Changing vet is a records job, not a permission job
Your dog's clinical records belong to their care history, and moving practice is routine. What makes the change smooth is not a form you fill in at the old surgery; it is whether the new vet receives the full story before your first appointment. A new clinician working from your memory alone will repeat tests, miss context behind an old symptom, and guess at vaccine status. A new clinician reading the actual history can pick up mid-story — continuing a weight plan, watching a known heart murmur, respecting a drug reaction recorded years ago. So think of the switch as moving a file, with a dog attached.
What to ask the old practice to send
Request the complete clinical record, not just the vaccination card. That means consultation notes, vaccination and parasite-control history, weight measurements over time, laboratory results, imaging reports, surgical and dental notes, and any referral letters to or from specialists. Ask for records of reactions and sensitivities in particular, since those are the lines a new vet most needs and an owner most easily forgets. Practices transfer records between each other every day, so a polite request naming the new practice usually sets it moving. If you are given a copy yourself, keep it whole — do not thin it out before passing it on, because the page you judge dull may be the one the new vet needs.
What the new practice will ask you for
Expect to register your own details alongside your dog's: your name, address, and contact numbers, the microchip number, and insurance details if your dog is covered. Some practices ask for identification when an account is opened, so take it along rather than making a second trip. Tell the new practice directly, in your own words, about anything current that should not wait for the file to arrive — a condition under active monitoring, a recent operation, a vaccination due imminently. Book the first visit as a proper introductory appointment where the vet can examine your dog with the transferred notes open, rather than saving the introduction for an emergency.
Timing the switch so cover never gaps
Make the move between needs, not in the middle of one. If your dog is mid-treatment, either complete that course with the current vet or have the two practices agree the handover point explicitly, so responsibility for the next check is never ambiguous. Watch booster dates during the change: a vaccination falling due in the transfer week can be missed by both practices, each assuming the other sent the reminder. Keep your own note of what is due and when until the new practice's reminders start arriving. If you use a separate out-of-hours service, check whether it changes with the practice and update the emergency numbers stored in your phone.
Keep your own copy of the whole file
A practice change is the perfect moment to hold a complete copy yourself. Ask for the record as a file or printed set, photograph any paper pages, and store the bundle with your dog's other documents. Vets merge, systems change, and memories fade; the owner who holds the full history is never stranded by any of it. From then on, add each new visit's paperwork to your copy as it arrives, so the file you hold stays the most complete version in existence — more complete, often, than either practice's.
That owner-held copy is the habit KinsLe supports with the Pet Passport, which keeps a dog's records together in one portable packet ready for any vet visit, including the first one at a new practice.