Every approved UK pet microchip database

1. Check the number itself first, with our microchip number checker: a dropped digit sends every search nowhere.
2. Look at the paperwork from your vet, breeder or rescue: the database name is usually on it.
3. Ask your vet. They scan the chip and can look the number up in seconds, usually while you wait.
4. Use a lookup service such as Check-a-Chip, which tells you which database holds a chip number, or the free MyPet microchip search.
5. If nothing comes back, ring the database you think it is. Records do get lost when a database is bought by another company.

These are the databases the government lists as compliant. Registering on one of them is what the law asks for, so if your pet isn’t on any of these, the chip doesn’t count. Watch out for look-alike sites that aren’t on the list and email owners asking them to “renew”: see microchip scams. One database has been taken off the list: GOV.UK says Track Your Paws doesn’t meet government standards, and that pets registered with it should be registered with another approved database (checked on 6 October 2026). If a chip won’t scan at all, see what to do when a microchip isn’t working.

• AnimalData
• Animal Microchips
• Animal Tracker
• ChipHERO
• Chipped Monkey
• Chipworks
• DKC
• FidoID
• Greyhound Chip ID (racing greyhounds only)
• HomeAgain
• identi (formerly Identibase)
• Lost Paws
• MicroChip Central
• My Animal Trace
• MyPet
• National Veterinary Data Service
• Pet Database
• Pet Identity UK
• Petlog
• PetScanner
• ProtectedPet
• SmartTrace
• UK PETtrac MicroChip Database
• We Trace Pets

• Dogs in the UK must be microchipped and registered by 8 weeks old.
• Cats in England must be microchipped and registered by 20 weeks old.
• The record must be on one of the approved databases above.
• You can be fined up to £500 if your dog or cat isn’t chipped, or isn’t registered on an approved database, when it should be.

Moving house or changing your number is the moment most chips quietly stop working. Log in to your database and change the details there. What that costs now varies a lot: HomeAgain is free, PETtrac charges £6 to change an address, and since 13 January 2026 new Petlog customers need a plan from £15 a year (each checked on the database’s own site on 4 October 2026). Our guide to what microchipping costs lists every database’s charges, and updating microchip details walks through the change, including what to do when you can’t remember the login.

When you take on a rescue or buy a puppy, the record has to be transferred into your name, not just have your phone number added. Ask the rescue or breeder to start the transfer before your pet comes home: our guide to transferring a microchip to a new owner has each database’s steps and fees.

Yes. You can register the same chip number on another approved database, and some charge nothing to do it. Just make sure the one you use day to day has the right phone number, because a warden or vet ringing the wrong record is the same as no record at all.

A chip only helps once somebody with a scanner has your pet: a vet, a warden or a rescue. A collar tag is what lets the neighbour who catches your dog ring you in the first ten minutes. Use both: what to put on a dog tag sorts the engraving, and a QR code dog tag carries the rest, including your vet and the chip number.