Texas-based pet microchip company Save This Life abruptly closed, causing concern among veterinary practitioners and pet owners. NBC 5’s Alanna Quillen tells us more.
Texas-based pet microchip company Save This Life abruptly closed this week, causing concern among veterinary practitioners and pet owners.
According to the American Animal Hospital Association, the unexplained closure means that pets who were registered with the provider no longer have their owners’ information attached to the chip’s identifier number.
Save This Life was one of the dozens of companies that participated in the AAHA Pet Recovery Service registry. The company has since been removed from the registry following the closure.
“We immediately tried to reach Save This Life to learn what was happening,” AAHA Chief Value Officer Keith Chamberlain said. “Unfortunately, phone lines were down, and email inquiries came back stating Save This Life staff were aware of the problem and working through the issues. After continued search failures, we made the decision to disconnect them from the AAHA search tool, and we are encouraging pet owners to contact their veterinarian to determine if they need to re-register their microchip with another registry.”
Microchips are critical in reuniting lost pets with their families. They don’t use batteries but are activated when scanned after a missing pet is found, providing owner contact information from the service that the chip is registered to.
The AAHA is advising pet owners to contact their veterinarians and ensure their pet is registered with a legitimate provider in case their pet goes missing.
If practices know they have chipped patients with Save This Life chips, they can contact clients to let them know of the company’s status, the AAHA said.
Microchips registered with the company will still function normally and do not need to be replaced, but the chip just needs to be re-registered with another company.
At least one company, BuddyID, was temporarily offering free registration for pet owners impacted by the closure. Other companies to consider include paid services like Home Again and Pet Link, or FreePetChipRegistry.com.
According to the AAHA, it remains unclear why Save This Life decided to close.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
On the Texas Secretary of State’s website, the company registration's registration status is listed as “inactive," saying that the company lost its right to do business in Texas because its “Franchise Tax Involuntarily Ended.” According to the state, this means that “the entity’s registration or certificate was ended as a result of a tax forfeiture or an administrative forfeiture by Texas Secretary of State.”
