Vet says We have to mail blood samples

Ok, so I went to the vet today for their rabies vaccination. Now they already had their microchips, so that's taken care of. From what I read, there is no specified amount of time that we absolutely have to wait between rabies vacc and blood draw, so we are going to wait 14 days (just in case), since they were already current on the vacc anyway.

In talking to vet about the blood test, she said that we'll be responsible for mailing the blood to the K-State testing lab. Does that sound right to you all? I mean, if we are responsible for mailing it ourselves (after they draw the samples), would that be a valid test? I could see the USDA official saying something like "how do we know the blood K-state tested was even your cat's blood - you could have substituted any cats blood for it". Have you all heard of this before? I'm concerned they would throw out the results and make us re-do it, essentially having to start the process all over again.

My vet mailed in the samples for me (I believe they factored that into the price they charged me, but they didn't itemize a specific "shipping" line). You could see if you can call the KS lab and check with them what measures (if any) you'd need to take to ship the samples yourself. Or you can look around for another vet.

I don't think DEFRA has any rules beyond the basic "need your pet's blood tested" (but they obviously only have the completed FAVN from KS to go on, and would have no way of knowing if you did try to substitute some random cat's sample for your own).

You know, my vet said this too and when I really questioned her, all she meant was we were responsible for paying for the shipment, but in the end, they actually shippped it and charged me.  I'd clarify with your current vet and if they actually just want to hand over blood samples to you and have you ship them, I'd switch vets.  If they are unwilling to help with this part, I imagine you may run into other problems down the line.

Like the others have said, we were responsible for paying for the shipment and any other associated fees, but our vet did the actual sending and any paperwork.  I wouldn't know the first thing about the shipment of blood and it's something a vet practice probably does daily (just not necessarily for rabies titers), so I'd clarify what they mean by "responsible" but perhaps be wary. 

I sent my samples myself, but this was back in 2003 so it's possible (likely?) that the rules have changed since then. However, I did it and had no problems. My vet packaged it up for me properly and I took it straight over to Mail Boxes Etc.

I think it doesn't matter because at the end of the process the vet has to sign the EC998 stating that the specific pets passed the blood test. So the vet is trusting you to not swap the blood I suppose. I would think that might be considered unprofessional.

My guess is that the vet isn't set up for this service. My vet only charged me the actual FedEx cost simply because they didn't have an item in their billing system for this and they didn't want the hassle of adding it.

One other thing to remember - these are your pets and you should call the shots with this complex and out-of-the-ordinary process. If you are not happy with the vet in the slightest then you might want to consider finding another one.

I hope that helps.

Andy

Thanks for the replies. I'll go back and clarify our responsibility, but she seemed pretty clear about it because she said they could get the samples together and perhaps help with the cold packs. This really does make us unhappy, because I don't want this to crop up as a problem later. Wouldn't this destroy the 'chain of evidence', or whatever you'd call it, by giving us the samples to send?

Would it be terribly complicated if we had one vet do the microchip verification & rabies vacc, but had another do the blood test? My stepsister is a vet, and although her practice is about an hour away, we may consider going to her to do the blood draw as I'm sure she'd help us out and do it the right way. If we did do that, which vet would fill out the EC998? The first vet, or my stepsister?

This wouldnt be complicated really. I would just make sure that if you have your your step-sister do the blood work, that she is also the one who completes the process (ie sign on the EC998 form).  I think EQ had various vets involved when she did it, so may be able to offer more info about that.

As long as all vets involved are USDA approved, it should be fine.

I did all the pre-6-month wait stuff with one vet in NC, and then moved my pets up to MD to stay with my parents. They went to my parents' vet in MD for the pre-flight check, and there were no problems. (I don't know if the pre-flight vet has to be USDA approved, but certainly the bloodwork part needs to be done by an approved vet.)

Well, our two kittehs had their blood drawn this past Monday. I shipped their blood samples with UPS overnight ($65!!  ), and today Kansas State has charged our card. So hopefully that means the samples arrived safely, and here's to hoping they pass with flying colors!

For clarification, is it 6mo exactly from date of blood draw, or 180 days? There is a difference.

It is 6 calender months. The DEFRA site doesn't mention anything about days. So assuming your kitties pass the bloodwork test, they'll be OK to fly as of July 7, 2011.

Good luck!

Errmm...wouldn't that be Aug. 7, 2011? 

Errmm...wouldn't that be Aug. 7, 2011? 

Yes, sorry. Jet-lag + my little brothers shouting various songs in the background = fried brain.

Ok, so our vet called yesterday to tell us our titre results came in. We went and picked it up today, and it was just a fax that they received from KSU. Is this the actual results that we are given, or can we expect to receive docs a little more 'official' looking? I paid an extra $50 for to courier the results and it seems a bit deceptive if the 'courier' service is just a friggin fax service.

The good news is that they had greater than 0.5ml so they passed! 

My vet got a faxed copy, and a few days later got the "real" copy (with the sticker on it) from KS. Then I had to fight the vet to let me keep the real copy and store a photocopy of it in their records.

Congrats on a positive result!