Check your pet's details as rumours swirl about future of major microchip database

The RSPCA has hosed down concerns that it will be unable to connect owners with their lost pets in the near future after rumours surfaced about the financial health of a popular pet microchip registry.

In a notice to its Facebook page this week, Belconnen-based Canberra Cat Vet issued an “important notice for pet owners” where it claimed HomeSafeID had entered receivership and owners who had registered their pet’s microchips with this database were at risk of the details not being available to authorities if their pets went missing.

“If your pet’s microchip is registered with HomeSafeID, please act now to ensure your pet’s registration is on another national database,” the post read.

“While vets and rangers can currently access the HomeSafeID register, we don’t know how long this will continue. Don’t risk losing contact with your pet!”

The post has since been deleted, and HomeSafeID has yet to issue any formal liquidation notice. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also lists the company as still currently registered and operating.

RSPCA ACT, which uses HomeSafeID when registering pets, noted “it has become more difficult to get hold of them on the phone” and “there are a lot of rumours going around”.

But CEO Michelle Robertson told Region this week the animal rescue organisation is transitioning to a new pet microchip registration database this week “as a precaution”.

“We’d rather be prudent,” she said.

For now, owners can still search for their pet’s details on HomeSafeID, and vets like Canberra Cat Vet and the RSPCA can access them.

“Perhaps the only uncertainty is if, maybe sometime in the far future, there is some sort of access issue, but that level of information is not available at this time,” Ms Robertson said.

There are currently five private and two government microchip registries in Australia. Which one your pet is on depends on which breeder or vet you bought it from because “they all have their preferred system.”

“It’s not like you go to the shop and choose which microchip you want.”

Ms Robertson recommended that pet owners check which register their pet is on by entering the microchip number at PetAddress.com.au. The only registries this will not show are the two government ones in NSW and South Australia.

“What might happen for ACT owners if they put their microchips into PetAddress.com.au and it doesn’t come up is that you’ll then have to go to the pet registry section on the Service NSW app and check and update your details there.”

She says this is different from the requirement to “register your pet” with the ACT Government through Access Canberra.

“It’s all as clear as mud.”

RSPCA ACT argued a logical approach would be to have one government-run pet microchip database, but this risks opening up a can of worms over the nationalisation of private enterprise.

“If I had one thing to say to Canberra pet owners, it is to make sure your microchip information is up to date,” Ms Robertson said.

“That’s the action you need to take because it’s very easy to forget after you’ve moved house or changed phone numbers, and that’s how we end up with stories of cats that have been missing for years.”

HomeSafeID was contacted for comment. Canberra Cat Vet declined to comment.