HOMEAGAIN Pet Recovery Service Reunites One Million Lost Pets

Underscores Importance of Microchips and Up-to-Date Contact Information 

SUMMIT, N.J., April 23, 2012 – The HomeAgain® Pet Recovery Service announced today that it has reunited more than one million lost pets with their families. This achievement is a tribute to the quality services the company has provided through microchipping and pet recovery since launching in 1996.

One in three family pets will get lost during its lifetime, and without identification, 90 percent will not return home. HomeAgain works to reduce these numbers by offering microchips and proactive pet recovery assistance. A microchip is the only permanent form of pet identification that cannot fall off, be removed, or wear out. Once a microchipped pet is registered with HomeAgain, the chip’s unique code is permanently listed in the national recovery database. Owners must keep their contact information up-to-date to ensure they can be reached should their lost pet be found.

“We are proud to reach the milestone of reuniting one million lost pets with their families. This accomplishment would not have been possible without the help of our PetRescuers,” says Gary MacPhee, director and general manager of HomeAgain. The PetRescuer community includes more than 850,000 volunteers, shelters and veterinary clinics that keep a lookout for lost pets in their communities.

MacPhee continues, “Their outstanding effort to help reunite pets with their owners is what drives our success in bringing joy to families on a daily basis. Our goal has always been to help protect pets and we look forward to reuniting the next million lost pets with their owners.”

Among these reunions is Chewie, a Peekapoo who was lost from his family for two years, when his four-legged canine companion, Jack, opened the front door of their Arizona home and let Chewie out. Since the Baumgardner’s, a military family, moved frequently, the parents were devastated over the loss because pets were the one constant in their children’s lives. Their daughter, who received Chewie seven years earlier as an 11th birthday present, kept hope alive knowing he had a microchip. After the family relocated to California, they received a call from an animal clinic in Arizona. A good Samaritan found Chewie along the highway and took him to be scanned for a microchip. Because the family kept their contact information current in the HomeAgain microchip registry database, Chewie was reunited with his family.


Cody Baetge’s Chihuahua, Cooper, is another pet that was reunited with his family because of a microchip. He was returned to his family two years after he wandered 3,000 miles from his northern California home to Florida. Cooper was a gift from Cody’s dying grandfather as a way to remember him. Thanks to the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service, Cody and his family have their beloved pet and grandfather’s legacy back in their lives.

Another memorable reunion is the story of Scrub, the courageous cat from Mississippi who lost his way during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Scrub was lost for five years, but found just 15 miles from his home and scanned for a microchip at a shelter. Owner Jennifer Noble kept her contact information current in the HomeAgain database, which enabled the shelter staff to get in touch with her. Directors at the Humane Society of South Mississippi said it was unlikely Scrub would have returned home without the help of the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service.