Comments on Groomers as Cops

I own 3 grooming salons. We have a yearly inspection by the county animal services, they check to see if we are tracking rabies vaccines. I would love a way around this (I don't vaccinate my own dogs yearly, not even close!) If we don't pass the inspection, we don't get our business permit renewed. Obviously there are too many clients for them to check each one, but still a risk...... Im totally open to ideas. I do NOT want to be the vaccine police!! I did get chewed out and verbally abused by 1 client because I don't require proof of kennel cough vaccine. Any helpful ideas are very appreciated, Dr Falconer.

Fyi: its not the groomer that requires rabies, its animal control who gives them their license and renews it each year. So if they are caught without rabies records on the animals in their care during a surprise inspection, guess who koses their license? They have every right to protect their business. Additionally, if your a a bites and draws blood, they are required to report it to animal control. Without proof of rabies, that pet could be confiscated and quarantined. No groomer wants to see that happen. Stop unfairly demonizing the groomer.

If you want someone who can watch your animals w/o vaccination, then you should probably sign up with rover.com. They have dog boarding and dog sitters in many places, and you can talk to them about minimally required vaccination for your animals. Basically it is like your friends or neighbors taking care of your animals but sponsored through a company. Check them out.
In Vancouver, WA, I only know of one groomer (I went to quite a few) that won't ask you for vaccination paper. Franko's Dog Groomer. 2704 E Evergreen Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98661
They are good and they are always booked to the max. They are also cheapest place but they do a GOOD job.

Funny story about sitters - in making preparations for our upcoming roadtrip this summer, I was trying to hire a cat sitter. While they were fine that my cat's last vaccination was in 2001, one of the sitters decided to give me a hard time about my cat's raw food diet. The owner jokingly warned me about it, but then when I met the sitter, she waited no more than 3 minutes before starting in on me about the raw food diet - and she hadn't even seen my cat! It was the very first thing she said. I cut her off immediately, and despite going through the rest of the visit, I ended up firing them. And wrote a very long and pointed letter to the owner about why they just lost several hundred dollars worth of business. Their excuse? "Oh, she's been a vet tech for 14 years."
Thankfully we found another cat sitter who said, in response to the raw food diet, "No worries... I have taken care of cats who are on a similar diet so it's no problem at all."
On the flip side, in looking to board my cat (it would be in someone's home), the owners there were pro-raw diet and the outdated vaccines, but insisted that my cat get a feline leukemia test. My cat hasn't seen a vet in 15 years, so it was an interesting visit. I ended up not getting the test done, and to do so I would have to drug her up.
On a side note, I have a very cool vet who also didn't have a concern about my cat's vaccination (since she is 16 years old and an indoor cat) - only that I would have to sign a waiver about the rabies. The vet still pushes a lot of drugs for my dog, but we've come to an understanding.

I consider myself very very lucky as I volunteer at a working kennel and daycare, and my dog can go 7 days a week if I wanted at no charge, same for boarding. It's expensive. $30-$40 a day. I have peace of mind when I'm at work knowing she is getting a couple walks per day, a few opportunities to socialize, there is a swimming pool there, they have doggie treadmills, and the staff are amazing and very caring people. And another huge benefit - They will take my dog's titers in replacement of yearly vaccinations (but only me unfortunately). Right now my dog has a really bad intestinal issue going on though so I am keeping her home. We went on an overnight hiking backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail and I am pretty sure she got giardia or leptospirosis from drinking stagnant water, sticking her nose in soil or holes/habitats where wildlife live, or drinking from the brooks/streams.

Hi Dr. Falconer, I'm a groomer and have a doggie daycare and limited boarding in my home. I try and tell all my clients not to continue to Vaxx and feed a raw diet! Some have listened and others Ya know think their vets now best! I tell them to please have thier dogs tittered. Im in Berlin, MA and try to get my clients to go to my Holistic Vet and go a healthy route for their pups. Thanks for your good works.
Andree

Hi Doc. I got the heartworm nosodes last year and still have some left,but can't remember if it is to be given with food or not. Please reply. Thank you.

I also wanted to mention that, according to PetSmart's policy (where I used to take my dogs to be groomed), they cannot groom any animal who is unvaccinated because it is a State law in Texas. No waivers, no titer tests allowed, just proof of current vaccination. So I was forced to find a more enlightened mobile groomer, which I'm grateful I found. See my previous post.

I have two dogs and have used Dustin with Untangled Pet Spa, a mobile groomer, and he was very good, nice, smart and best of all, did not care if my dogs were vaccinated or not. The other thing is they service dogs and cats all over Central and South Central Texas! Their website is: Untangledpetspa.com. Click on the Areas Servicing tab to see their complete list. I live in SW Austin.

Hey Doc! I was banned from grooming salons for life 4 yrs ago. On my file it read DO NOT CLIP NAILS! The vet did it. He was 6ft3, gentle and had muzzle. For some reason the groomer refused to use it. Well in a rush one morning she started to clip my nails and clipped them waaay too short. I bit her hand :-*
I'm ashamed to say it, but you people don't know how much it
hurts!!! Instead of stoping the bleeding from MY NAILS she was more concerned with her hand, and my rabies record. Uhh...I think my mom turned it in with my records?
So that was the end of that. Poor thing, now mom has to groom me! I don't look as handsome as I was, but hey-she gets it done. And all with out the worry of my "rabies vaccine records". Ha! You think nail clipping hurts? Try a vaccine on your tush! (Sigh) glad it's been a while......
Ruff

I did call petco 5 years ago about doing the anal glands, and they told me I must bring in all my current vaccine records, and show a rabies tag too. I told them I was just doing anal glands on an old dog, and the groomer was very aggressive. I hung up on petco for being so rude, and went to a local small independent groomer and continued to go to the independent groomer for years. Petco was not very smart they lost me as a customer for good. We even returned the pet food we had bought at petco, and any pet supplies we had bought at petco, as any business that is a bully for vaccines does not deserve my hard earned money. I expect a pet business to care about my pets and be informed of the truth, otherwise why waste money with any pet business that does not care or act like the uninformed police.

I am an "enlightened " groomer....lol
I warn my clients of the dangers of vaccines, usually falls on deaf ears unfortunately. ....their vet is God don't ya know? ????
I am on a Groomers page on Facebook, you would be pleasantly surprised how many groomers are Holistically leaning. Baby steps, but we are out there. Many probably don't advertise as it not only makes them the enemy of local vets, but for legal issues. Call around, ask a Homeopathic/Holistic vet for recommendations. ....????

Has a list ever been posted? I am in desperate need of a kennel north of Austin. Groomer too,though I've taken to doing grooming myself recently, I'll hand back over the reins if only I could find one with no vac requirements!

I was a bather in a grooming salon for three years. One of the girls I worked with was bitten by a dog pretty badly, and had to go to the hospital to get a tetanus shot. Because it was a dog bite, the hospital had to call the police, and they came down to make a report. The dog did not have rabies shots, the police and the health department spoke to the woman, and they had to take the dog in, cut out his brain, and test it for rabies. As you can guess we were all pretty sad about the whole thing, and we also lost a long term client, and two other dogs... So I dunno about this..

Excellent article and, as a professional pet groomer, I have said far too many times that I am not the vaccine police. It is posted on my website that I do not ask for vaccine records, vaccines are a decision made between client and vet. I am holistic, my pet spa is holistic. I cannot, in any good conscience, require something of my clients that I do not believe in myself.

Hi, I'm so glad to have found your website! I live in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. In the past when trying to get grooming services for my two tiny yorkies I have " forgotten" to bring their rabies certificates, I have even fudged the little health book from the breeder to make it look like they had updated shots. Am I ashamed of this- yes, but not for the reason behind it. It really doesn't work anyway. I have had to groom them myself, because I haven't found an enlightened groomer. It's very disappointing that the vets I thought were skilled, kind, and intelligent all buy in to the whole vaccine BS! What's worse is the vets and groomers try to make one feel they are bad pet owners for not vaccinating on the recommended schedule. Shame on them! I would love to find a list of enlightened vets and groomers for each state!

Thank you for this post! I have been grooming 5 yrs this month, and dog sit many of my clients, i have never required proof of vaccines, because i do not agree with them. For 8 yrs I have bred weimaraners and havanese. now i have retired my weimaraners. Out of all these years i have never vaccined my breeding dogs. They have never had health issues. Although the one female i brought home at two years old, she was vaccined before I got her, she was the only one who got the typical weimaraner tumors. Hmmmm. I think there is a connection. Anyhoo. I am expanding my business to a dog resort......I do NOT want to require something i am so against. I have been googling and havent found anything so far on this topic except this post! thank you.

When I brought my dog to one salon to be groomed, I was asked on the form if my dog "was up to date on his vaccinations." I wrote "Yes" being that all the vaccinations he was going to get was the legally required rabies one.
Well, last year the groomer got hysterical because she found FLEAS on him and started to CRY. Seriously. She would NOT let him in her salon. She would NOT bathe him. Just gave him a puppy cut. And COMMANDED that I give him Frontline (even though I had applied it not two weeks earlier- without much result)
I'm averse to chemical spot-ons and only use them in extreme cases. I did wind up switching to Advantage and it did work- then. And then I didn't have to use it again.
LAST month my dog was acting REALLY buggy and I used another Advantage and- not only does he still have fleas, but he started chewing his fur, getting his fur stuck in his teeth, was lethargic and had diarrhea. I don't know if they're connected but I do NOT want to use a spot-on again. Period.
Thing is- he needs to be groomed and I am NOT going back to that groomer I went to before. Perhaps a mobile groomer will be more tolerant of my "no chemicals!" stance. Maybe I'll learn how to groom him myself after that. Are there any holistic groomers?

Dr. Falconer,
I have another name to add to the list of boarders/trainers who take pets without vaccinations. Her name is Kara Hungerford of Nitrous Professional Dog Training. She can be reached at k.lhungerford@yahoo.com or (816) 547-2880.
Jen

In all fairness, they also state that they will accept a waiver for intact animals: "We will, at our discretion, make exceptions for dogs with a veterinarian's note stating that they have a medical condition that prevents them from being spayed or neutered." Just seems ironic that I am keeping Gonzo intact so that he doesn't develop a medical condition.
We have sadly come to expect to fight the vaccine battle. This one about neutering came as a surprise for sure!