How to Change Owner or Address on a Pet Microchip

A dog or cat microchip is only effective if the correct owner and address information are linked to the microchip number in one of the 12 UK government-approved databases. If you've moved house or just acquired a new pet, we'll explain how to change the details of your pet's microchip. We've also researched the fees you'll pay to make a change, depending on which database company holds your microchip.

• How to Change Owner or Address for Your Dog or Cat's Microchip
• How Much Does it Cost to Change Microchip Details
• Change Microchip Details for Free

Change Microchip Details

If you move house, become a new keeper (e.g., owner) or need to register a new microchip, you'll need to get in touch with the database that holds the records for the microchip in question. If, like most people, you don't know which database stores your microchip information then you can find out using www.check-a-chip.co.uk.

In order to change the owner or address information on your dog or cat's microchip, you'll need to:

1. Find out which database your microchip is stored on using Check-a-Chip by PETtrac
2. Contact the database by calling or logging into your account online

To contact your microchip database company, you'll either need to call or log into your account online. To help you get in touch with your pet's microchip database, we've provided website links and contact numbers of the government-approved databases in the table below.

Pet Protect Microchip Change of Address or Owner

If you were registered with Pet Protect, they stopped trading back in February 2017. All Pet Protect accounts were transferred over to identibase. Those who had paid for Pet Protect's premium service were honored and moved onto identibase plus, which enables unlimited amends to your details.

Please note that Pet Protect's basic plan included the option to list an emergency contact, a piece of information that would have been lost in the transition to identibase since they don't have an "emergency contact" field for their basic plan. If you've been moved over from Pet Protect to identibase and you want an emergency contact listed in the database, then you'll need to upgrade to identibase plus for a one-time cost of £15.95. With the plus plan you're also able to amend your details as many times as you like, for instance if you move house.

Similarly, those whose microchip was originally stored with anibase will now need to contact identibase for any changes of ownership or address—the company has gone through a name change and now identibase is the new name for anibase.

Cost to Change Details on Microchip

To update the owner or address linked to your pet's microchip number, you might be charged an administration fee by the database company, which is typically a similar amount as the cost to microchip your dog or cat in the first place. Depending on which database your chip is stored and the type of plan you have, you can either:

Not all databases feature the ability to pay each time you amend—most databases will have you sign up for a paid account when you need to make a change, which enables you to make future changes for free. For example, upgrading from free "identibase plan" to "identibase plus" costs £15.95 and gives you unlimited amendments to your details (plus the ability to add a second name and address to your account for emergencies). Below are details of fees for each microchip database, so you'll know what to expect.

^Note: To join the PetScanner database you also buy a physical scanning device, which lets you scan your pet or other pets such as a lost dog that you find. The Android-compatible PetScanner device costs £9.99 (the cheapest on the market), and the cost to join the database is another £2.99.

Change Microchip Details for Free

The only way to change microchip details for free is by first registering or signing up to a lifetime microchip plan. You'll pay a one-time fee of around £15 to register for a paid plan, but then all future changes to your address, contact information, ownership, etc. are free. The cheapest DEFRA-compliant database registration is currently £2.99 from PetScanner.

How do you register a microchip on a pet that's come to the UK from abroad?

For an overseas registration the keeper should contact a microchip registration company directly to register the pet over the phone. Alternatively, it may be possible to email the company with the required information. For microchips not recognised on a UK, DEFRA approved database, it is probably not possible to make the change online (phone is probably the best bet).

Here is the information that would be required to update a pet's information: