Avid VS Home Again Mircrochip
 

I took Tashi to the vet today for a check-up and told the vet I wanted to get her Micro-Chipped. He handed me a Home Again form and told me to fill it out.

I proceeded to grill him (very politely) about the differences between Avid and HomeAgain .

He basically said that HomeAgain chip readers can read Avid and Home again chips , but that Avid readers can only read Avid chips.

That being said - I asked him why it wouldn't be more sensible to get an Avid chip if they're more universally readable.

He said their office went with the "Home Again" brand because of the support they provide.. and that's all good and well, but what if she goes to a shelter and they can't read her chip or see that she has one.

I have some calling around to do.

Have any of you ever relocated a dog by chips..?

Also, if you researched and decided which brand you went with, why did you choose that particular brand?


Thanks so much for any insight you can provide. I'm calling my local shelters now to find out which brand of readers they have. I think that will help me make my decision as well.

Just wanted to add what I found-

San Gabriel Humane Society - HomeAgain (can read avid)

LA County Animal Care and Control Shelters- Use Avid (can read homeagain)

Orange County Animal Care and Control - Use Avid readers (can read homeagain)


Inland Valley Humane Society- Has universal chip reader (can read both)

I feel much better now.. seems like all the shelters around here can read both.

Whew.

Home again is the most commonly used

I like Home Again because it's more commonly used here in AZ and also the fact that they do have a service where you can pay a onetime lifetime fee, instead of a yearly fee. It was $30.00 when we joined and that included the vets fee. They only charge again if you move and your address and paperwork needs changing. You never know what the future will bring and at least I know I don’t have this expense each year.

Uni came with a Home Again chip, and that's the web service I have. I was to understand that most vet's and shelters have both scanners.

Chloe and Smokey got implanted with Avids.

Do you guys know, the Avid chip #s are formatted like xxx-xxx-xxx (all numbers). The Home Again chips, are they ###A#####B. I'm actually confused as to what Uni has. Her chip scanned as the Avid format, but the number on her paperwork is the HA format and that is what I have on her HA profile page.

Her paperwork was all screwed up with I got her, so I wonder now if I don't have the right papers for her and should I get her reimplanted. :confused:

Ask your vet if he can read the number and then contact Home Again and see if the number and your name match up. If the breeder had Uni chipped, the number could still be in the breeder's name, but I have heard of people getting that changed.

We have Home Again. It was what our vet recommends.

What expense each year? I'm confused - who are you claiming charges a yearly fee?

Looking at the web sites, Avid has a one-time fee with no yearly fees, while Home Again has a yearly fee. Sounds like the opposite of what you said.

Statements about pricing from their websites (Names are links to the pricing info):

Avid:

"What is the cost to register with PETtrac?

You pay a one-time fee of $19.95 for a single pet or $50.00 for all your pets (up to 3 pets). There are no annual fees. There is, however, a $6.00 charge for information changes. Change of ownership requires a new registration. Animal recovery workers can find your pet's family directly rather than through your veterinarian."

Home Again:

"HomeAgain membership costs just $17.99 per year."

Home Again does claim that you can register either their chip or Avid chips with their service. I don’t see the same claim on the Avid site. I have no information regarding which service is "better" or has a better reputation, so you'll have to search around for that.

Thanks!

Jim

Avid use to have a program where you had to register every year, and Home Again then started doing that, but gave you an option of a one time fee. The yearly fee had some extras included. When I bought their service, it was for a lifetime membership. This is so confusing, now I'm wondering if Joey is really registered? I also listed his microchip number with the AKC lost and found, and that was suppose to be for lifetime membership as well. Thank you for the update. There's no way I'd pay yearly for this.

Homeagain is who im with, because i bought my microchip through the AKC when i sent Ralphs papers in. But homeagain you have to pay the 17 dollars a year i just payed in Feb. But to me 17 yearly is worth it (:

Nancy, this scared me to death!! I send all my babies out with Avid chips....I implant the chip and I pay for the registration! I have been flopping along, thinking that was for a lifetime membership and that my people didnt have to do anything! I was glad to read the f/u post that states Avid is indeed a one time life time fee...it is $19.95 for single dog.....I was so worried that I had misled my owners!

At one time they gave you an option, but it sounds like Home Again isn't even giving an option. I don't understand, do they just take the dog off the list? I'm going to ask my vet about this.

I got emails like the month before I needed to renew and they kept sending me email reminders, and whatever day you renew it on, it lasts for a whole year.

We did it about 6 years ago, the registration was included in the cost of buying the chip, and there was never any word about reregistering. We've had other threads about the differences in microchips and I'm just so shocked Home Again has changed their policy, I just don't know if the other cases are "grandfathered" in.

Okay, I think I understand, for a one time fee it says,
The only time they charge you again is if you change something, like an address or phone number.

For a fee of $17.99 a year you have an Enhanced Consumer Enrollment and other things are included, such as: Rapid Lost Pet Alerts, Travel Assistance For Found Pets, Lost Pet Specialists, and 24/7 Pet Medical Emergency Hotline The other services are probably more important to some than others, I believe AKC does many of the same things and it's just a onetime fee., for example the 24/7 pet lost and found. HomeAgain - Email Entry Page

Here's information about the AKC's lost and found option: American Kennel Club - New AKC Registration Option Includes Companion Animal Recovery Enrollment

HomeAgain doesn't charge you for changing your information. You need to only pay a one time registration fee for the life of the dog. They will send you a renewal notice, but the renewal fee is for enhanced features to your HomeAgain membership like money for the recovery of your pet that is found over 500 miles away. Once a pet is registered the first time you can keep changing your information or their information all the time without a charge. I've moved twice since June and I changed my pets' information and pictures a couple of times already. One of my dogs has an expired membership, but she still has lifetime registry for her contact information. HomeAgain might have had a different policy a few years ago, but they have had the lifetime one time registration fee of around $18 for at least 2 years when we adopted our first pet with a HomeAgain chip.


I have a mini poodle with an Avid chip and she is registered with HomeAgain like my other dogs. There is a microchip lookup that will tell a vet or shelter that the chip is registered with HomeAgain (or whatever registry you choose) and when the contact information was last updated. I asked HomeAgain what would happen if Avid was called about my mini poodle. HomeAgain said that Avid will tell the vet/shetler/finder to call HomeAgain as a courtesy, HomeAgain does the same for Avid and other registries. HomeAgain also said that most vets and shelters will call other registries until they can find the owner.

My dogs all wear tags with their chip numbers and HomeAgain's number printed on them.