PETS Travel Scheme ~ Paperwork

I am taking three cats US - Manchester UK

In the Pets Travel Scheme for Dummies post it shows this:
Vaccination record
When your pet is vaccinated, make sure that the vet accurately records the
following details on its vaccination record.
its date of birth/age (AT LEAST 3 MOS. OLD)
the microchip number, date of insertion and its location in the animal
the date of vaccination
the vaccine manufacturer, product name and batch number
the date by which the booster vaccination must be given (i.e. the Valid
until  date)   

Please find below the paperwork that I have received to date.  It shows each of their Vaccination Certificates and their VAVN-OIE Test results.

If you will notice on their Vaccination Certificate it does not list the micochip date of insertion or it's location in the animal the date of vaccination.

Honestly it was all that I could do to get them to include their microchip number on their vaccination certificate as they kept telling me there were only so many spaces allowed on their form and in adding that they have shorted their names:

Rooney = Roo    Gallagher = Gal   Pazzesca = Paz

Does what I have shown here look good or do I need to go back to them and get them to add these other things?

Also.. Rooney/Gallagher have both passed their 6 month wait but Pazzesca's will not be up until after June 24th.  At what point do I take the rest of the paperwork back to my vet to have it all filled out?  Once that is filled out can I send it to the USDA anytime before we do the tick/tapeworm or do they only sign off on it after that has been done.  Seeing the timeframe involved I would think they would need to sign things before the tick/tapeworm.

Thanks for any thoughts..

http://www.mcgrae.com/Gallagher.pdf
http://www.mcgrae.com/Rooney.pdf
http://www.mcgrae.com/Pazzesca.pdf

*Note*  Just to let you know what kind of Vet's Office I am dealing with I asked them to put the dates as (example) October XX, XXXX since the UK uses the date/month flip I did not want there to be a problem and they told me they could not do that.

I don't think the vaccine record has to have the microchip date of insertion or location on it. I had the paperwork from when my cards were microchipped, and it had that information on it, and included that with everything.
I think you just need to have proof that they animals were microchipped before they were vaccinated.

We had our vet fill out the forms and we sent all our paperwork to the USDA vet about a month before we were set to fly. Then we took the cats in the day before we flew to get the flea and worm treatment done (and complete the forms), along with their health certificates (which is a different form most airlines need).

It sucks when you feel like you are pulling teeth with your vet to get things done the right way. It's a hard enough process to get through. I wouldn't worry about the dates too much anyways. I had no idea which way to put them, and had them written mm/dd/yy in some parts and dd/mm/yy in others (when it specified). It didn't matter one bit!

That just reminded me of something! 

Oh no... We want to fly out of Chicago to Manchester on BMI, BMI has a very low one-way ticket and will end up saving us over $1000.  However we are in Texas!  I am originally from Southern Illinois and still have family there.  A few days before the flight we were going to rent a van and drive here to Southern Illinois, stay the night with family and then the next day drive up to Chicago. Spend the night in a pet friendly hotel and then the next day drop the cats off early and fly out that evening at 6:30pm.

But.. if we do this who is going to give the cats their tick/tapeworm treatment?  Does the same vet that did everything else have to do it or can we find a vet back in Southern Illinois to do it?

Looks like we may be back to the drawing board.     Another reason we wanted to do BMI Chicago-Manchester is that we feel a non-stop flight is much safer then the possibility of losing the cats when changing in Newark if we use Continental from Dallas.  *ugh*  Plus we figured being in the car for the ride will get the cats mildly used to the noise, etc.. and they may not freak out as much as just taking them from home and putting them on the flight right away.

No, the same vet doesn't need to do the tick/tapeworm treatment. I'm not sure if this vet even needs to be accredited or not though.

Aside from the money aspect (which I know is a major factor in things), you would be fine flying your cats on Continental. We just flew our two cats on Continental from Dallas about a month ago. I really wanted them on the one-way BA flight with us, but they couldn't fly with us last minute because it was too hot that day.
However, things worked out fine. Continental was really REALLY great. They really know a lot about flying pets, since they do so much of it. I think the most traumatic part was the car ride to the airport.

I've decided to handle missing or incorrect information with a vet signed letter (with letterhead and all).

The FAVN labs made my boy Aidan 3 months instead of 3 years.  The microchip certificates don't mention the location of the chip.  The rabies vax certificate doesn't mention date of birth or microchip number.  This will all be included in one statement that the vet will verify.

I agree with across, that the USDA is fairly flexible as long as the protocol has been followed (microchip, proof of date of microchip, rabies vax, blood draw showing adequate amounts of titer in blood).  I went ahead and used the UK date system universally.

Make sure the vet signs your 98/2003 in a color other than black.

It doesn't matter if a different vet does the tapeworm/tick - just make sure they use the right brand of treatment at the specified amount.  That's why there are separate sign/stamp boxes for the different steps.

Everytime I call the USDA (which I highly recommend for all the little confusing bits), I get the feeling like if everything looks legit - they will be fine.

It's such a worrysome process, but it's all going to be OK!  

Holly

It's not that I have a problem with Continental but when flying into Manchester you have to be on the same flight w/ your pet(s) and we have priced them both out and the cheapest round-trip ticket on Continental (round-trip being the cheapest) is right around $1,098 per person and then around $575 per cat (including all fees in Manchester)

On BMI a one-way ticket from Chicago-Manchester is $500 and $586 per cat (including all fees).

So $3921 Dallas - Manchester (with changing in Newark)
and $2758 Chicago - Manchester (non-stop)

That is a savings of $1,163 so even with the price of gas and car rental we'll still save some money. 

I really do think having them in the car for a couple days before the flight will help them be a bit more calm.  Or do you guys think it would freak them out more?

Yeah, I mean I'm totally with you on doing whatever is cheapest. It was actually more expensive to fly the cats on BA, but like you we were worried about the layover, so we decided to pay a little more. In the end, we were forced to do the cheaper thing.

My cats HATE car rides, so it really depends on your cats. Our big one actually pulled one of his claws half-way out on the drive from Dallas to DFW, trying to tear through the cage. However, on the way home from Gatwick (two hours) he didn't let out a peep.

I hope his claw is okay now...

My cats are not joy riders because when we moved from Southern Illinois - Fort Worth three years ago they cried for about the first two hours.  But after that they calmed down and just slept.

Also, starting in a few weeks we were going to start taking them out in the carrier if even just around the block just to get them more used to being in it and more prepared for the journey.

I think my husband and I will have to sit and have a talk about it.  We were really liking the idea of doing the Chicago - Manchester route.  It may be longer to get up there but once on the plane it is only around a 7.5 hour flight, non-stop and that just seems easier.

So if the same vet does not have to do the tick/tapeworm then we can always have our old vet in Southern Illinois do it as long as we stay within the timeframe.

And just to clarify it is no more than 48 hours no less than 24 hours from flight departure correct?

Example: If our flight leaves out on Wednesday @ 6:30pm we should have the tick/tapeworm done sometime between Monday after 6:30pm and before Tuesday 6:30pm.  Is that right?

Hi ,

I am also taking 3 cats over to England. Their 6 month wait will not be up until November. Sounds like you are going sooner than that.

Please give us an update on how it all goes for you and your cats . This is all soooo nerve wracking:)

Tell me about it....   

I am not even applying for my Visa until the end of June/start of July and I am not even 1/2 as nervous to apply for that as I am to make sure our cats make it okay.

I guess they know that I don't have rabies..   

clarify it is no more than 48 hours no less than 24 hours from flight departure correct?

Example: If our flight leaves out on Wednesday @ 6:30pm we should have the tick/tapeworm done sometime between Monday after 6:30pm and before Tuesday 6:30pm.  Is that right?

Correct, and we checked them in about 15 minutes earlier than the 24 hours (since we thought we were going to be taking a much later flight when we scheduled their appointments) and it wasn't a problem with Defra.

It's 48 - 24 hours before check-in too.

British Airways (my only option) requires checking in 2.5 hours before my departure - I'm going to shoot for about 3 (which opens up options for the final vet visit)

It's 48 - 24 hours before check-in too.

British Airways (my only option) requires checking in 2.5 hours before my departure - I'm going to shoot for about 3 (which opens up options for the final vet visit)

Just to let you know that BA World Cargo at Hartsfield was awesome about our late arrival to check in - we too were shooting for three hours before departure for check-in but had car trouble on the way.  We called from Conyers around 2:30pm to tell them we were running behind, and they said that as long as we were there by 4:30 (for the 6:30 flight) that we'd all make it onto the flight.   We finally made it around 4:15 and had the cats checked in by 4:45; I made it to the terminal by 5pm and checked in my bags with no problems.  I still didn't stop holding my breath until we were airborne!

The lady with BMI says that we must drop off the cats between 1:00pm - 2:00pm the day of the flight.  The flight itself departs at 6:30pm.

Can I ask those who have gone thru this how they attached the required paperwork to the cat carriers?

I brought all our paperwork in a file folder and BA provided a plastic envelope that they duct-taped to the top of the carriers along with the little baggies of dry food that I packed for each kitty.