Long story short: Our dead dog missed some vaccines at 4 years old while we were dealing with his severe epilepsy, and now I'm concerned it will cause difficulties for us looking to adopt again after one shelter specifically asked for his [incomplete] vaccine records. Will this be a giant problem?
Long story long:
Some of you know that Sebastian died earlier this month and we have started the process of searching for a new family member.
As I've been trying to get records together from Sebastian's multiple vets that rescues want to call, it occurred to me that he missed a number of vaccinations at around four years old. I feel miserable and mortified just saying so; it makes me feel so irresponsible. I'm quite certain it was at a time when his epilepsy was especially vicious and we were running back and forth from the ER to the specialist seemingly every other week. There's no good excuse, but that's how it happened, along with the fact that we had been looking for a new primary vet for quite some time and he kept needing to go to the neurologist, instead. He basically just saw her for a while to try and get a handle on the seizures. Our primary vet was really not good about mentioning the vaccines-- I have no recollection of him reminding us even at 4-year physical-- which is a good example of why we were looking for another. I know the lack of vaccinations is really not great and without them, another dog probably shouldn't have been homed here were Sebastian still living, but he's not.
One rescue has already explicitly asked for the vaccination records, knowing Sebastian has passed, which is what alerted me to the fact that a bunch of them don't exist. He had all his puppy vaccines and annual boosters, just not the set that appears to be due at four years old. I certainly don't intend to lie to the rescue about this and I know we took very good care of Sebastian otherwise, especially given his health challenges, which I thought would be clear to see from his extensive medical records. But I also have a feeling in my gut that they are going to be extremely unhappy to hear this. Or maybe my worrying nature is getting the best of me and I just need to be forthright?
And is this something that many/most rescues might find problematic to the point of disqualifying? Does it just depend? The whole thing is making me very anxious.
Any and all advice about this would be highly welcome and appreciated.
Despite all of this and just to be clear, I like it when rescues and shelters have stringent requirements and are working to make sure a dog is going to a caring, capable, and responsible home. I definitely understand why they would be concerned about whether or not a still-living dog is up-to-date on vaccines, and I also imagine that for a healthy dog, vaccination records may be some of the only other health records available beyond regular check ups. Sebastian's other health records are a mile long, though, and he is no longer with us. I honestly don't really understand why vaccinations are the specific records this rescue wants over any others. Can anyone explain?
Thank you so much. I'm feeling real guilty about this right now. :redface:
Long story long:
Some of you know that Sebastian died earlier this month and we have started the process of searching for a new family member.
As I've been trying to get records together from Sebastian's multiple vets that rescues want to call, it occurred to me that he missed a number of vaccinations at around four years old. I feel miserable and mortified just saying so; it makes me feel so irresponsible. I'm quite certain it was at a time when his epilepsy was especially vicious and we were running back and forth from the ER to the specialist seemingly every other week. There's no good excuse, but that's how it happened, along with the fact that we had been looking for a new primary vet for quite some time and he kept needing to go to the neurologist, instead. He basically just saw her for a while to try and get a handle on the seizures. Our primary vet was really not good about mentioning the vaccines-- I have no recollection of him reminding us even at 4-year physical-- which is a good example of why we were looking for another. I know the lack of vaccinations is really not great and without them, another dog probably shouldn't have been homed here were Sebastian still living, but he's not.
One rescue has already explicitly asked for the vaccination records, knowing Sebastian has passed, which is what alerted me to the fact that a bunch of them don't exist. He had all his puppy vaccines and annual boosters, just not the set that appears to be due at four years old. I certainly don't intend to lie to the rescue about this and I know we took very good care of Sebastian otherwise, especially given his health challenges, which I thought would be clear to see from his extensive medical records. But I also have a feeling in my gut that they are going to be extremely unhappy to hear this. Or maybe my worrying nature is getting the best of me and I just need to be forthright?
And is this something that many/most rescues might find problematic to the point of disqualifying? Does it just depend? The whole thing is making me very anxious.
Any and all advice about this would be highly welcome and appreciated.
Despite all of this and just to be clear, I like it when rescues and shelters have stringent requirements and are working to make sure a dog is going to a caring, capable, and responsible home. I definitely understand why they would be concerned about whether or not a still-living dog is up-to-date on vaccines, and I also imagine that for a healthy dog, vaccination records may be some of the only other health records available beyond regular check ups. Sebastian's other health records are a mile long, though, and he is no longer with us. I honestly don't really understand why vaccinations are the specific records this rescue wants over any others. Can anyone explain?
Thank you so much. I'm feeling real guilty about this right now. :redface: