Losing a pet is every pet owner’s nightmare, and a microchip is one of the best tools to help reunite lost pets with their families. But if your pet is registered with Save This Life, you may be at risk of losing that vital connection. Multiple news outlets are reporting that Save This Life, a pet microchip registration service, has stopped responding to calls and emails, leaving pet owners, veterinarians, and shelters unable to access crucial pet identification records.
To verify these reports, I attempted to call Save This Life myself and found that their phone lines appear to be disconnected, with only a constant busy signal. Their website is still live, but some veterinarians have reported being unable to retrieve pet registration information from the service, potentially preventing reunions for lost pets.
Having your pet microchipped is one of the most important things you can do to protect them. I see countless alerts about lost pets that aren’t chipped, and it breaks my heart knowing that many of them may never be reunited with their families. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), dogs with microchips are twice as likely to be returned home, while microchipped cats are twenty times more likely to be reunited with their owners compared to those without (AVMA Study).
Read more: SATELLAI Pet Tracker Uses Satellite to Find Your Lost Dog
My own dog, Hudson, is microchipped, and it gives me peace of mind knowing that if we ever lost him, a shelter or vet could scan his microchip and contact us. That’s why I took the time to check his registration, and I encourage every pet owner to do the same right now.
To check your pet’s microchip registry, look through your adoption or purchase paperwork. If you don’t see the information there, you can visit your veterinarian to have them scan your pet’s chip and look up the registry. If you know the chip number but are uncertain where it is registered, use the AAHA Universal Pet Microchip Lookup Tool to search your microchip number.
If your pet was registered with Save This Life or you can’t find your pet’s registry, don’t panic – the microchip itself still works. All you need to do is re-register the microchip number with another company to ensure your contact information is available in case your pet is lost.
There are many registry companies, but I recommend the American Kennel Club’s AKC Reunite. It is a reputable organization, and they only charge a one-time registration fee of $22.95 for the life of your pet. While there are free registries, I don’t recommend them because many use your registration information for marketing purposes.
If your pet is microchipped and registered, it’s a good time to also verify that your registration information is up to date so rescuers can contact you. You may not have thought about updating it after a previous move or change of phone numbers.
[Image credit: Techlicious/Midjourney]
From Chanda Hinman on February 16, 2025 :: 5:45 pm
I’m still seeing that their website is up and my pet is registered.
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From Josh Kirschner on February 17, 2025 :: 9:40 am
The website is still up but they still are not answering their phones to reunite pets. Additionally, their “exclusive dealer,” Covetrus, no longer carries their products and the business appears “Inactive” on the Texas Comptroller’s Franchise Tax site. It’s also telling that despite wide-spread news they may be shutting down, there have been no responses or updates on the Save This Life social media channels.
Given all those details, we recommend you take action to move your pet’s registry to a new service.
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