Having Problems with Vet

As some of you may have seen on my prior posts the vet's office that is doing the work on my 3 cats for the Pets Scheme has not exactly been the most cooperative person in the World.   

Before I started this process back in October '07 I made sure and read everything I could get my eyes on.  By the time I went in for my first appointment for the microchip and rabies vaccination I knew exactly what had to be done.  The only reason I picked this vets office in the first place is because after calling over 20 vets in the Fort Worth area this was the only one that had an employee that had even done this before so I figured it was better then nothing.

I was wrong.

From that first visit I knew things were not going to go smoothly.  Like I said before I knew exactly what needed to taken place and as I am a very vocal person had no problem making sure they knew what to do so that nothinig would be out of place or completed incorrectly.  When we first took them in for their microchip and rabies shot I stressed that the microchip must be put in first before they are given their shot.  They honestly laughed at me and kept saying things like 'Oh Christine it doesn't matter as long as we do it in the same day'.  I almost had to physically take the rabies shot out of her hand and tell her that I would not pay for her services if she did not do it in the order in which I was asking her to complete it.  They just more or less rolled their eyes and did as I asked but still making snide remarks along the way.

When it came to giving me their rabies certificate they refused to add their microchip number to it saying there were not enough spaces for their name and the number.  I told them to simply shorten the name as the people who will be looking over the paperwork will not know the cats by Gallgher, Rooney and Pazzesca they will be a number to them.. their microchip number.  So after being told it didn't really matter they finally printed me new ones.

When the blood was then drawn however many days later and the test results came back they tried to give me a copy of the results, I explained they can keep the copy in their file but I need the original.  They finally released it to me.

Well now my last cat is about to finish the six month wait (June 24th) so I called the vets office back yesterday to say that it's time that they fill out the Pets Certificate so that I can forward it on to the USDA Vet for their approval/stamp.  Susan (the one that has gone thru this before) told me okay and what date was I wanting to make the appointment to bring the cats in.  I asked why the cats would need to be brought in as per DEFRA's website this form could have been filled out back when the blood test came back as okay I just waited as we are not leaving until September.  She said that the doctor needs to do a full phsical exam on the cats before he can sign anything that says they are okay to fly... I explained to her this is not a health certificate this is the Pets Scheme Certificate and the vet only needs to fill in the portions of what he has already done such as the date of microchip, rabies shot and the date the blood was taken and what the blood test came back as.  She said again the cats would need to be brought in for him to fill out that paperwork and that it would be $78.00 per cat!     I stressed that she is getting confused between the Pets Scheme Certificate and a Health Certificate that the airlines require for travel.  We left it as she is going to speak to the doctor to see what he says and she wants me to fax over the Pets Scheme Certificate for their review.  She then laughed and said 'Christine I told you when you started this that it would be an expensive and confusing process'.  I feel I am not the one that is confused.

I have still not heard from her so I will be calling back to today to make sure they got my fax.

When you guys went thru this process did your vets try to charge you for filling in the Pets Certificate?  If they need me to bring the cats in so that the microchip can be verified before they fill out the certificate that will be fine but there is NO WAY I am paying them $78.00 per cat for a full physcial when I know it is not required at this stage.

My husband says I should call the USDA office in our state to report this and to verify that a full physical is not required for the vet to fill in information to which he has already performed on the cats.

Any thoughts?

Also.. is anybody aware if the same vet that filles in the Pets Scheme Certificate is the same vet that performed the microchip/rabies shot/blood test?  I am reading thru the certificate and it does read as though as long as I submit proof of each thing to an accredited vet that they can fill it in..

Just curious as now I have tried calling the vet's office to speak to the person I faxed the paperwork too and they tell me she is busy with other customers and may be leaving early today... 

I don't think a full physical is required.  From what I understand, "fit to fly" means free of viral or bacterial infections or other short term sickness that could be a care issue during the flight.

My Syd has a chronic heart condition, and the vet said she's still eligible to go.

I hadn't thought about it, but in order to a vet to legitimately sign the certificate - wouldn't they HAVE to see the cat first?  Not that I want that to be the case. 

I'll be interested to hear what you find out.

**update** So the vet himself called me this morning and acted as if nothing had even happened... 

He said his DSL was down and he could not print copies of the form I needed and wanted to know if I could bring a few copies to him.  I did explain to him about how it needed to be filled out in blue and he just laughed so hopefully he took that seriously. 

I dropped them off a couple hours ago and left a note on them asking if I can pick them up tomorrow 6/13, so we'll see if he has them done.

I had myself worked up and in tears all the way home from work yesterday and last night.  I was so stressed about it.  I had called other vets and even though I have said I checked with the USDA that the same vet does not have to fill it out none of them was willing to do it.

So hopefully it will all be smooth sailing from here...  Next step is for the USDA to sign off on it and seeing as how I'm only a couple hours away from Austin my husband and I have said we would rather make an appointment and drive down there to get that done.  We like road trips anyway!   

The last thing I am worried about is the health certificate/APHIS 7001 form as BMI seems confused on what this is when I call them to see if it is required.  They keep telling me to contact Pets on Jets in Manchester and I keep explaining to them that it is not something that they required to enter England it would be something that BMI themselves require to get on the plane.  My husband says we would probably just be better getting them when we do the tick/tapeworm just to be safe.

But then I confuse myself as it appears the 7001 form has to be approved by USDA again and how can we do that if there is only a short window for the tick/tapeworm.

Ohhh... my head is starting to hurt again.   

In my experience (the experience of others has differed, as you've probably seen from other threads), officials on both sides of the Atlantic required my 998/2003 form (the double-sided one with space to record the tick treatment) AND my APHIS 7001 form to be endorsed by the USDA vet.  I made an appointment with my state USDA vet and had her sign and seal the forms within ten days of travel - two days in advance, in fact - but this was largely due to the fact that the six months' wait was up on 1st October and we were travelling on the 3rd, so our timeframe was a bit rushed!  She had no problem signing off on the forms while the boxes for the tick treatment were still blank, so don't worry about that aspect.

All I can say about your vet situation is for you to hang in there and keep doing what you're doing, which is to insist that they do things the right way, even if they have an attitude problem about following your directions.  In the end, it's YOUR pet that will suffer if they screw something up, so be persistent (and remind them of this fact if necessary!).

In Georgia, I was told by the USDA and British Airways that the APHIS 7001 can be used as the "fit to fly" certificate - or a simple letter from the vet will suffice.  For my situation, it is only required by the airline and it does not need to be endorsed by the USDA.

BA said that if I already have the APHIS 7001 started, I might as well submit it.  I haven't been able to locate it.  Its a form in triplicate, so it's not something that is downloadable. 

My vet says they have a "fit to fly" form that they've used in the past so I'm going with that.

Call the USDA and ask them.  They will tell you what they need to see.

In Georgia, I was told by the USDA and British Airways that the APHIS 7001 can be used as the "fit to fly" certificate - or a simple letter from the vet will suffice.  For my situation, it is only required by the airline and it does not need to be endorsed by the USDA.

BA said that if I already have the APHIS 7001 started, I might as well submit it.  I haven't been able to locate it.  Its a form in triplicate, so it's not something that is downloadable. 

My vet says they have a "fit to fly" form that they've used in the past so I'm going with that.

Call the USDA and ask them.  They will tell you what they need to see.

In another example of "your mileage (or official advice) may vary," when I flew over in September 2006 from Georgia the USDA vet told me she was required to sign the APHIS form, and the people checking in my cats at BA World Cargo required the APHIS form with the USDA endorsement as well.  So calling the USDA may or may not actually fully answer all your questions. 

I'm prepared to believe that the regulations may have changed since fall 2006, but I can only speak for my experience, which was that the APHIS form (which was provided by my vet, incidentally) and the 998/2003 form both required USDA endorsements.  I had everything signed and sealed at once, the week before we departed.  Given that you'll have to pay to have one form endorsed, you might as well have them all endorsed at the same time, just in case.

When my pets went in for their 'travel exam', my pets were just charged standard office visit. 

Also, I had to send in a Health Certification to the Missouri State Vet (I'm guessing for different states, there are different rules in place) and the State Vet's office did charge me a $24 fee for processing the form.

My recommendation:  find out who the Texas State Vet office is and get their contact information.  Ask them these questions and give their contact information to your vet.  Get one person from the Texas State Vet office to champion you on this.

When I was doing final examinations on my cat, my vet (Missouri Humane Society) wasn't 100% on the process, but the folks at the State Vet office were and were really helpful.

You might want to contact Janet and Dr. Hodgson at Airpets America.  They aren't in Ft. Worth but are close in Colleyville.  It might be worth a bit of a drive to have someone who knows what they are doing.  Airpets America is the vet I used and I didn't have to worry about any of this going on.  The doctor has done this sort of thing multiple times for countries all over the world.  It was easy working with him.  Maybe you can get the remaining finished with him.  I don't know but it wouldn't hurt to ask:

http://airpetsdfw.com/

**OH MY GOODNESS** 

So I called the vet's office this morning at around 11am and they said the paperwork was filled out and okay to be picked up at anytime.  My mom and I drove over there (around 15 miles one way) went in got the papers and went back out to the car only to find......

He has messed them all up.  On one of the forms he put the rabies vaccination was October 6th 2008... October 6th 2008 hasn't even happened yet!!! It was 2007 

Then on all three forms he put that the rabies vaccine was good for three years but my rabies vaccination certificate shows it is only good for one year.

So thankfully I have the USDA #'s on my cell phone so I call and ask if the 1 year/3year issue is a problem since we will be in the UK before the 1 year is up anyway and got a very fast "NO" it must all say the same thing if it is one year it must say one year on certificate if it is in fact a three year vaccine then the rabies certificate must show it is good for three years.

I walk right back into the vet's office and point out these issues.  She goes to take a pen to correct the issues, I explain that the lady at USDA just told me that a new form would need to be filled out.  She tells me that the doctor is not in today that I am welcome to come back on Monday.  I then explain that I had dropped off six blank 998 forms in case he needed extra and asked if they still had the other three or if I needed to bring more copies back? She said they did not have them and I would have to bring them back.

I then ask about the 1 year/3year issue she said that in the state of Texas if this is the cat's first rabies vaccine then it is a 3 year vaccine but that they can only say it is good for one year.  I then explain then I need to make sure that the 998 form only shows 1 year, she said it is a 3 year vaccine and that the vet can not say it is only good for one year if it is a 3 year vaccine.  I then explained that I needed new rabies certificates showing it was good for 3 years then and she says she can not as it is only good for 1 year as it is their first shot. . . . .   After about 5 minutes of going back and forth like this she finally said that the doctor can put it is only good for 1 year since it is Texas Law, I told her that would be fine and to make sure he puts that shots were given in 2007 not 2008. She circled all of the mistakes and wrote 'blue ink' on the top to remind him when he fills out the new ones to do it in blue ink again.

So then... She pulls my file and says that they only have records for Rooney and Pazzesca says they can not find any paperwork on Gallagher. They said they show where things were performed on my online chart but they do not have a copy of his titre test and wondered if when I brought back more blank forms if I would bring back the original so that they can make a copy for my file.   

These people are crazy.

So lets add this up.. I drove 15 miles there.. 15 miles home to make more copies.. 15 miles back and now 15 miles back home again.  Then on Monday after work I will have to drive back over there and back home again.

I thought today would be the last time I would have to step foot in that place but I guess not.

Oh and then when I just took back more copies (six more) she said "are there extras in here in case he needs more then just three?"   :\\\'(

I am just glad that we can get the tick/tapeworm done at another vets.  Anybody has to be better then this, at this point I wouldn't even trust them to use the right stuff because even when I spell everything out they still laugh at me.  *ugh*

Ugh, sorry. Starting to sound like my vet towards the end with Banfield.

They wanted me to bring the cats in to get the 998 forms filled out as well, and pay $80 per cat for a physical. When I stressed that this would mean I would be paying for two physicals, she said that's the way it is! I freaked out as well, until I called a really great vet by my mom who filled out the paperwork for free. Actually she just had me fill it out, and then she signed it all off. That way I knew it would filled out correctly.

I guess if BMI don't require the health certificate, then you don't need one. You can always try calling the BMI animal reception in Chicago (?? not sure if thats where you are flying out from now) to confirm, as they will be the only one to ask for it. BA said all I needed was a letter on my vet letterhead, stating they were fit to fly. But Continental wanted the 7001 form. However, both confirmed they don't need to be signed by the USDA vet.

My Aphis 7001 form was signed by the USDA vet.  Things could've changed in the last two years though.

Well... If I go back there on Monday and it is filled out incorrectly again I will be filling out the next batch and will just be asking him to sign it.

The BMI Animal reception in Chicago has said that I need to phone Pets on Jets in Manchester to ask what is required.  When I tried to explain this would be something that I needed to get them onto the plane not what is needed when landed in the UK she just told me again it was best to contact Pets on Jets.  So I did E-Mail them in Manchester and he confirmed they do not require the 7001 form or a fit to fly document but also noted it would not be them that needed it anyway.

I phoned the USDA Vets office and she said that not all airlines require it and they do not have any kind of list to go off of. That I would simply need to phone the airline and or the cargo company in Chicago.

I phoned BMI reservations they kept saying that I needed a pet passport when I asked if he meant a third country official veterinary certificate he asked his supervisor and said no we mean pet passport and without that they can not enter the UK.  After that I knew they really didn't know what they were talking about.

I can only assume that if the people in Chicago at the cargo facility (where I will be dropping the cats off) do not know of this form or any other fit to fly certificate being required that it is not.  They tell me the only forms they need to see on the day of drop off are the three pages of AVI UK Customs forms.  However.. Since we will be having the Tick/Tapeworm done in Southern Illinois within the 24/48 hour time limit I am going to go ahead and ask the vet that we get to do that to fill out a letter on letterhead saying they are fit to fly using their names and microchip numbers as clarification.

Figured it may not be required but at least a letter is better then nothing.   

Today I am going to be making myself a countdown chain.  Do you remember making those back in grade school?  They are little loops connected to each other and each day you rip one off to show yourself getting closer to a certain date...  Arriving in the UK and getting this all over with at the end of September can not come quick enough...   

Figured it may not be required but at least a letter is better then nothing.   

I completely agree - better to be overprepared than possibly underprepared, especially when you've been trying really hard to get everything done right only to be thwarted at every turn by "official" sources that don't know what they're talking about! 

Sorry things have been so rough for you in this regard - good luck, hang in there and keep your eyes on that last link of paper chain!  (I totally had one for my move, too. )

Yes, it's so frustrating dealing with so much information. But you seem like you have a good head on your shoulders, and I don't doubt everything will turn out fine.

I had a constant knot in my stomach the two weeks before we moved. But now we're taking a nice relaxing vacation to Egypt next week to unwind from all the stress of moving our two cats. I'll be sipping daiquiris on a beach, glad it's all over.