About
Dr. Doug's Vet-Pet Rescue
Vet-Pet Rescue was founded by Dr. Doug Pernikoff, a
Chesterfield veterinarian with a passion for all things
animal, and a calling to provide a safe haven and a second
chance for companion animals in need.
VPR is an all-volunteer, foster home based, all-breed dog and
cat rescue operating out of Chesterfield, Missouri - a
suburb of St. Louis.
The dogs, cats, puppies and kittens that we rescue stay in the loving homes of
our foster families until their new forever homes are
found.
While VPR does accept owner-surrender animals on a space
available basis, our main focus is taking in dogs and cats
from local animal control facilities. The primary
function of these government-run facilities is to safeguard
the public from disease and injury by capturing at large
animals and accepting those that are no longer wanted by
their owners. In most cases, a short stay of 1-2 weeks
is all the chance these dogs and cats will get to either be
adopted or transferred to a rescue group. VPR
concentrates on pulling animals from government-run animal
control facilities in St. Louis City, St. Louis County,
Jefferson County, and St. Charles County.
Our foster home volunteers and our adopters come
from all over the St. Louis Metro Area too. Arnold,
Crestwood, Kirkwood, St. Charles, St. Peters, O'Fallon,
Ballwin, Chesterfield, and more.
All animals are fully vetted including heartworm testing
(for dogs), feline leukemia and feline aids testing (for
cats), given vaccinations appropriate for their age, treated
for internal and external parasites, spayed or neutered and
provided with microchip identification. Any other
medical care that is needed is also provided such as
treatment for illnesses common to shelters like kennel cough
and upper respiratory infections.
The animals are kept in foster homes for a period of at
least 10 days before being made available for
adoption. During this initial holding time, the
foster caregiver is getting to know all about them.
Are they housetrained? Good with dogs? Good with
cats? Afraid of the vacuum cleaner? The
information gathered while a dog or cat is in foster care
helps us to match them with the type of new home and owner
that can best meet their needs.
Once an animal has received proper veterinary care
and has been evaluated in a foster home, it is made
available for adoption. Potential homes are found
through listings on Petfinder as well as attendance at
adoption events held at various local stores like Pet
Supplies Plus and PetSmart stores. A few times per
year, adoptable dogs and cats are taken to special events
like Pet Fest in Maplewood, Pet Palooza in Chesterfield, and
more. We hand flyers out to the public, post them on
public bulletin boards, and pass them out to friends and
family. We also sometimes place free or low-cost
classified ads on the internet or in print media.
Our adoption process includes an application that gathers
a great deal of information about potential adopters.
After completing an application, the form is reviewed by an
adoption counselor. The counselor will ask questions
to clarify information if needed and will have a
conversation with the potential adopter to determine what
their expectations, hopes and dreams are for their new
pet. The information gathered by the application and
during the discussion with the adoption counselor is used to
help us determine if someone is a good match for the pet
they are interested in adopting, and also helps guide us in
providing information that will help make the pets
transition into their new home as smooth as possible.
Once a match is approved, the adopter is asked to sign an Adoption Agreement and pay an adoption fee. The
adoption fee helps cover the expense of veterinary care and
supplies such as vaccinations, flea treatments, heartworm
preventative, surgery, hospitalization for upper respiratory
infections, and more. The adoption fee varies
based on the age and type of animal. Fees are
sometimes discounted or waived altogether for special needs
animals such as older pets and pets with chronic health
problems.
More about Dr. Doug...
Dr. Douglas Pernikoff, affectionately
referred to as “Dr. Doug”, is a 1975 honors
graduate of the University of Missouri, College of
Agriculture. Dr. Doug attended the University
of Missouri Veterinary College and received his
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1981, with
special honors awards including the Adrian J. Durant
Avian Medicine Award, and elected membership into
the Phi Zeta Veterinary Honors Society.
After participating in a small animal internship at
the Grand Avenue Veterinary Hospital in Santa Ana,
California, he returned to St. Louis to participate
in a residency program in Zoologic Veterinary
Medicine at the St. Louis Zoo, in partnership with
the University of Missouri Veterinary College. Dr.
Doug followed with graduate studies in Anthropology
at Washington University, St. Louis. He has
worked in small animal medicine and surgery;
emergency and laboratory animal medicine and
research; in zoo medicine and as a worldwide
conservation veterinarian through his role with the
Wildlife Preservation Trust and the Jersey Wildlife
Trust. He has lectured, published, taught and
participated in field research around the world,
with special interests in primates, elephants,
tapirs and more. Dr Doug was a co-founder in
the Center for Conservation Medicine, established at
Tuft’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
His special interests are many and diverse, but
include painting and art collection; photography,
herpetology, collecting natural history books,
supporting young people in the sciences and non-kill
animal rescue programs. He is the only state
veterinarian certified as a rescue organization in
the State of Missouri, having established the
Vet-Pet Rescue Organization that functions through
his established, Clarkson-Wilson
Veterinary Clinic. He serves on the boards
of the “Loosen the Leash” and the “Center for
American Archaeology” organizations in his spare
time.
Dr. Doug also serves as the Consulting Veterinarian
for the World Bird Sanctuary, caring for raptors,
parrots, and many unusual exotic species. He is
a patented inventor and published children’s
author as well. Most importantly, Dr. Doug is a
roadie for his kids’ singer-songwriter band. |
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