Do vets have records of stolen animals?

DesperateDan

I've got a weird question I'm looking for a vet or anyone else knowledgeable in the area to answer. Basically every week I see stories of people having their animals robbed straight out of their back gardens.

I was wondering, if the person that stole the animal then took it to the vet 2 weeks down the line, is there a mechanism in place for that animal to have been 'flagged' as stolen and vet themselves actually ring the guards / potential real owners?

If not, I wonder why!?

Peregrinus

Because vets don't want to be in the business of acting as a police force? There's no faster way of losing a customer than accusing him of being in possession of a stolen animal.

This might be feasible in the case of animals that are microchipped, but I can't imagine the vets being terribly keen, for the reason just mentioned. Plus, it doesn't promote animal welfare; it effectively discourages people from presenting animals that are or might be stolen for what might be necessary veterinary treatment.

In the case of unchipped animals, obviously, it's completely impractical.

DBB

Yes, as Peregrinus says, the only any way reliable mechanism for doing this is via the microchip... If the animal has one.
As I understand it, and I may not be thoroughly accurate here, if an owner alerts the microchip database to the fact that their pet is missing/stolen, the database people "red flag" that animal on their system, so that if anyone enters that animal's microchip number into the database from that point on, it activates an alert to tell the database that someone out there has the animal in their possession.
Now, the chances of a vet doing this during a routine examination of the pet are very small... Why would he/she? The strongest likelihood of the missing animal's microchip being entered into the database would be by a pound, rescue, or vet who's been presented with a found dog, in which case the finder is legitimately looking for the owner anyway!
It is possible that if the owner carries out a major social media alert and postering campaign, that a vet might just recognise a missing/stolen pet, in which case any vet that I know would contact the Gardaí to handle it.

seamus

There's no regulation in this area. No requirement on vets to scan a dog that arrives in their surgery or even question the client about the dog.

And as others say, the effectiveness of such a thing is questionable. You're not talking about animal lovers here. If it became the case that vets routinely scanned/reported stolen dogs, then these people would just not go to the vets and instead let the dog suffer/die because they can always get a new one.