Petkey

Petkey is a pet recovery service based in Wixom, Michigan of the United States, available in North America. It's the largest^[1] non microchip manufacturer owned pet recovery service.^{[citation needed]} Upon enrollment, a pet's information is documented including the pet's photograph, description and emergency contact information. If the pet has a microchip implant, that number is also documented.^[2] When a registered pet is lost or stolen the service sends a bulletin to its members, shelter groups, veterinary clinics, trainers, pet supply retailers, and grooming shops in a 50-mile (80 km) radius^[3] of the pet's last known location.^[4]

History

Petkey was established in the year 2003 to create a better way to find lost pets. ^[5] Petkey recognized that technology is available to identify and return missing pets. However, confusion within the microchip industry and insufficient international lost pet recovery efforts contribute to fewer than 10% of missing pets returning home.

Petkey has a history of misleading pet owners and adopters by registering competitor's microchips into their own database for a fee. This causes conflict when adopting organizations refer pet owners to the microchip's creator or distributor, causing confusion for owners trying to track down missing pets who are unaware they did not register with the correct microchip database. Furthermore, their sales practices have been accused of being predatory and intentionally misleading.