your dog was in and out in minutes, and you had peace of mind. Everybody’s happy! 
 
 But now it’s a few years later. You just moved to a new place, and it occurred to you that it’s probably a good idea to update the information on your dog’s microchip. 
 
 How exactly do you do this? Do you need to go to your dog’s new vet to have the chip removed and re-implanted so they can change the information? Is there a less invasive way to update it? Are there other times when you should update the information? 
 
 When to update 
 
 This one is actually pretty simple and straightforward, and half of the answer has already been covered. There are really only two reasons why you would need to update your dog’s microchip information. The first one is because your contact information changes. Obviously that means you should change it if you move to a different address, but the chip should also be updated if you get a new phone number or stop using the email address that’s listed on the chip. Basically, if any of the contact information is wrong on the chip, you should correct that. The other reason to update the microchip is if a dog goes to a different owner. Maybe your dog outlives you and you have it in your will that your sister gets him after you’re gone. Or you have a change in living circumstances and just can’t keep your best friend anymore, so you work with a rescue or find a new dog lover to take over. Whatever the situation, a new owner means that the contact information is going to be completely different, so the records on the chip should reflect this. How to update 
 
 First things first — microchips never get taken out, and the people who put it in your dog usually don’t have anything to do with updating it. So how do you update these chips? It’s pretty simple really. Microchips are made by manufacturers. When you got your dog implanted, you should have received an activation card with an ID number and a phone number to call. Unless the person implanting the microchip did it for you, this is the number you need to call to make sure that people will actually get your contact information when they scan the chip. Essentially, you’re calling the number to turn the chip on. When you need to update any information on the chip, you have to call this same number, give them the ID, and then tell them what’s changed. That’s it. If you’d prefer not to make the update by phone, you can also do so online with many microchip manufacturers, such as Avid, Microchip I.D. Solutions, and 911 Pet Chip. If you don’t know the manufacturer, you can look it up at the American Animal Hospital Association website. It’s also a smart idea to put your dog on the Found Animals Registry, a database that holds contact information for microchips of all kinds, regardless of the manufacturer. 
 
 Of course, our dogs should always wear their collars with ID tags and other legally required information, like a license and current rabies vaccination tag, but collars and tags can fall off or be removed. A microchip is a secure, permanent and safe form of ID that your dog can’t lose. 
 
 How many dogs do you have? Tell us about your pack in the comments. ||||| LAKELAND, Fla. - Kristi Durham has a big heart for special needs animals. That's why three years ago, she rescued "Lefty," a beagle with sight and hearing problems, and that turned in circles from a past head injury. 
 
 "Anybody, even if they weren't an animal person, loved him, just because he was unique," said Durham. 
 
 So when Lefty broke through the fence in their yard Thursday afternoon, her husband panicked. The couple called three different shelters and posted on a local lost pets Facebook page, but they didn't get any leads. 
 
 "I've rescued several strays over the years, and I just prayed I'd be fortunate enough to get back some of that goodwill and get my baby back," Durham said. 
 
 But when her husband went to the shelters Friday to see if Lefty, had turned up, he got some devastating news. 
 
 Polk County animal services had already euthanized the dog. 
 
 "It's heartbreaking and nothing's ever going to bring my baby back," said Durham. 
 
 Polk County animal control, which is under the sheriff's office, says Lefty wasn't at the shelter yet when Durham called Thursday. The shelter scanned his microchip, but the phone number given to them by the chip company wasn't valid. They later discovered a couple of the digits had been mixed up. The couple's address hadn't been updated since they moved to Auburndale in August. 
 
 Without finding the owners, and because of his health problems, the shelter vet decided Lefty needed to be put down. 
 
 "It was just the perfect storm, and it's very sad. We feel terrible for this pet owner. She's welcome to come to animal control and we'll give her a pet for free. We certainly don't want this to ever happen again," said 
 
 Carrie Horstman, public information officer with the Polk Co. Sheriff's Office. 
 
 If an animal's healthy when it gets to the shelter, it's entered into a database and kept at least four days before going up for adoption. Shelters in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough Counties have similar policies, and they all say it's extremely common for microchips to have wrong information about the pet's owner. 
 
 A lot of counties use online systems like HomeAgain.com to see if your pet is micro-chipped, and you can go online no matter when your pet was chipped, and enter or update your information. So if your pet gets lost, that's the information that comes up. 
 
 You can also go to your local shelter and register your pet with the county and get it licensed, records that can be pulled up if your pet ends up in the shelter. 
 
 The county also recommends if your pet is lost, you physically go to the shelter and walk the kennels as soon as possible to see if your dog is there. 
 
 In December, Polk Co. animal control will be offering discounted micro-chipping services. If your pet is already chipped, you can register that information at the shelter anytime for free.
– A Florida family is warning pet owners to keep their animals' microchip information up to date after their failure to do so meant their beloved beagle was put down. Kristi Durham says her husband called three shelters and posted to a Facebook page for lost pets when their dog Lefty disappeared from their Lakeland yard last Thursday, per WFTS. While visiting a shelter the next day, he learned Polk County Animal Control had euthanized the 3-year-old beagle almost immediately after he was found because of health problems—Lefty had sight and hearing issues and turned in circles from a past head injury—and because a phone number associated with the dog's microchip was out of date. Durham, who moved from Kentucky to Florida in August, hadn't thought to update the information. And though Animal Control typically keeps animals for four days before putting them up for adoption, a vet determined Lefty "was not a healthy animal" and should be euthanized, a rep for the Polk County Sheriff's Office tells WTSP. While officials are offering Durham a free pet from a shelter, she wants to make sure other pet owners don't have to suffer the same heartbreak as her family. Microchips can be updated online using sites like the Found Animal Registry and HomeAgain.com, or by contacting the microchip manufacturer, according to Cesar's Way. (A microchip helped a dog return home after traveling 2,700 miles.)