Microchip mystery: Protect your pet

(WPRI) -- Microchips are used to track our pets if they're ever lost. Animal shelters use scanners to identify the missing animal, and call the owner.

In November of 2011, Eleanor Allard’s 11-year-old dog Phoenix went missing in Johnston. For weeks, she spent hours in the woods calling his name. Nothing but silence would follow.  "I feel so guilty,” Eleanor says. “I’m a mess. ”

Phoenix was microchipped. Eleanor says she did exactly what she was supposed to do; she contacted the chip company and reported him missing. That way, whoever found the dog would know who he belonged to. And Phoenix was found, just a few days later. But it took eight months for Eleanor to find out that he was found. And in that time, her pet was put up for adoption. "I was horrified,” she says. “It's cruel, it's mean."

So what went wrong? There are conflicting stories about what happened. Phoenix was found by an animal control officer in Massachusetts and taken to a shelter. After that, we have conflicting accounts.

The manager at the shelter tells us they brought the dog to an animal hospital to see if he was microchipped.  We contacted that animal hospital. In a statement, they tell us they did find a microchip in Phoenix. They also said they contacted the chip company, but were told the chip was "untraceable," and it did not provide any owner information.

Eyewitness News dug deeper and contacted the chip company. The company said Phoenix's chip worked properly, and they provided Eleanor's information to the hospital as they're supposed to.

In the meantime, Eleanor's beloved pet was adopted by another family. The only way she found out was by contacting the chip company on her own eight months later.

So how can you make sure this doesn't happen to your family? Experts say, take matters into your own hands and follow up with the chip company because as Eleanor's ordeal proves, the chip technology only works when everyone involved in the process does their job.

Dr. E.J. Finocchio, President of the RISPCA, says "It's just as simple as that. It doesn't take brain surgery to get this process to be very effective."

After Eyewitness News contacted the shelter, they agreed to reach out to the new owners of Phoenix. Although they were heartbroken to give him up, they realized what they had to do. At the very place where they adopted him one year ago, the couple sadly gave him back.

We'll never know who dropped the ball in this case, since all parties involved are pointing the finger at each other. Bottom line, if your pet is chipped, make sure your information is up-to-date with the chip company and make follow-up phone calls like Eleanor did to see if your pet was found.