Pet IDs

Pets → My Pet IDs is where you register your pet’s identifiers — microchips, tags, passports and tattoos — and choose how strongly each one is protected if your pet ever goes missing. (Before 2026-10-09 this was a separate Pet ID section in the sidebar.)

Registering a pet ID

Registering always starts with the pet, because an ID is registered to a pet:

From the pet. On My Pets, open the pet’s ⋮ menu (on its card or row), or the ⋮ menu on the pet’s own page. Under Register an ID, choose Register microchip, Register tag, Register passport or Register tattoo. The wizard opens with that pet already chosen.
From My Pet IDs. Select Register new. First choose the pet (Which pet is this ID for?), then the kind of ID. The kind step names the pet you chose, with Change pet to pick another one.

If you don’t have a pet yet, the pet step offers Add a pet. A pet that has passed away can’t be chosen, because an ID gives it recovery protection. A link that opens a register page directly, such as one from a scanned tag, also asks for the pet first and keeps the tag’s code for the next step.

Microchip — an implanted chip a vet or shelter can scan. We check the number is a valid 15-digit ISO chip; older legacy chips (9–10 digit AVID/FDX-A numbers) are accepted with a confirmation.
Pet tag — a collar tag, QR tag or smart tag anyone can scan. You’ll first choose whether it’s an official United Pet Club tag or an other-brand tag:
- UPC tag — enter the batch (optional) and tag code printed on it (e.g. A34dS / ASD323fASD). We verify the code against inventory and that it isn’t already assigned to another pet. UPC tags include a free plan. A tag that came with a secret asks for it first (see Redeeming a United Pet Club box or chip).
- Other-brand tag — register any third-party tag. We don’t verify it, and there’s no free plan — you choose a paid protection tier.
Passport — a pet passport for travel and official records.
Tattoo — an ear or inner-leg tattoo code marked by a breeder or vet.

Passport registration is free — there’s no recovery plan to choose. You assign the passport’s number is issued for the pet you chose, in one of two ways:

Auto-generated (default) — we issue an official, database-unique UPC passport number in the form UPC-{country}{species}{year}{random} (e.g. UPC-USD26A1B2C3D). Use Re-issue to get a different one.
Enter existing — type an existing passport number from another registry.

A pet can hold several passports (renewals or different countries) — up to five.

For microchips, tags and tattoos the wizard then walks you through three steps: enter the identifier, choose a recovery plan, and confirm. Passports skip the plan step (they’re free). We check the number against our database first — globally-unique identifiers (microchips, passports) can belong to only one animal, so an already-registered number is blocked.

A microchip or tag number can’t be changed after registration, so you type it twice. Once the first entry is accepted, Re-type the number (for a United Pet Club tag, Re-type the code, and Re-type the batch if you entered a batch) asks for it again. Type it from the chip card, your vet’s records, the scanner or the tag itself. You can’t paste into the second box, because a paste would copy any typo along with it. Spaces and capital letters don’t matter. Continue to Plans stays greyed out until both entries match. A number that came in already filled from a scan or a link, and that you didn’t change, isn’t asked for again.

On the last step you tick that the number is the true number of the microchip or tag, that it belongs to the pet shown, and that you understand it can’t be changed after registration.

To prevent abuse, each pet is limited to 2 active microchips, 5 active tags, 5 passports and 3 tattoos. The kind step shows how many the pet already has, and a kind the pet is full on can’t be opened.

Redeeming a United Pet Club box or chip

Many United Pet Club chips and tags come with a secret: the card in the box has a code (it starts with BX-) and a secret, and a single chip or tag can carry its own code and secret on its label. The secret proves the chips are yours, so nobody can register them just by reading a number off a box in a shop. Chips and tags that came without a secret are added like any other: type the number in the register wizard.

Where

Pets → My Pet IDs → Redeem a box (/dashboard/pet-id/redeem), the button next to Register new at the top of your Pet IDs.

Redeeming

Open Redeem a box while you act as the profile the chips belong to: a breeder’s or clinic’s profile if the box is for their stock, your own if it is for your pets.
In Code, type the box card’s code, a chip’s or tag’s own code, or the chip or tag number itself. Dashes and spaces don’t matter. For a tag number, add its Batch if it has one.
In Secret code, type the secret printed next to that code, then press Redeem.

Everything in the box is added to your Pet IDs at once and listed with its number. Each one shows Added to your Pet IDs once the registry has it (it takes a few seconds), and a chip or tag that is yours gets a Put on a pet button, which opens the register wizard with its number already filled in. If you redeemed one chip from a box on its own first, the box lists it as Already yours.

A chip someone else already registered stays theirs. It is listed as Already claimed by someone else or Registered to someone else: contact support; send support the box code and the chip number and we sort it out.

In the register wizard

You don’t have to start from the redeem page. If you type the number of one of our chips or tags in Register new and it came with a secret, the wizard asks for it right there: enter the chip’s own secret, or the box card’s code and secret, and press Redeem. Then carry on to the plan and the pet as usual. A number someone else has already redeemed can’t be registered; contact support if it’s yours.

When the code doesn’t work

What you see	What it means
That code and secret don’t match	One of them is mistyped. Check both and try again.
This box hasn’t been marked as sold yet	The seller hasn’t recorded the sale yet. Try again once the box has arrived, or contact the seller.
This code has already been redeemed	Someone already used it. If it wasn’t you, contact support.
This code is no longer valid	The card was replaced. Contact support for the new one.
This code is paused after too many wrong secrets	Too many wrong guesses on this code. It unlocks again later on its own.

A plan that comes with the chip

Some chips include a recovery plan (for example Plus with ThermaSense chips and every identity kit). That plan is for the life of the pet and starts the day you put the chip on a pet, not the day you bought or redeemed it, so a chip can wait in a drawer. When you register such a chip, the wizard skips the plan step, shows Plus included for life, and there is nothing to pay.

Claiming an ID a professional registered for you

Your vet, clinic, shelter or breeder may have registered a microchip, tag, tattoo or passport for you, for your profile or before you had an account (see Pro Assign). Open Pets → My Pet IDs → Claim from a professional:

Waiting for your approval — a professional who found you on United Pet Club registered an ID for your profile. It is not yours until you say so: Approve takes the ID and links it to the pet they chose (or to the pet you pick on this page), Decline if it is not yours — you can say why — and it stays with the professional. Only a pet’s owner links a chip to it. Your home page shows a reminder while something waits for you.
Registered for you — if you signed up with the same email address or phone number the professional captured, and that contact is verified on your account, the registration is listed here with the professional’s name. Claim it with one click; no code needed. Your home page also shows a reminder while something is waiting.
Have a claim code? — type the identifier number as printed and the one-time code the professional gave you (for example PA-7QF3-9XKD). Five wrong codes lock the registration; ask the professional to re-issue it.

Before claiming you can pick which of your pets the ID is on; skip that to claim now and link it later from My pet IDs. Once claimed, the ID is yours exactly as if you had registered it yourself — choose a recovery plan for it whenever you like. If the register wizard tells you an ID was registered by a professional, use the claim page instead of registering it again.

When the pet is not on United Pet Club yet

A professional can register an ID for your profile and only describe the animal (its name, species, breed, sex, birthday, colours). You get an email and an in-app notice with a link, and you can add the pet from what they entered in one go:

Open the link, or go to My Pets → Add Pet and choose Registered by a professional. The tile shows how many registrations are waiting.
Pick the registration and choose Add this pet. The wizard opens with the professional’s details filled in. Everything can be changed; the ID itself comes from the registration.
Finish the wizard. Create Pet adds the pet, links the ID to it and approves the registration.

The same button, Add this pet, is on the Claim from a professional page next to Approve. Choosing Approve on its own takes the ID without a pet. It then stays in the Registered by a professional list, marked Approved — not on a pet yet, until you add the pet or link the ID to one of your pets.

Your pet keeps a record of who registered its ID, where and when, as the professional entered it. Editing the pet afterwards does not change that record.

Recovery plans

Every identifier carries a recovery plan that decides how a finder reaches you when your pet is scanned, and what else happens when it goes missing:

Plan	Price	Alerts	What it adds
Basic (free)	Free	Email	The registration, the universal lookup, the private finder relay
Plus	$9.99, lifetime	Email	Your phone number is shown to a signed-in finder
Deluxe	$19.99, lifetime	Email, text (SMS)	+ where the scan happened, on a map
Complete	$49.99, lifetime	Email, text, WhatsApp, Telegram, push, voice call, inbox	+ members and pet professionals near the last-seen spot are alerted when you report the pet lost

A paid plan is one payment that covers your pet for life. It is not a subscription and there is nothing to renew: the plan stays on the identifier for as long as the pet has it, and it stays with the pet if the pet changes hands. Prices are in US dollars. If you are in Canada, GST or HST is added at checkout: the checkout shows the subtotal, the tax and the total before you pay. See Taxes on United Pet Club fees.

Push and voice-call alerts are not switched on yet; every other channel on your plan is live.

The Basic plan is applied instantly. Paid plans go through a quick checkout. Every plan stays with the pet when ownership changes — see When a pet comes to you with a plan below.

Upgrading a plan

From Pets → My Pet IDs (or the Recovery protection panel on a pet’s profile), select Upgrade next to any identifier to move it to a higher tier. The higher plan is one payment too and covers the pet for life. You can also pick a lower plan; what you paid for the current one is not refunded.

The Recovery protection panel also has an Upgrade Plan button at the top:

With one ID that can go higher, it opens that ID’s plan choice straight away.
With several, it lists them, least-protected first (for example Pet tag … (Basic), then Microchip … (Plus)), so you pick which one to upgrade.
If the pet has no microchip or tag yet (a passport alone has no paid plans), it offers Register a microchip or Register a pet tag for this pet; you choose the plan as part of registering.

The button doesn’t appear once every ID is on Complete, while a one-pet recovery subscription covers the pet, or on a pet that’s only shared with you.

Checking out a plan

The checkout works out your total as soon as it opens: in Canada it adds GST/HST and shows Subtotal, the tax and Total. Only then does it offer to round up for pets in need, and the round-up rounds that final total (for example US$33.89 → US$34.00). Continue to payment shows the exact amount your card is charged. If you remove a plan from the cart, the total is worked out again and the round-up starts over.

After you pay for a plan

The new plan usually shows on the pet within a few seconds of paying. If it takes longer, the page says so and tells you there is no need to pay again. You can leave the page; the plan is put on the pet as soon as your payment is confirmed.

If something changed between choosing the plan and paying, nothing is taken away from your pet. For example, the pet may already have reached that plan or a higher one in another way, or the ID may have moved to a new owner. The pet keeps the plan it has, and our team reviews the payment and refunds you if it bought nothing new. The same applies if a payment ever can’t be matched to the plan you chose.

When a pet comes to you with a plan

If you take over a pet through a transfer, its recovery registrations come with it, at whatever plan the previous owner had. Before anyone can alert you, though, you have to confirm that you agree to be contacted about the pet’s recovery: My pet IDs and the pet’s Recovery protection panel show an Action needed notice with a Review and confirm button. The short wizard lists the IDs that came across, asks for your consent, and then offers each plan’s next tier. Until you confirm, finders still reach the private relay and scans are still recorded, but no alert is sent to you.

Cover every ID with one subscription

On a pet’s profile, the Recovery protection panel offers a one-pet recovery subscription that covers all of that pet’s identifiers at once, instead of paying per identifier. While the subscription is active, each identifier shows Covered by subscription. Cancel anytime and each identifier falls back to its own plan.

Cover up to 3 pets with Pet Care Plus

Pet Care Plus is a plan for you rather than for one pet: up to 3 of your pets, which you choose, get Complete recovery cover while the plan is active, and it adds recall alerts for all your pets. Its card is on My Pet IDs, above your pets, and an ID of a covered pet shows a Pet Care Plus label. When the plan ends each pet goes back to its own plan. See Pet Care Plus.

Reporting a pet lost or stolen

The Recovery protection panel on a pet’s profile — and Report lost or stolen in the pet’s ⋮ menu on My pets — opens a recovery case and alerts you the moment any of the pet’s microchips or tattoos is scanned. Mark it found to close the case.

First say what happened: Lost (the pet went missing or ran off) or Stolen (someone took it). Then add a note — what people should look out for, such as a collar, a scar or how the pet reacts to strangers; for a stolen pet, the police report number. Members and pet professionals we alert near the last-seen place see the note; it never appears on the public page.

No microchip or tattoo yet? You can still report the pet. The form tells you that a vet or shelter scan can’t alert you without one, and links straight to registering a microchip or a tattoo for that pet.

Then tell us where it was last seen and pick the country: that is what we match professional help on. As soon as the report is open:

You get a confirmation email — “{Pet}‘s lost report is open — here is what happens next” — listing what is now active (scan alerts, the finder relay, the public notice if you chose it) and what to do in the first hour.
Professional search help near you. If United Pet Club sellers offer professional lost-pet search and recovery services — scent-tracking teams, humane trapping, camera or drone searches — in the area where your pet was last seen, up to five of them appear both in that email and under the open report on your pet’s page, closest and best-matched first. Each one links to the seller’s store, where you can read about their services and contact them. They are independent professionals, not United Pet Club staff; what they charge is between you and them.
The public notice. With Public lost listing on, your pet’s public profile page shows a reported lost (or reported stolen) banner — when it was reported, the area it was last seen, whether a reward is offered, and the same professional-help list — so anyone who finds the page can act. Your name and contact details are never shown; finders reach you through the private relay.

No sellers near you yet? The report still opens and every other protection still applies; the list simply stays empty. Once you mark the pet found, the banner and the list disappear.

How your alerts reach you

When a finder writes to you, or someone searches one of your pet IDs, we alert you on every channel your plan includes, all at once:

Email on every plan.
A text on Deluxe and Complete. Add a mobile number to your profile, with its country code (for example +1 604 555 0142). It can stay private: only our alert system reads it.
WhatsApp, Telegram, push, a voice call and your United Pet Club inbox on Complete. WhatsApp needs a number you switched to WhatsApp (WhatsApp); each phone gets one message, WhatsApp if you chose it, otherwise a text, and if WhatsApp can’t deliver the same message comes by text. Telegram rides on the inbox once you connected it (Telegram).
Deluxe and Complete show you where the scan or search happened on a map: the exact spot when the finder shared their location, otherwise the city the search came from. On Basic and Plus the alert says that the place is shown on the Deluxe and Complete plans instead.

Texts are capped at 10 a day per number, so a flood of searches can’t turn into a flood of messages; email and your inbox are never capped.

When someone searches your pet’s identification

You do not need to have reported anything for this one: whenever a recovery search — on unitedpetclub.com, on a upc.pet tag page, or through a partner registry such as the AAHA Universal Pet Microchip Lookup — matches one of your registered pet IDs, we alert you straight away on the channels above: “Someone just searched your pet’s identification — a possible recovery.”

The email tells you everything we know about the search:

Who searched. A signed-in member’s name, email address and phone number, so you can reach out to them directly; or “an anonymous visitor”; or the name of the partner registry. Partner registries do not tell us who scanned or where.
Roughly where, with a map link when a location is available, on the Deluxe and Complete plans. The email says clearly whether it is an exact position or only the area of an internet connection. On Basic and Plus the email tells you that the place is shown on the Deluxe and Complete plans.
What to do now. Keep a close eye on your email, your phone, WhatsApp and your social inboxes — if the searcher has found your pet, their message can arrive at any moment, and the fastest reunions happen when the first message is answered quickly.

A finder who wants to reach you can also send a message through the search panel itself; that arrives as a separate email carrying their message and their contact details — see Microchips, tags and identity kits.

Repeated searches of the same number by the same person are bundled, so a finder re-typing a number does not fill your inbox; a different person searching later notifies you again. Searches you make on your own signed-in account for your own pets never notify you.

While a pet is flagged lost or stolen, every search alerts you, even if you switched search alerts off for that pet. Clear the flag once your pet is home.

Search alerts and finders’ messages arrive in the language you chose for your account under Account → Preferences → Language & region — see Change your language and region. If you never chose one, they are in English. A WhatsApp alert may still be in English when you have not written to us on WhatsApp in the last 24 hours.

Scan alerts & privacy

You decide what a search of your pet’s identification reveals, and whether you hear about it. The Scan alerts & privacy card at the top of Pets → My Pet IDs holds your defaults — they apply to every pet ID you own:

Email me when someone searches my pet’s ID — the alert email described above. Turn it off and searches stop notifying you; everything else (what the finder sees, whether they can message you) is unaffected.
Let finders send me a message — the finder relay. Turn it off and the search panel no longer offers a “contact the owner” form for your pets; a finder is told the owner cannot be reached this way.
What a finder sees — how much a matching search reveals:
- Pet’s name and a secure contact relay (the starting setting) — the finder sees your pet’s name and, if the relay is on, can send you a message.
- Pet’s name only, no contact — the finder can confirm they have the right pet, but no contact option is offered.
- Nothing beyond “registered” — the search only confirms the identification is registered and that the owner has chosen not to share anything. Your pet’s name is not shown.

Changes save immediately. Until you change anything, every pet ID uses the most helpful setting: name shown, relay open, alerts on — being found is the point of registering an ID.

Custom rules for a single pet ID

Each identifier row on the same page has a Privacy button. It opens a dialog with the same three controls, applied to that identification only — the choices there override your defaults for that ID and nothing else. An ID with its own rules shows a Custom privacy badge in its row.

Use Use my defaults in the dialog to drop the custom rules — the ID follows your defaults again from that moment, including any later changes you make to them.

The Privacy button appears on identifiers that are in the United Pet Club scan registry (UPC tags and identifiers registered through our inventory) — those are the ones a public search can resolve. An identifier without the button simply has nothing a finder could look up here.