Is this true?

Sealine

Sealine

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This question just came up from a work colleague after her partner's husband died in relation to a pet dog. Does anyone know if there is any truth in this?

Apparently, if you don't have your pet listed in your will with who they should go to, they will be impounded and taken to a rescue home. Vets will not treat animals if the microchip is not registered to you and the Will confirms the pet now legally belongs to you! Is this true?

Bearing in mind how often dogs change ownership these days I'd be surprised. I have re-registered a microchip in my name after buying a 1 year old dog from a website. I did have the vaccination certificate with the original owners details. Who would impound the dog or take it to a rescue home? Has anyone here ever had any issues taking ownership of a family pet?
 
Will follow with interest. If anything happens to OH and me (at the same time) we have instructions printed out in an obvious place of what happens to Daisy, with the relevant contact details. I know friends have done the same.
 
I can speak a little to this. A friend died and left everything to next of kin but told me and them verbally that I was to take the dog, I had to get a letter from NOK's soliticor confirming their consent to transfer of ownership and a copy of death certificate to get dog insured, re-registered with kennel club etc.

Another friend died last October, the dog was in the house and the police (they attended as was sudden death) took the dog to their kennels. We (friend group) had been ringing round rescues/boarding kennels etc with no joy, the dog warden was able to tell me that the police still had her and had not had time to take her to external kennels, so the ex spouse and adult child managed to go and get her with no issues. She was a bit frazzled after listening to Malis barking non stop for several days.

I think there are probably certain formalities but discretion can also be used and it will of course depend on the area and who you are dealing with as to how rigidly they want to stick to protocol.

But generally, every time I have acquired an adult dog and taken it to the vet, even dogs that were in with me for training or mating, I can't recall that they ever checked the chip to see if it was my dog or not.
 
Pets would only be uplifted if the death of an owner provided no next of kin nor information about ongoing care: usually next of kin would be assuming temporary ownership.

All vets will carry out at least emergency work to any pet, provided someone is paying for it. Transfer of chip is done when ownership is assumed, even for temporary emergency care, after 7 days.
 
All the rescue organisations l have worked with as a volunteer have it written in to the agreement that the dog is returned to them if not able to be looked after. Obviously in this situation it would stay in the home it’s used to if this was desired. We are occasionally contacted by the police if they become aware of a dog needing a home and they’re unable to immediately contact relatives. All dogs should be chipped and the details up to date.
 
Sealine said:
Vets will not treat animals if the microchip is not registered to you
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Most of the time vets will have no idea who the microchip is registered to. The only time they are likely to check microchip details is to attempt to reunite lost dogs that are handed in to them, and then only as a first line before the dog warden is involved; they are not voluntarily getting involved in ownership disputes. Microchips are not definitive proof of ownership in any case.
 
The only time that vets have ever queried ownership of a dog with me, was when I took two dogs that had been worrying sheep, to be pts for a neighbour. The vet knew all three parties concerned, me, the neighbour and the farmer whose sheep he had treated for dog worrying that morning. A phone call was made to the neighbour, who was at work 60 miles away, to confirm that it was his wish for the dogs pts and he was happy for me to sign the forms.

This was several years ago.
 
Wrote our wills a couple of years ago and were told to write a letter of wishes to include the dogs. Dogs’ Trust do a card leaving the dogs to them, but of course you’d need to ensure that this was obvious (tell the executor/leave it on the fridge, although not everyone will see this or act on it).

Our vets know us and chipped the dogs so they’ve never queried us, but when we had my bil’s puppy and he was sick, we had to show them the texts saying we had full authority to do anything necessary. Thank god there had been messages!
 
Very difficult to get a dog into the dog warden or rescue these days! In real life when we’ve had messy situations there’s never been any issue with the family once contacted reclaiming the dog. Sometimes they’ve been with the vets over a week as often traumatic deaths don’t have wills in place or straight forwards contact lines. The only time the vets routinely check chip to authorise treatment is healthy euthanasias, the chip companies are too faffy to get details off of quickly. We tend to double check the chips of those with dead owners incase it gives us a lead but not to authorise initial treatment.
 
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