Register that Microchip!!

That's weird, 2 chips.  When we adopted our cats at the local HS, one had a chip in him when captured.  The HS gave us the paper work to register our info & purchase a tag from the chip company.  The other was chipped at the HS & we were handed the paperwork along with a tag. Hmmmm, something sounds off.
 
Anyway, thank you for being a responsible owner & for adopting! 

I agree with you completely. I wrote a blog about this issue as I run a lost and found pet website. Microchips seem to be such a great way to re-united lost pets but there are three critical conditions that have to be met for them to be successful.

1). The microchip information has to be up-to-date.
2) The person that finds a dog has to know about microchips and take the dog to get scanned.
3) The shelter/vet needs to have the right scanner etc to detect the chip.

I am a little worried that too many dog owners have their dog's microchipped (excellent[]) but then don't do any follow through to make sure the chip is useful if the dog is lost. The result is your situation, a pet with a useless microchip.

I got an email from someone who had a rescue that was chipped. She had it scanned and was given a chip company that was apparently no longer in business. I researched it and found out that the chip number belonged to a different chip manufacturer.

I don't think you have to worry about the previous owners tracking you down. If they never registered the chip, there's absolutely no info there to lead them to you. I'm surprised the vet that did the chipping didn't offer to register it.  My vet made that offer and I paid her the $17 - that way I didn't have to worry about forgetting to do it.

Joyce

Actually depending on the manufacture of the chip it can be traced back and I'm really shocked the shelter didn't scan the dog or try and locate the original owner through the manufacture.
 When the chips are sold, say an Avid chip, it is registerd with who the chip was sold too. no matter if it is ever registered through them by the owner they still know who they sold it too and that vet or private person is on record. If it was a vet who implanted the chip they would have that number registered to that dog/dog owner and could then call to alert them the dog was found.
 
Our club hosted a micro chip clinic three years ago, one of the dogs chipped got lost, the owner hadn't sent in the registration, the owner was tracked down because the chip was scanned, they contacted Avid and they contacted the Vet clinic that the chip was sold to who did our clinic, they had the number and owner info and dog was reunited