Trip postponed

  The October trip has been postpone till March 2011, my boys are coming to the end of their 6 month waiting period for the Pet Scheme. Since we are no longer leaving in October, does this mean we will have to start all over again, and fork over more money for the vet visits and blood test?

As long as their rabies vaccine remains current (if the anniversary - either one year or three years depending on what vaccine you and your vet decided on - comes up before you leave, you need to make sure that you don't miss getting them revaccinated by even a SINGLE day as that will invalidate the previous results and you will have to start over) you should be fine!

You will still have to visit the vet 24-48 hours before the pets are due to check in for their tick and tapeworm treatment though, other than that you should be ok. :-)

Also note that if you've already gotten endorsement from the USDA, that will expire. You can get another endorsement, as long as their rabies vaccine hasn't lapsed (as Reinadeluz said), but it doesn't automatically rollover or anything - it's only valid for 4 months from the date they stamp on the form.

If you haven't done the USDA endorsement yet then it's no problem, just bring in your paperwork (including rabies vaccine certificate(s)) and you'll be fine. And as Reinadeluz said, you'll still need to do the tick/tapeworm treatment 24-48 hours pre-flight.

Our dog had her blood test done four years before our move.  This was not a problem at all, as Reinadeluz said, you just need to keep the vaccinations up to date and the test results will still be valid when you are ready to travel.  There is no harm at all in getting your six month waiting period out of the way early, and now you've got the flexibility to go whenever you're ready.

Thanks everyone, you've taken a great burden off my shoulders. I was so worried we would have to go through the who process again. I will make sure to keep them up to date on their vaccinations.