Worried about my new doggy :(

[Scuzzlet]

Hi all.

Myself and my family are totally new to owning a dog. I bought a patterdale staffy cross and brought her home yesterday. She is 2.

She settled lovely yesterday although she was a bit excited. However..

She has not been microchipped. Easy enough to sort, now the next 2 things:

1. I am assured she has been spayed by her last owner (he had to give her up as he lives alone and has taken on a promotion where he will be out of the house more than 12 hours a day and it isn’t fair on her)... but how can we be sure she has been spayed??? I can’t get a good enough look at her because she always wants to play.
   

1. Vaccinations. I haven’t been given any paperwork for her vaccines. He got her when she was one year old and has had her for a year. I want to make sure shes up to date and not at risk of getting poorly. Will the vets be able to advise?
   

I’m panicking now. I don’t want to be causing her harm or putting her at risk. :( she seems healthy enough, and very happy. I just want to make sure.

[Scuzzlet]

I forgot to attach a pic. This is her in her element when she discovered our back garden yesterday. :)

[tabulahrasa]

You can’t tell if a bitch has been spayed or not, she’ll either come into season or she won’t.

If there’s any doubt about her vaccinations - they’ll just start from scratch as if she’s had none.

[NotYoonique]

If the old owner is reasonable, ask which vets he used, your current vets should be able to get her health records transferred

[ohdearwhatcanthematterbee]

She’s lovely! Hope you’re prepared for how opinionated patterdales are! (I’m the doting owner of one!)

Agree that you should just start from scratch with vaccinations, and you’ll just have to wait and see if she has been spayed - but assume not to be on the safe side, and read up on the signs of being in heat.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

She's beautiful

You'll need a trip to the vet anyway to sort the microchip. While you're there ask the vet to do a health check - listen to the heart etc. It sounds like she's almost certainly missed out on the boosters that are done at about a year old. Mine was about 6 months late with his boosters (similar rehoming, but he did come with a vaccination card) and there was no need to restart at all - but I don't know what the situation is if there's no vaccinations card.

If she rolls over for a belly rub there's a chance you might find a scar, but if there isn't one she may have had it done keyhole or it may have faded, so it's a case of watching and waiting. If there was an accident when she's in heat, take her to the vet pronto as I believe there's an injection they can give, morning after pill style.

[Nesssie]

Everything AvocadosBeforeMortgage said.
Vet trip to get her micro chipped, they can start a new course of vaccinations aswell. The vets can have a look for the scar -some dogs have an obvious scar from the spay, others you would have to wait and see if they come into season.

She's beautiful, what a lovely smile!

[Floralnomad]

She definitely looks mainly patterdale in that photo , did the previous owner advise on how she is with other dogs as patties are notorious for being a bit aloof with other dogs , they are more people orientated in general . I note she has a tennis ball which is also a very common love of patties , we have a patterdale x and he’s ball obsessed .

[fivedogstofeed]

She's lovely :)
Unfortunately many people who sell their dogs do tell lies so unless he handed you the vaccination card, chances are she has never been vaccinated.
If she's never been vaccinated she won't have been spayed either as it's very unlikely you would have a new dog at the vets for an operation and not get her vaccinated.

[SubtitlesOn]

Agree with everything others have already said

She does look very happy

[FairfaxAikman]

Don't just start vaccinations from scratch - you don't want to overload her system.
You can get something called a titre test which checks immunity to the core diseases instead.

[SilverHairedCat]

Ask the previous owner who her vet was. They'll tell you everything, or they did for our girl. Including confirming she was 4 months younger than we thought... It explained a lot!!