Protocols for Stray Dogs

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Robyn — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 15:45:31 GMT

[quote user="Josephine "]

BTW, what do you do with stray cats? We keep them for the legal 7 days then chip, neuter and vaccinate them before rehoming them ourselves. In some cases we've had cats with us for months! Not ideal.

[/quote]

Not had an issue with this yet! The closest we came was a bengal who turned out to have been essentially kidnapped 15 feet from it's house - no chip and the 'rescuers' took it home, and facebook did the rest thankfully! Thinking on it I don't think we'd risk doing anything - probably just keep them until we find a shelter for them. No space to kennel long-term and no o\n staff, so it might be a case for our ex-CPL ACA. Definitely need to have something better in place for them legally.

As far as birds, they get a health check. If healthy enough to carry on and not obviously a homing pigeon etc, we just release them, ideally as close to where they were found as possible. If unlikely to be able to fend for themselves and not a protected species, we euthanise. We're in the middle of Glasgow and only ever get pigeons, so we can be fairly pragmatic!

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

kerryfeehan — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 18:45:25 GMT

Also our practice is not open on a Sunday so then some poor bugger has to go back to deal with any strays!

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

kerryfeehan — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 18:43:48 GMT

Yeah stray cats are a huge problem for veterinary practices! We do the same with neutering and microchipping and contact local rescues for re homing. I really think the microchipping law should extend to cats too as so many horrid people think they can just get rid of them when they don’t want them anymore!

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Josephine — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:37:02 GMT

We take them in whether they are chipped or not. Unfortunately, our council dog warden do not take dogs after 5pm weekdays or the weekends! We don't do OOH, so the poor nurse working that weekend has to stay and look after it. Sometimes the rescuers want to take the dog and contact the dog warden themselves.

If they're not chipped and need medical treatment, we do keep them for 7 days like with stray cats then contact the dog warden.

BTW, what do you do with stray cats? We keep them for the legal 7 days then chip, neuter and vaccinate them before rehoming them ourselves. In some cases we've had cats with us for months! Not ideal.

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Nicola Smith — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 18:18:19 GMT

We are lucky as we have a local wildlife charity that have all our wild birds and rehab and release where possible. Maybe Google to see if there are any similar charities close to you?

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Erin Taylor — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 21:14:32 GMT

We had a situation the other day where a stray dog was brought in, no chip and no collar, but the lady who had found him couldn't take him to the local kennel (where the dog warden takes the strays) and couldn't take him home. We kept him for the majority of the day and gave him some much needed TLC and then I took him to the kennels myself when I finished work. Normally we wouldn't do that and we'd request that the finder took the dog to the kennel themselves as our dog warden is not the best at coming the same day, but under some circumstances thats not possible so we will take them in and either organise for the warden to come ASAP or we will take them ourselves.

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Katie Anakin — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 08:32:24 GMT

Not entirely on the topic but related. What does everyone do about birds being bought in? I had 1 year where about 15 pigeons came in and someone bought us a seagull. Most of the people claim that they phoned the RSPCA and were told to bring it to the vets. One pigeon was a racer and we rang the society and had his ring number traced and it was from Essex and they owner took 3 weeks to come and get the bird.

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Ben Ogden — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 13:29:10 GMT

As far as most councils are concerned dogs only stray between 9am & 4pm (insert tongue in cheek).

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Robyn — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:53:25 GMT

Although, right enough, outwith the hours of 10am-4.30pm we're supposed to take them to the police station anyway in Glasgow, so they're of limited usefulness!

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Robyn — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:51:46 GMT

Reassuring to hear that everyone's doing about the same thing as us in terms of not admitting/taking on strays! I think I need to have another chat with the council about who our dog warden is supposed to be and if they can actually be helpful, and start taking details from 'rescuers' just so I have the, but glad I'm on the same track.

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Alison Clare Hickman — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 22:13:55 GMT

It does beggar belief sometimes... we had a client who got snarky with us when he (eventually) collected his dog and found out we'd fed the poor, hungry, thing on wet food. Apparently that wasn't good enough...

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Sal the 1st — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:48:46 GMT

I always make it very clear from the onset that I will check for a chip but cannot take the dog in - I usually get the finder to call the dog warden while they are with us and say they will meet them at the practice as the dog warden is more likely to turn out faster for a member of the public than they are us and have a habit of telling us they can't get there till the next day.

I did on one occasion call an owner to say we had their dog - told them we closed at 6 which gave them around 2 hours to collect and then called them again at 5.45 to ask if they were collecting or not and if not they would be billed, to be told - but we only live round the corner could you drop him round for us?

Everything now goes through the dog warden - police station is just across the car park but the police won't get involved

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

WelshyNurse — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 18:49:12 GMT

What do you do if the finder will not take the dog back though? We’ve had that a few times

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

jojofruits — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 14:13:35 GMT

Hey Robyn

I don't think you should feel guilty about not taking the dog in, the person picking up the dog has kind of made it their problem by doing so and the council has a duty of care.

If someone brings a stray dog in here we do absolutely EVERYTHING we can to help to reunite it with its owner, but we don't admit it into the surgery.

We take a photo, share on social media, share on the doglost and reunited websites, let the local shelters, vet practices and dog warden know. check our computer records for dogs matching the description in the area. I once reunited an Australian terrier with its owner whose chip was out of date by years by searching for the breed on our database and ringing them all up!

We take all finders details and explain that they would be contacted direct and to be honest most are so grateful that you have done so much to help that they are usually happy to take the dog home and wait for the dog warden.

Police in south cambs/ north herts no longer have any responsibility for stray dogs, not sure what its like elsewhere in the country but the dog wardens have rally good facilities and websites and offer a non destruct policy where dogs are kept for 7 days then go to wood green animal shelters for assessment and rehoming. This means I can sleep at night!

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

Sarah Derbyshire - Kripp — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 08:49:26 GMT

Our practice policy is we don't take any strays in as we had a stray destroyed our walk in kennel, however we will take them in during the day and either try and contact the owner if chipped. If not chipped or can not get in touch with owner they go to local dog warden.

RE: Protocols for Stray Dogs

kerryfeehan — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 18:33:32 GMT

If they are not microchipped we call the council dog warden who collects them. If it’s too late we have to take it to our emergency provider who kennel it over night and they arrange for dog warden to collect