# was i wrong?



## ghein (Jul 5, 2013)

I already have a dog that I adopted years ago from a rescue group. But today is the first time I rescued a dog and got it back to its family. When I found the dog, it had no tags. I wanted to take it straight home, but I was concerned about disease being spread to my dog, so I took it to my vet for a check-up. They scanned for a chip, but didn't find one. As a precaution (and on the vet's advice), the dog was given a standard rabbies vaccine. The total bill came to $90. Later in the day, just by good luck, the original family found me. Hooray! Because the dog did receive medical attention, I gave all of the paperwork to the family. I thought they would want to know. The lady asked me if I wanted her to pay me back the $90. I said that it was her choice. She said she would go to the ATM and return with cash. She seemed a little peeved about the money, and has yet to return. Was I wrong to even show her the vet bill?

Thanks,
Glen


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## voodookitten (Nov 25, 2012)

No, you did the right thing. I would have done the same. But dont expect her to come back and give you any money. If she couldn't even be bothered chipping their dog...and then ASKED if you wanted the money paid back...........real great owner.......well at least it got vaccinated.

Edited to add that I totally missed all this happened in the same day, I didn't read it properly. I thought it was over a few weeks foe some reason. I wouldn't have vaccinated a dog I found that day, no way. Or even taken it to a vet if it was in no obvious pain or injured. if I couldn't keep it at home I would have dropped it at the pound or similar. So I have to say that yeah.....you should have shown her the vet bill so she knows that you vaccinated her dog.......but expected no money in return........I would have been peeved too......but um next time? Maybe dont take it to the vet


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I find it really weird to pick up a stray dog and then take it to the vet and give it vaccines personally. If you'd had the dog for a while, sure. But if it was the same day, I would assume that I would be able to either find the owner or drop the dog off at the shelter/pound. There's no way I would ask for vaccines or medical treatment for a dog I picked up that day.

If I had decided to have something done to the dog, I wouldn't expect the owner to pay for it either. And if it was my dog that was missing and I found it the same day, there's no way I'd pay for vaccines that were given that day, and I would think it really weird if someone had taken my dog to the vet and vaccinated it, and there's no way I'd be paying for it. I'd be happy to pay a reward for a missing dog, but we're talking about a dog who was returned the same day here, and you vaccinated it. Sorry, that's just weird.


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

honestly? if it was my dog I not only would not pay you back would be absolutly livid. vaccines are not harmless, what if the dog had just been recently vaccinated and the sudden double up caused a bad reaction? what if the dog was allergic to vaccines outright? not everyone knows about chips or can afford them not to mention they can migrate or disapere altogether. it hits home for me because I have a dog who is not chipped (wasn't done here until recently) and she will DIE if she is vaccinated. her puppy series landed her hooked to ivs at the vet for days. if for some outlandish reason she got lost? and lost her tags somehow? I live in terror that someone might do something like this thinking they are helping.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

lil_fuzzy said:


> I find it really weird to pick up a stray dog and then take it to the vet and give it vaccines personally. If you'd had the dog for a while, sure. But if it was the same day, I would assume that I would be able to either find the owner or drop the dog off at the shelter/pound. There's no way I would ask for vaccines or medical treatment for a dog I picked up that day.
> 
> If I had decided to have something done to the dog, I wouldn't expect the owner to pay for it either. And if it was my dog that was missing and I found it the same day, there's no way I'd pay for vaccines that were given that day, and I would think it really weird if someone had taken my dog to the vet and vaccinated it, and there's no way I'd be paying for it. I'd be happy to pay a reward for a missing dog, but we're talking about a dog who was returned the same day here, and you vaccinated it. Sorry, that's just weird.


I agree. There's no reason not to scan the dog for a microchip, but if it wasn't obviously ill or injured there's also no reason the dog would need an exam or to be vaccinated immediately. I'd at least look for an owner before vaccinating.


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## ghein (Jul 5, 2013)

Originally, I was going to take the stray to the pound. But she looked at me with her sad brown eyes and I just couldn't do it. I just assume that the dog pound means a death sentence. That may be wrong, but that's my perception of the pound. I didn't want to introduce the stray to my dog until a vet said it was OK. The vet is the medical expert, not me. The vet agreed that that an immediate check-up was the right thing to do. I too was concerned about negative side-effects of a doubled-up vaccine. The vet told me that it was not a concern. I never considered an allergic reaction to the vaccine, but the vet never mentioned that either. I thought about waiting on the vaccine. But since the vet said there was no risk, it only cost $20 (USD), and the vet is a 20 mile drive from my house, I figured it was the best thing to do. However, I thought it was important for the original owner to have all of the information concerning the vaccination. That's why I gave her all of the paperwork. The vet knew that I would be looking for the original owner. She made a point of asking me to look for the owner. Honestly, I figured it was a 100 to 1 against find the owner. I was expecting the most likely outcome was that I would give the stray a permament home. It was a strange chance that the owner even found me. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not worried about the $90 vet bill. I'm glad the owners found their dog. However, in the few hours I had her, I already was getting attached and was sad to see her leave.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I agree that taking the dog to the vet to check for a chip is the right thing to do. If I picked up a dog with no tags that's what I'd do too. But I would put more effort into finding the owner before vaccinating. If your own dogs are vaccinated, an unvaccinated dog would be very low risk, and if I'd brought home a new dog I wouldn't throw it together with my dogs immediately anyway. They'd need to be properly introduced and kept separated unless supervised, so giving the dog vaccines would be the last thing on my mind.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Yeah, but you live in Australia, no rabies. This is kind of a different situation, especially in the southern states. More of a public health issue. The dog didn't get a full round of distemper and parvo and bordetella, only rabies. I can't say I'd be happy if my dog was missing for a few hours and came back with a fresh vaccine, but well, can't say I blame them.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

I DO live in the southern united states, and frankly of all the communicable diseases that would worry me with a stray dog interacting with my dog, rabies is the least of them. The ones that would concern me are the ones they are exposed to every time we are in public together, and that is why they are vaccinated and kept home until they've had a full series. 

So no. I'd have the dog looked at if anything seemed off, and I'd check for a microchip regardless, but vaccinate it the SAME DAY I found it? No. No way. And if someone did so to my dog, I'd be assuming they were making a bid to establish ownership and preparing to keep the dog, which would make me really, really uneasy. Or at least struck me as extremely weird.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Rabies wouldn't be top of my concerns for a dog here in the southern US; it is pretty darn rare in dogs.

Last time I found a stray, I took her in for a microchip scan, found nothing, keep her separate from my dogs for 2 days while looking for an owner and took the general cleanliness precautions figuring that kennel cough and worms were the most likely communicable diseases for an adult stray to have. Parvo is everywhere anyway and the dog was showing no signs of illness. I then ended up taking her to the humane society where she was later adopted out of (and they would vaccinated there prior to adoption).

Another stray I took in directly and a microchip was found, the dog was obviously owned by someone and clean and friendly so I didn't overly stress about handling the dog myself and he never met my dog (owner was reunited a few hours later and yes, he was already vaccinated)

I had a foster dog that I took in at 4 months old after he was dumped; I knew for a fact he had no vaccinations at all so I took him directly to the vet and he got his first series + rabies and he was then kept separate for 7 days. 

So vaccinating on Day 1 is a little odd to me unless you knew the dog's history. That's also a huge vet bill for a quick check up and a rabies shot, in my area it'd be about $15 for the rabies and most vets will do a quick once over for free if you explain that you just found the stray and wanted to make sure it had no obvious, urgent concerns.


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