Start the search before the boxes are unpacked
Moving week is chaotic, but veterinary registration belongs on the early list, because the first time you need a vet in a new area should not be a midnight emergency with a dog nobody knows. Ask your current vet for recommendations if they know the area, read local practices' information about opening hours, appointment systems, and their own services, and consider practicalities you will feel every visit: distance in traffic, parking, and whether they handle their own out-of-hours emergencies or refer elsewhere.
Call the practice you choose and ask what they need to register: usually your details, your dog's basics, and permission to request his history from the previous practice. Do that request straight away rather than at the first appointment, so the new team can read his story before they meet him — a courtesy to them and a safety net for him.
What a complete record transfer includes
Ask for the full history, not a summary card: vaccination dates, weight trend, every condition investigated even if it resolved, surgeries and dental work, allergies and past reactions, current medicines in the vet's wording, recent blood or scan results, and notes on behaviour during handling. A dog who is fearful at the vet, needs a muzzle for nail care, or panics in kennels benefits when that is written down kindly and factually, because the new team can plan a calmer first visit instead of discovering it live.
Check what arrived. A polite call to confirm the new practice has received the file, and a glance through your own copy for gaps — a missing year, a surgery you remember that is not listed — catches transfer errors while your old practice can still correct them easily. Keep your own copy permanently; over a lifetime of moves, you become the only holder of your dog's complete story.
The first visit: a baseline while he is well
Book a routine appointment even if nothing is wrong. The new vet can examine your dog unhurried, record a healthy weight and normal findings as a baseline that makes later changes easier to spot, check which vaccinations or preventives fall due under local risks — ticks, parasites, and diseases vary by region — and discuss anything the transferred notes raise. It is also your chance to learn how the practice works: how refills are requested, how results are shared, and who to call at night.
Bring your dog in a state to succeed: exercised, toileted, on a secure lead or in a carrier he knows, with a few favourite treats if the practice welcomes them. Tell the team upfront about quirks that matter — resource guarding in waiting rooms, reactivity to other dogs, a hatred of slippery floors — so they can seat you, time you, or handle him in the way that keeps the visit low-stress for everyone.
Settling into the new arrangement
After the first visit, update your own records with the new practice's name, address, phone number, and emergency route, and replace the old details on your fridge note, phone contacts, and any sitter instructions, so nobody drives to the previous vet out of habit in a crisis. If your dog has insurance or a care plan tied to the old practice, check what transfers and what needs a fresh decision, rather than discovering a gap at claim time.
Moving is one of the moments a portable history proves its worth. Carrying his records in KinsLe through Pet Passport means you arrive at the new practice with vaccinations, conditions, and medicines already together in one packet, ready for the vet visit and any handover that follows.