Petlog told owners of 9 million chipped pets to re-register, and some saw others' details

The BBC reported on 26 March 2021 that Petlog, which holds the registered details of more than nine million microchipped pets across the UK, had been accused of losing customer data. The firm asked all users to create a new account but did not explain why. One dog owner said he logged in and was shown another man's name, phone number, address and dog instead of his own spaniel, and said calls and messages to Petlog went unanswered.

Petlog said pet information was safe and that some customers might be unable to see their pets' details when setting up a new account because it wanted to verify details first. Its website said services had been upgraded and all data securely migrated, and that some security questions might not match for people who had not added details originally. A BBC reporter could not re-register their cat's chip. Customers posted that two dogs found on the M6 could not have chip details passed on because they were not on the system.

A Newcastle University law professor said the incident looked like a data breach that should have been reported to the ICO within three days. The ICO said it had no record of such a breach, though not all incidents need reporting, and Petlog said it found no evidence of a GDPR breach.

Some owners could not see or re-register their pets, with no fine or loss figure reported.

A database upgrade and migration meant users had to set up new online accounts.

Petlog did not tell customers why re-registration was needed, so many learned of the issue on social media.

Matching old records to new accounts failed for some owners, who could not find their pets or saw another person's details.

Petlog said it needed to verify details in some cases before completing account set-up.

When a data migration forces every customer to re-register, say why up front and verify matches; silence turns a fix into a rumour of lost data.

Petlog told customers they could submit a 'can't see my pet' form so the system could match their record to the new account, and said reunification of missing pets would not be affected. Customers on its Facebook page disputed that, citing found dogs that could not be traced.