> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Register Microchips and Use the Public Lookup Tool

> Register your animals' microchips so a found animal reaches you, and use the public lookup at rescueconsole.com/microchip — no account needed.

Microchip registration in RescueConsole serves two purposes: it makes sure a found animal can be traced back to your rescue, and it connects your animal's chip to the Public Registry so that anyone who scans it can check for active safety flags. The public lookup tool at [rescueconsole.com/microchip](https://rescueconsole.com/microchip) works for anyone — a vet, a shelter, a Good Samaritan — with no account required.

## Registering your animals' microchips

When you record a microchip number on an animal's record, you can choose to publish it to the RescueConsole network. Publishing makes the chip findable through the public lookup and through other rescues' in-app searches.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the animal's record">
    Navigate to the animal in the Animals workspace and open their profile.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter the microchip number">
    Add the chip number in the microchip field on the animal's profile tab. Enter the digits exactly as they appear — the lookup accepts numbers with or without spaces or dashes, so formatting doesn't have to match.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up your contact block">
    Your microchip registration carries a contact block that tells a finder how to reach you. This contact block is separate from your public website details — you control independently what appears here. Set it in your organization's Registry settings.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish the chip">
    Toggle the chip to published. It immediately becomes searchable through the public lookup and through in-app registry searches by other rescues.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  The contact block on a microchip registration is distinct from your public site details. You might show a general contact address on your website but a direct rescue hotline number on microchip registrations, so a finder reaches the right person immediately.
</Tip>

## The public microchip lookup

The lookup at [rescueconsole.com/microchip](https://rescueconsole.com/microchip) is open to anyone. No account, no sign-in. A vet scanning a stray, a shelter taking in a found dog, or someone who found an animal wandering can check the chip right there.

**To use it:** Enter the microchip number — digits only, spaces and dashes are ignored — and submit. The lookup checks the RescueConsole network and returns whatever is registered.

### What the lookup returns

<Accordion title="Whether a rescue on the network registered the chip">
  If any rescue on RescueConsole has published that chip number, the lookup confirms it and shows the contact block for that rescue — the name and contact details they set for microchip inquiries. This is how a finder reaches your organization to return the animal.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Chip maker information">
  The chip number format identifies the manufacturer. The lookup surfaces this so the finder knows which manufacturer's records to check as well.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="AAHA Universal Pet Microchip Lookup link">
  Alongside the RescueConsole network result, the lookup links to the AAHA Universal Pet Microchip Lookup — the broader industry registry that aggregates from multiple chip databases. A finder who doesn't find a match here can follow that link to check the wider network.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Active safety flag summary">
  If there is an active flag in the Public Registry associated with that chip number, the lookup shows a summary: the flag type and severity. It does not show the full narrative or the filing rescue's identity — those details are for rescues within the network. The summary tells a finder that a concern exists and that they should contact the rescue before proceeding.
</Accordion>

## What the public lookup will not do

The public lookup is intentionally limited to microchip numbers. It does not accept name, email address, or phone number searches.

This is deliberate. A public page that returned results for email addresses or phone numbers would be a way to read the registry one address at a time — anyone could walk through the list. The people named in flags never agreed to have their contact details searchable by the general public. Protecting that boundary is how the registry can exist at all.

<Note>
  Searching the registry by a person's email address, phone number, or other personal identifiers is possible — but only from inside your account, where access is controlled by your organization's roles and permissions. The public lookup is chips only.
</Note>

## Searching by chip from inside the app

Within your RescueConsole account, you can search the registry by microchip number from an animal's record. Open the animal, go to the Registry tab, and run a chip search. This is the same lookup, but in-context — the result appears next to the animal you're reviewing, and you can see the full flag details that a logged-in rescue is entitled to see, not just the public summary.