Microchip Number on FAVN-Antibody Test WRONG! HELP!

Hi Everyone:

We were checking through our documents the pets need and we just realized that the microchip number on the request for FAVN-OIE rabies anti-body blood test and the original sticker are WRONG for one of our cats!! :\\\' (The vets office used the same microchip number for both cats and now our one cat has an inaccurate document...! ) What's worse is one of the fax copies of the original we have for him (the confirmation the vet's office gave us before we received the original stickered copy) looks like someone from our vet's office realized the error, whited it out, put the correct one in, never told us, and tried to pass it off!  (We can tell this --the number on the sticker is different).

I don't know what we do now.... has anyone had incorrect numbers and had results reissued by Kansas Labs?  I know it's our vet's error, but I'm just wondering if there's no recourse but to get the samples drawn all over again...
... and we leave in July!

We are going to the vet's office first thing in the morning, but wondered if there's anyone else out there that had to get documents reissued because of mistakes and what happened?  The only good thing we found so far is that it looks like lab results are stored under a Lab. No and not a microchip No.  Maybe this will save us?

We're absolutely panicked!

Caroline and Brendan

That sucks!!!!! Hindsight...but definitely quadruple check everything.

I hope it goes well with the vet. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Thanks scarlett ...
My husband's going tomorrow to see what can be done.  Saturday we could not do anything but leave a message for the office manager.
We are hopeful, but have no idea what will come of this.
-Caroline & Brendan

Oh no!  I have no advice, but keep us posted...I hope it works out ok.

Do they just ask for your pet passport , ? or do they go deeper and ask to see original rabies certificate ?
We are being told by our vet ( after she spoke to some higher ups at DEFRA) that it would be highly unusual to be asked to produce the original rabies titer certificate.
They say we will just be asked to show pet passport that we are assured will reflect correct microchip number/rabies result.
Please respond if you've been thru pet immigration recently..
We are sick with worry ..
Caroline

It might not be a problem with DEFRA, but it could be a problem with the USDA vet.

Are you talking about the form that says, "Request for FAVN-OIE Rabies Antibody Test" at the top? There's a box on the right that says, "Lab No._______"?? If so, then yes, this had to be stamped by the USDA vet. It was the request sent from the vet to the lab. At the bottom it lists the results of the test with my cat's name and microchip number. I didn't have this when I went to the USDA vet (no one told me I needed it), so he had to call Kansas and ask them to fax it to him. It went into my cat's packet created by Continental.

We have been told the USDA will give us our stamps with the extra paperwork from our vet explaining the microchip number mistake.
Our concern is whether the import people at gatwick will get into the gory details of our paperwork eg. ask and verify the original rabies titer result certificate that features the microchip number mistake , or , will they just look at and take our pet passport papers at face value?
does anyone know the usual customs routine when bringing in pets?
Our Vet told us she spoke to someone high up in animal control UK who said we would be allright, and gave her name as a reference, but when we got someone at DEFRA they said it would be a showstopper - with no workaround ...
Thanks

All I can add here is... almost all of our paperwork had errors.  I fixed it myself, then had it stamped by our vet, then the vet at the airport.  It was a mucky mess of white-out, but we had no problems.  Our microchip number was wrong, too, and that was a problem with datamars.

Anyhow, good luck!

Hi Everyone:

We have been assured by our vet that everything will be okay.  She spoke with DEFRA and the USDA vet.  We are so hopeful that this is true, but we still are having our doubts since the original person I spoke to at DEFRA was so negative.  You can be sure we'll double check this before we go ahead and try it.  Apparently, as long as the USDA stamp is on everything, we shouldn't have trouble.  Our vet said the people she spoke with said we were worrying needlessly (well.......... can't help it!).

I will let everyone know what happens soon.  We have already decided to get Waldo's bloodwork redone just in case, but we hope we won't be faced with another six months' quarantine!

Thanks for the support and crossed fingers!  We'll be in touch!

Caroline & Brendan
P.S. to Madeira -- how and on what document was your number wrong?  Off by a few digits or completely off?  What happened with datamars?

You never know how officials will treat you, but since the main issue for Defra is whether your cats' tests were successful and at least six months ago, I really hope that they see you met the requirements -- even if your documents needed some revision. They must see that all the time...

Hey there.  The number on the datamars box was wrong when the chip was inserted, and that wrong number was written on all our documents. I think our vet just checked that the chip was working... Anyhow, all the docs had to be changed.   After the blood test came back.

Loads of our other paperwork was wrong, too!  Husband's name in place of cat's, vet unable to do a signature instead of block letters, wrong vaccine names and dates... mostly due to the fact that the papers have to be in English.  Once I figured out that was the major problem, I took over all the paperwork.  I just had the vet stamp it once it was fixed.

I have the same problem and got very excited when I started to read your blog because I thought you might say how things worked out for you, but you dont!

Our vet made a mistake (added an extra number) when she wrote the dogs microchip number on the application for his Rabies tita test. So our certificate has the wrong number.
The person who answers the phone at Kansas Lab is being entirely unhelpfull and says it is impossible to correct the certificate or to let me speak to someone higher up at the lab.
We have been through several layers of authority at DEFRA who have all told us that a a letter of explanation from our vet with the incorrect paperwork is not going to be acceptable, and the dog would definitely have to be quarantined if we try to take him into the UK with the certificate that we currently have.

Please can some of you tell how your situations got worked out? In particular I'd be interested to know if anyone ever did get Kansas Lab to correct their paper work as that seems to be the best possible option.

Regards
Alison

Hi Alison (& Friends at UKY):

First of all, many apologies for not getting back to anyone on UKY as to what happened to us and to anyone else in the same boat we were.  We are finally settled in St. Albans, after a long and slightly traumatic moving experience.  I have been meaning to get back on the Forum for some time.  We just recently got our broadband set up and I went on tonight and there was your post!!

First of all, we WERE able to bring Waldo without another six months' quarantine.  It is true that Kansas Labs will definitely not change or issue a new test with the correct number. I can remember in tears, finding the number for the Animal Health Division in the UK, desperate to find a chance, after DEFRA told us under NO circumstances could we bring Waldo and he'd have to serve another sixth months' quarantine.  I spoke to Wendy of the Animal Health Division (I believe of the London branch) who was so very helpful and reassuring that there must be some way to remedy the situation (it was just a typo for goodness sake!).  She told us to contact animal reception at London Gatwick airport directly and explain the problem and they were wonderful -- we so were sick with worry about this at this point. They told us to fax everything we had over.  They reviewed the documents, checked with DEFRA and told us that we'd just have to get another blood test showing Waldo indeed did NOT have rabies and to get a letter from our vet stating what happened (on official letterhead & signed).  We had to bring the new blood test, the old one (incorrect microchip # one) and our vet's letter along with Waldo's other documents.  Our vet admitted the typo mistake and did the blood test for free (hopefully your vet will too).  We also had to e-mail our USDA vet to explain what happened when it came time to get the documents stamped -- she had no problem stamping everything.

Are you flying into Gatwick or Heathrow?  I have the Gatwick animal reception info:
London Animal Reception Center:

   Animal Reception Center LGW
   British Airways World Cargo
   Gatwick Airport, West Sussex
   RH6 0SQ Phone: 01293 462180

There is also an animal reception center at Heathrow airport.  I don't know the number offhand.  I no longer have the number I called for Animal Health Division number in the UK, but I looked on the website where I think I got it from and here's the London branch in case you want to talk with them too:

Tel: 01245 358383
Nightline: 01245 353632
Fax: 01245 351162

I hope this helps.  When we thought there was no hope, we originally planned to take a chance at the airport to see if anyone would even notice the error, but I don't advise this as you will risk quarantine and I heard that this would have indeed happened!

Well, Waldo is now sleeping on the couch along with Meisha and Norbert is on his bed in our room -- it's still hard to believe all we went through for us all to be together (the microchip thing is only the tip of the iceberg), but it finally happened.

Please let us know what happens and if there's any other way we could be of help.  We have been there and we know how it feels!

Caroline & Brendan, Norbert, Waldo & Meisha

I'm glad everything worked out okay!!

Thanks...... all's well that ends well I suppose, but it was not a good experience for us to go through. 

I would suggest to everyone taking their animals to the UK to double-check their documents early (please check them as you get them), so problems can get resolved/prevented early on.  The mistake with our cat was made more than a year before I ever checked and found the error.  It almost ruined all of our plans.  Especially, check the request the vet sends in for the blood test.  We never even saw the request when they filled it out.  Also, request that the vet give you original as soon as it comes back from the lab.  Our vet threw away ours and just phoned us the results and thought it was good enough.  We did not realise at that time we'd need the original document.  We had to request a duplicate from the lab and it was a long process and -- it turned out it was filled out wrong!

Also, DEFRA is very helpful, but in the end, it was not true what they originally had told us, so please try go a step further if you have any issues that seem that they can't be resolved.  We are glad we did!   

Caroline & Brendan