Our Story: Why We Built Peeva

It Started With a Stolen Dog

When our founder, Michael Hamilton, was a kid, his dog was stolen right out of his family’s backyard. They never saw him again. That kind of loss stays with you.

Years later, when Michael got his dog, Peeva, he did what every responsible owner does: he got her microchipped immediately. He thought he was doing the right thing. But during an emergency vet visit at a new clinic, he noticed something troubling—the staff didn’t scan her. When Michael asked why, the answer was honestly offensive: “Well, you didn’t look like the kind of person who would steal a dog.”

The Investigation

Michael couldn’t let that go. Was this a one-time oversight or a systemic failure? He then surveyed nearly 2,000 veterinary professionals across the U.S. and found the truth: The system was broken on a national scale.

Vets weren’t scanning because the process was a nightmare. Between competing microchip companies, different frequencies, and dozens of disconnected registries, scanning a pet was often a dead end. If a chip was found, staff had to spend hours on hold with unhelpful registries. Most clinics just didn’t have the time or resources to play “pet detective.”

Engineering a Solution

Michael knew that if he wanted to save pets, he had to make scanning standard, easy, and beneficial for the vets.

He teamed up with the University at Buffalo’s Engineering and Computer Science departments to tackle the hardware first. They conducted a “root cause analysis” and confirmed that a truly universal scanner didn’t exist—so they built one. A multi-channel RFID scanner that could read any brand, any frequency, and any encryption.

Turning Data Into a Lifesaver

Hardware was only half the battle. To get clinics to actually use the scanners, Michael realized he had to solve the data problem. The pet care industry was fragmented. Medical records were scattered across outdated software or lost in fax machines. Peeva changed that by pairing microchip IDs directly with medical records. Now, when a vet scans a pet, they don’t just get a serial number; they get that pet’s entire medical history instantly. This saves the clinic time, improves care, and—most importantly—triggers an instant notification to the owner with the pet’s precise location.

Overcoming the Odds

The journey hasn’t been easy. We faced the “broken” parts of the industry head-on—from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to predatory registries that aggregated customer data just to sell it off.

But through every pivot, we stayed focused on our mission. We moved Peeva online, allowing owners across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico to register their pets in our central registry for a nominal fee.

Where We Are Today

Peeva has grown from a childhood heartbreak into North America’s most comprehensive pet recovery and medical records network. We’ve moved past the “broken” tech of the last 40 years to create a system that actually works.

We Find Missing Pets Every Single Day

We’re not just a tech company; we’re pet owners who refused to accept “ehhh… that’s good enough.”