Virginia Code 3.2-6515: Written notice of consumer remedies required to be supplied by pet dealers
A. A pet dealer shall give the notice hereinafter set forth in writing to a consumer prior to the delivery of a dog or cat. Such notice shall be embodied in a written contract, the pet dealer’s animal history certificate, or a separate document and shall state in ten-point boldface type the following:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 3.2-6515
- Animal: means any nonhuman vertebrate species except fish. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- Consumer: means any natural person purchasing an animal from a dealer or pet shop or hiring the services of a boarding establishment. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Dealer: means any person who in the regular course of business for compensation or profit buys, sells, transfers, exchanges, or barters companion animals. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- exercise: means the opportunity for the animal to move sufficiently to maintain normal muscle tone and mass for the age, species, size, and condition of the animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
- Pet shop: means a retail establishment where companion animals are bought, sold, exchanged, or offered for sale or exchange to the general public. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
“NOTICE
The sale of dogs and cats is subject to the provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.). In the event that a licensed veterinarian certifies your animal to be unfit for purchase within 10 days following receipt of your animal, or within 14 days following receipt if the animal is infected with parvovirus, you may choose: (i) to return your animal, or in the case of an animal that has died, the veterinary certification, and receive a refund of the purchase price including sales tax; or (ii) to return the animal and receive an exchange animal of your choice of equivalent value. In the case of an animal purchased from a pet shop or a USDA licensed dealer, you also may choose to retain the animal and receive reimbursement of the cost of veterinary certification and veterinary fees in an amount up to the purchase price of the animal.
In order to exercise these rights you must present a written veterinary certification that the animal is unfit to the pet dealer within three business days after receiving such certification.
If the pet dealer has promised to register your animal or to provide the papers necessary therefor and fails to do so within 120 days following the date of contract, you are entitled to return the animal and receive a refund of the purchase price or to retain the animal and receive a refund of an amount not to exceed 50 percent of the purchase price.”
B. Any violation of this section shall also constitute a prohibited practice under § 59.1-200 and shall be subject to the enforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.).
1984, c. 492, § 29-213.51; 1987, c. 488, § 3.1-796.81; 2008, c. 860; 2014, c. 448; 2020, c. 412.