Kitty made the crossing!

The only way your cats won't 'pass' is if you didn't follow the rules exactly as they are supposed to be. The blood draw has to happen a month after the shots...and the total process is really 7 months and a day. If you don't wait this long you will have problems.

if you use a pet cargo company they will likely clear them before they even leave the states, that is what they did with my cats. They cleared their paperwork through customs at Gatwick before they even left Newark - and then once the cats got here they had to be looked at and cleared. They landed at 9 am and were at my apartment by 11:45 am the same day.

The blood draw does NOT have to happen a month after the vaccination.  The blood can be drawn at any time after the microchip has been implanted and the dog has been subsequently vaccinated.  It is up to you and your vet to determine the date of the blood draw.  For dogs who are up to date on their rabies vaccines the blood could be drawn the same day (with clear documentation of the order of events, they told me to write down times that everything was clear) and they should have sufficient antibody levels.  If that is your dog's first vaccine, the it will take roughly four weeks for the dog's body to build up the full immunity required to pass the titre test.

See, this is precisely why this whole process is confusing and scary. Everyone I speak with has a different take on the rules and how they should be implemented! 

I have all of the DEFRA stuff printed out, I have been advised by a pet handler, and my vet and I studied the paperwork and consulted with DEFRA before starting the process. It will actually be about 7.5 months since blood draw before I bring my cats over so hopefully I won't have any problems.

DEFRA is excellent at responding to electronic enquiries.  You should have a response within 2 days (I did each time I contacted them).  If you are confused about the rules be sure to ask them.  I refused to rely on information from anyone else.  They also have a phone number you can call.

And DEFRA told me that it had to be done 30 days after the vaccination, which is done immediately before the microchip. Either way I think no matter who you talk to or what you read the true time period is 7 months. I just received my cats 3 weeks ago over to London so perhaps it has changed, or maybe it is different with dogs than with cats. But, having just gone through this, and speaking to both DEFRA and my vet, I was told it had to be done a month later. It is always better to err on the side of caution anyway.

That's pretty funny, because it was DEFRA who told me that it could be done on the same day.     They can't make things easy for us, can they?

No, they can't    I guess that is why I just decided the best thing to do is make sure I did nothing that could cause any problems at customs - and since it sounds like you have a dog here, and my cats are here, we both did okay!