# a bit of a rant



## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Why is it so many rescues (and some breeders) want/insist on having a vet referral/recommendation? It makes no sense to me. If They tried to check with my vet, it wouldn't get them much. Hades, the vet would have to look us up just to see if we were clients. They might remember us, if we'd been there recently, which seeing as we go once a year...yeah. And that's memory would most likely be due to how "rare" my pups' breed is around here. A quick check-up, license renewal and we're generally out of there. So, of what use would me giving the rescue/breeder a vet referral be? Just doesn't make sense.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

They probably want to make sure your dog is up to date on vaccinations....had to do for some who don't vaccinate.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

They probably want an idea of overall care your dogs get. A rescue would probably knock me out of the running as well, since I feed raw and don't vaccinate after puppy vaccinations are done. My dogs are healthy due to their diet, and I just don't have to vet. I'm not going to make a trip to the vet for nothing. IMO, just because you don't vet doesn't mean you don't take care of your dogs.

Of course, if a bad enough injury happened, a lameness or a true sickness happened, I would have them there in a heartbeat.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

I can see wanting to verify having up to date vaccinations which the city license should do or the records I keep. Would a vet just tell "anyone" who called about a client's information? I guess it's not that big of a deal, just annoys me. I find that I have less patience for hoop jumping these days.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

I can see where that requirement would be annoying. We're military, so we move every couple of years, we only see the vet as needed, my dogs have been very healthy, and most of the time I don't think my latest vet wouldn't remember me LOL. 

I'm pretty well done with rescues, though.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Celt said:


> I can see wanting to verify having up to date vaccinations which the city license should do or the records I keep. Would a vet just tell "anyone" who called about a client's information? I guess it's not that big of a deal, just annoys me. I find that I have less patience for hoop jumping these days.


That's a good point about giving out client information. Anyone could call and ask about it, but by law, are they even allowed to give that out? I'm not real sure. 

I guess if someone was wanting to adopt, and they new the vet would be called, they could call ahead of time to the last vet they used and authorize that info to be given out.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

I'm fairly certain the vet we see wouldn't remember us. If it weren't for computers, it would probably take quite awhile to find any information the clinic had on us. Let see in six years (going with the oldest pup's timeline). We've been in for vaccinations: 4x's, 2 neuters, 1 spay, 1 stitching, 1 broken leg (walls are bad), and 1 foreign object removal (grass seed in the ear). Except for the last 2, none of these visits would be memorable and even the last 2 aren't exactly "stand out moments."


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## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

I occasionally work with two different rescues in my area, fostering. If you could see the poor excuses for human beings that try and adopt dogs, you'd better understand why a rescue wants a vet reference. They just want to verify responsibility when it comes to spaying/neutering/vaccinating - they don't expect you to be best buddies with your vet - lol. Rescue dogs have already been abandoned, abused, or both, so the rescues don't want a repeat of that.


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## [email protected] (Oct 14, 2013)

I used to volunteer as one of the "reference checkers" for a rescue and we would call the potential adopters' vets to verify the dogs were vaccinated. I hated doing this and eventually stopped doing it because it just didn't feel right to me. I now volunteer with a rescue group that does not ask for any references from adopters.

When I called the various vets, they all gave me the info I asked for, no questions asked. Seems like that info should be private, but not one hesitated to give the info out.


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## Kritter (Jan 9, 2015)

I believe the rescue asks for vet references not only to see if you have one, but to verify you take care of the basic annual checkup. I can't imagine a vet would have to offer anything than that info anyway. At the end of 2013 when I put in an application for a dog, not only did the rescue NOT call my vet, when I told them my references had not called me back to verify it was ok to to use them, the rescue told me to get new friends. We got the dog no one wanted (with no references), and love love love her to death. I truly believe the dog finds you. And, not that it makes anyone feel better but we were refused an application once (from a rescue) because we don't have kids, and that's not by choice. I know some rescues require fences, blah blah blah, but to require kids? They all have their criteria I guess, if it doesn't work for you then move on.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

I guess, I just find it an invasion of my "privacy". In this day and age of "sharing", I find myself a little tetchy on others "invading" my space for what to me are unfathomable reasons. I can understand a home visit, especially for restricted/banned breeds, but all the other "hoops" seem a bit excessive. I wasn't planning on adopting again, but an "opportunity" came up. Oh well, just solidifies my decision to "stay away" from rescues/shelters.


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