For pet owners, one of the worst things that can happen is a beloved animal going missing. Thankfully, there are a number of ways to help make sure our precious furry friends get home safely, and the most common of these is making sure they’re microchipped.

However, one animal shelter worker has shared their frustration at the number of owners who don’t understand how microchips work, making it much harder to reunite lost pets with their families. Posting on Reddit, they wrote: “I work at a shelter and one of the most frustrating parts of the job is seeing pets that should have gone home but didn’t.” They said one of the most common misconceptions surrounds microchips.

“Most people assume that if their pet is microchipped, they’re good,” they said. “A microchip only helps if the chip is actually registered.

“A lot of pets that come in are chipped, but the chip isn’t registered anywhere, so we have no way to contact the owner. When owners do eventually find their pets, they didn’t realise their pet’s microchip was never registered.

“They were told their pet was chipped and assumed that automatically meant their name and phone number were attached to it. TAKE THIS AS NOTICE: THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS.”

They added many people also assume microchips work like GPS trackers and can be used to pinpoint their pet’s location, which is not true. “The chip only works when someone physically scans your pet with a reader,” they said.

Other common situations they said they see include pets being adopted or bought having already been microchipped, but the new owner failing to register the details. They also said owners of pets which aren’t allowed out of the house should also microchip their pets.

They said: “We see people not microchip their pets because they are ‘indoor only’. Indoor pets get out. It happens way more than people think.”

Concluding, they said: “If your pet is chipped, please take a few minutes to check where it’s registered, make sure your contact info is updated, and add a backup contact if you can. If your pet isn’t chipped, please do it!”

Another user added some additional advice, saying: “This also needs to be stated: if you’ve registered your chip properly but move or change your phone number, you need to update that information! If your pet is in a shelter and they can’t get ahold of you because your registered phone number is defunct it’s frustrating for the workers and can be traumatising to the animal (who may think you’re not looking/coming for them).”

Microchips are tiny computer chips roughly the size of a grain of rice, according to animal welfare charity Blue Cross. They contain a unique code which matches with a record of your pet’s details stored on an authorised database. If a pet is lost, the chip can be scanned, retrieving the owner’s details.

Microchipping can be carried out by a vet or veterinary nurse, and costs between £15 and £25.

In England, Wales, and Scotland it is required by law for all dogs to be microchipped, while cats must also have a chip in England. Failing to microchip your pets can result in a fine of up to £500.  In Northern Ireland microchipping is required as part of an application for a dog licence, which is a legal requirement for ownership of most dogs.