Vaccination compliance guides for pet businesses
What dogs and cats need for boarding, daycare and grooming, and what to do with the paperwork once you have it. Written for the front desk, not for a lawyer — and every legal claim we have checked carries the statute and the date we checked it. General information, not legal advice.
- 64jurisdictions — 50 states, DC, and 13 Canadian provinces and territories
- 25with claims checked against the statute, administrative code or state agency
- 35primary sources cited, each linked and dated
- 29further checked notes and city rules, cited in text
1. The rules where you operate
Every state, DC, and every Canadian province and territory. Pages marked with a source count had their legal claims checked against the primary text; the rest cover what facilities commonly require and where to confirm your local rules, without paraphrasing a statute we have not read.
All 64 jurisdictions
United States
- Alabamaneeds checking
- Alaskaneeds checking
- Arizona1 source
- Arkansasneeds checking
- California1 source
- Colorado1 source
- Connecticut2 sources
- Delawareneeds checking
- Florida1 source
- Georgia2 sources
- Hawaiineeds checking
- Idahoneeds checking
- Illinois3 sources
- Indiananeeds checking
- Iowa2 sources
- Kansasneeds checking
- Kentuckyneeds checking
- Louisiananeeds checking
- Maineneeds checking
- Maryland1 source
- Massachusetts2 sources
- Michigan1 source
- Minnesotaneeds checking
- Mississippineeds checking
- Missourineeds checking
- Montananeeds checking
- Nebraskaneeds checking
- Nevadaneeds checking
- New Hampshireneeds checking
- New Jersey3 sources
- New Mexiconeeds checking
- New York1 source
- North Carolina3 sources
- North Dakotaneeds checking
- Ohio0 sources
- Oklahomaneeds checking
- Oregonneeds checking
- Pennsylvania2 sources
- Rhode Islandneeds checking
- South Carolinaneeds checking
- South Dakotaneeds checking
- Tennesseeneeds checking
- Texas1 source
- Utahneeds checking
- Vermontneeds checking
- Virginia1 source
- Washington1 source
- West Virginianeeds checking
- Wisconsinneeds checking
- Wyomingneeds checking
- Washington, D.C.needs checking
Canada
- Ontario1 source
- Quebec2 sources
- British Columbia1 source
- Alberta0 sources
- Manitoba1 source
- Nova Scotia1 source
- Saskatchewanneeds checking
- New Brunswickneeds checking
- Prince Edward Islandneeds checking
- Newfoundland and Labradorneeds checking
- Yukonneeds checking
- Northwest Territoriesneeds checking
- Nunavutneeds checking
2. Reading and verifying a record
- What your software means when it says “verified”Four different things are sold under that word. They fail in different ways, and one of them waves a clean forgery through.
- How to read a rabies certificateThe seven things to find on the page, the red flags, and the one thing no counter can prove.
- How we know where a record came fromThe seven ways a date can reach a file, and why the clinic’s “no” outranks its “yes”.
- What we ask a veterinary clinic, and what we never askOne email, one click, no account. The page a clinic lands on from a confirmation request.
3. Running the front desk
- How to ask owners for records and actually get themTiming, a policy owners will read, and scripts you can paste.
- Titer tests instead of vaccines: what to accept at the counterWhat a titer proves and what it cannot, why the law still wants the rabies certificate, a decision table and a script.
- Vaccine tracking without switching your booking softwareSquare, Acuity, MoeGo, Gingr or a paper book — this runs beside it, not instead of it.
- Choosing vaccination tracking software: nine questions to askWho types the date, who gets the reminder, what was on file last March, and what happens to your data if you leave.
- Tell customers what your front desk already doesA one-line badge for your own website.
4. Keeping it, and proving it later
- Audit-ready vaccination records for pet-care businessesWhat an inspector, insurer or lawyer will ask for, the seven fields every record needs, and what to do the day something goes wrong.
- How records are stored, and who can reach themWhere the files live, what staff can see, and what happens when someone leaves.
- Canadian provinces and territoriesOntario’s rabies regulation, Quebec’s permit and register, Manitoba’s kennel licence, BC’s AnimalKind standard.
Retention periods differ by state and by facility type — where we have checked one, it is on that jurisdiction’s page with its citation.
5. For pet owners
You are the one holding the paperwork. These are free, and none of them needs an account.
- Lost your pet’s vaccination records? How to replace themWho to call, in what order, what a groomer will actually accept, and what to do if the practice has closed.
- What a groomer, daycare or kennel will ask you forWhat to bring, why they ask, and how to stop being asked for the same certificate three times.
- Find your pet’s recordsEnter the email you gave the shop. No account, no password.
These guides are general information, not legal advice. VaxCheck stores vaccination records and sends reminders; it does not determine or ensure compliance with any law.