Chip Check - by Fido.ie

ChipCheck - does Fido know you?

A comprehensive check of your dog's microchip details

If you have a Fido Dog Certificate, go directly to the Certified Registry Login page. If you know your Fido account details for your cat, rabbit or other pet, go to the Standard Registry Login.

The rest of this page is only about dogs. For any other pet, see the "Cats?" item in the menu.

If you do not have an official Certificate of Registration but your dog has a microchip and you know the chip number, the Fido staff can comprehensively check the details that may be stored in Fido and/or other databases and will contact you to explain what you need to do to get your legally required Certificate of Registration.

This comprehensive check is done manually by our staff and may involve making phone calls and further examination of available documentation. You may need to pay a small fee to continue the rest of the process, which involves the aforemention calls etc., before a Certificate can be provided to you. You will be informed via email about any fee or discount that applies. Fido aims to complete the process within 10 working days of payment arriving (with seasonal adjustments) and your patience is appreciated.

Before you proceed...

Note the following:

Approval and certification of registrations can take up to 10 working days to complete.
EuroPetNet updates nightly so chips will appear there the day after registration approval.
Order revised dog certs by logging in with chip ID and owner PIN
If the form below rejects your chip ID, take your dog to be scanned to verify the ID.

ChipCheck by Fido

These are the details of my dog that I believe is unregistered and I want Fido staff to check their data and the known registries to see if I can register my dog with Fido:

Welcome to Chip Check - brought to you by Fido.ie

Overview

Do you have a dog that has been, or is about to be, microchipped? If your dog is kept in the Republic of Ireland then there are regulations brought in since 2015 that apply to you and your dog. Here at the Chip Check we aim to

Explain the new Microchipping of Dogs Regulations (amended), and
Explain what you need to do to become compliant with the Regulations.

The microchipping regulations

Since the end of March 2016 the following regulations have applied:

ALL dogs must be microchipped.
ALL dogs must have their details and those of their owner registered on a government approved Database.
ALL owners must have a Certificate from a government approved Database showing that their dog is microchipped and the details registered.
ALL owners are responsible for ensuring that the details stored on the chosen Database are correct and up to date.
Any changes made to recorded details will require the issuing of a new Certificate.
The Regulations do not introduce a tax and do not provide any income to the State.

* Fido.ie operates a Certified Registry that is a Government Approved Database of microchip implantation records.

What if my dog has not been microchipped?

If your dog IS NOT MICROCHIPPED:

Go to your local vet as soon as possible to have your dog microchipped.
Bring photo ID and proof of your address, because the vet is required to see these.
Ensure that the vet registers all your details on the Database (Fido's Certified Registry).
A certificate will be issued to you by the Database and then you will be fully compliant.

Remember that under the Regulations, new chip implantation and data registration must take place in a single sitting. It is not lawful for a new implant to be performed on a dog and then the registration to be submitted at a later date. Ensure that the process of registration commences immediately after the chip is implanted.

Microchips that were implanted prior to the introduction of the Regulations can be certified retrospectively if the details are checked by a government approved Database.

What if my dog has already been microchipped?

If your dog IS MICROCHIPPED, Fido can accept details from you, compare these against any details already recorded and tell you if there is anything else you need to do. You will need to supply the following details for comparison against the Database:

The 15 digit microchip number.
Your first name and your surname.
The address where the dog is normally kept.
The postal address for the Certificate.
Your email address and preferred telephone number (for correspondence with Fido staff).
The dog's breed and colour. Notable markings can also be mentioned.
The dog's date of birth.
The date when the dog was implanted.
The name of the vet, clinic or practice that implanted the chip.

If your dog's details are not in the Fido Database, Fido staff will check against every other database in Europe associated with the EuroPetNet organisation to see if any of them are aware of your dog's microchip. Fido staff will contact you to tell you what has been found.

This service launched in late summer 2015 and our staff have been contacting existing customers ever since in order to ensure dog owners comply with the law.

My dog's chip is already registered with Fido. Am I compliant?

Unless you have received the official certificate from Fido, you are not compliant. Prior to the Regulations, Fido only issued its own Certificates of Registration to show that reunification data had been registered with Fido. With the introduction of the government Regulations, and Fido's recognition as a government approved Database, Fido is now required to issue new Certificates that confirm the chip, dog, owner and implanter details.

Many of these details were previously optional on Fido, but the Regulations now make them mandatory. Fido must therefore check all the details and update the Database if there are any gaps. If all the details are already in the Fido Database then issuing an official Certificate will be easy. Otherwise the Fido staff will lodge and verify any new data before provisioning the official Certificate, for which there is a small fee.

If you have registered your email address with Fido in order to have your own account, you can log in to the Standard Registry (where your dog's old registration details are being kept temporarily) and review your dog's details and make your request for the official Certificate.

Once an official Certificate has been issued, you will no longer be able to use your old Fido account to edit the official details. This is because the regulations require that the certificate be a true record of what is in the computerised system, and therefore any changes need to be managed carefully. The new Certified Registry will allow you to make certain changes, which may require the issuing of a new certificate. You will also be able to update certain additional reunification details (e.g. third party phone number and temporary vacation addresses) using the online service.

Can I do all this online if my dog is already microchipped?

Fido commenced issuing official Certificates of Registration as part of the National Chipping Month (2015) initiative. You can now reach the checking service via www.chipcheck.ie. Fido staff check your dog's chip status, collect updated details from you if necessary, and prepare all the information necessary to process your application for a Certificate of Registration based on the existing microchip. You receive confirmation by email so that you can pay the small handling fee online, and the details of the Certificate are then provided to you.

I don't have an email address. What do I do?

Most of Fido's correspondence is via email and much of it is automated for efficiency. If you are unable to use email then please contact your vet who will be able to help with the registration process. Most vets have special access to the Fido services for this process.

You can contact us by post at "www.fido.ie, P.O. Box 484, Naas, Co. Kildare." and if you include a daytime telephone number, we'll call you to discuss your requirements.

Is this a replacement for dog licenses?

No.

A license grants the holder permission to keep a particular dog at a certain place and this permission usually requires regular renewal and can be withdrawn by the courts.

A certified registration of a microchip uniquely identifies the dog, records who owns it and where they are located and, so long as this information does not change, the certification never needs to be renewed for the rest of the life of the dog.

It is somewhat similar to the distinction between a driving license (which grants permission to drive a certain class of motor vehicle and needs regular renewal) and the car's registration details (identifying the car, who owns it and where it is kept but might never change for the lifespan of the car).

Does this affect my cat?

No.

Fido has provided pet reunification services for many years, and many of the pets registered in Fido's Standard Repository are cats. Rest assured that all these cats (and several other species!) will not be affected by the current microchipping Regulations, which apply only to dogs.

Checking cat chips (and other pets that are not dogs)

What do I do if my pet is not a dog?

Unlike dogs, other pets don't have a legal obligation to have their registrations certified. Therefore you don't need to have the details of your registration checked.

It is still a good idea to check that your pet's chip is known by at least one official registry. To do this, head over to EuroPetNet and enter the chip number there. This will tell you if there's a registry that has the chip's details, and how to contact them.

I just want to know if Fido has a record of the chip

EuroPetNet (EPN) gets an overnight update from Fido every 24 hours. The update only tells EPN that a particular chip number is registered on our database to a particular species of pet. Owner contact details are not shared with EPN. When a pet is found and scanned, the first thing that happens is a check with EPN to find out who to contact next. You can also try this if you just want to see if Fido knows the chip.

Actually, I also want to check the details of my pet on Fido

To view or edit details of cats, rabbits and other pets head over to the Standard Registry. If you registered the pet online yourself then you would have supplied an email address and an account password. Use these to log in, check your details, make changes etc. Unlike the Certified Registry of dog microchips, there is no fee for editing information in the Standard Registry.

I didn't register the pet myself. Can I still see the details?

If your email address was registered, you can still try logging into the Standard Registry. Pick any password. If it is wrong (which would certainly be the case if you did not register online yourself) then you will be guided through a sequence of steps that will help you set this as your new password.

I can't get in because my contact details are wrong

We advise that you visit any vet that uses Fido (most do) and bring proof of identity. Your vet will be able to confirm that the reunification details are registered correctly. If you bring your pet to be scanned, then your vet will be able to scan the chip to confirm its number, and then the vet can contact our Help Desk to tell us the scan results and your confirmed identity, so that we can then update your email address to let you log in.

If you want to write to us by post/email, all our contact details are on the FAQ page.

What happens if my details are wrong?

If your pet goes missing and the registered details are wrong, it may be difficult or impossible to contact the owner when the pet is, hopefully, found and scanned.

What if my pet's chip is not registered anywhere?

If EPN shows that your pet's chip is not registered on any official registry then there is no chance that the chip will be of any use in helping your lost pet getting home. The chip only contains a code number. Without being able to link that code number to some contact details, the chip is useless.

Can't you just do this over the phone?

We take a lot of care to ensure that we handle pet reunification information properly, and it is only handled by the network of professional veterinarians and animal welfare personnel. Unfortunately it is difficult to confirm the identify of a telephone caller, so we ask that anyone who has trouble accessing the registered information first contact their vet.