10 day time limit on vet certificate?

I'm trying to get my cat moved over here from the US, and according to my friend over there who's helping coordinate the move and talked to the vet over there,

'<the vet> said she just had her booster in September, and she won't need another one until September 2012.They said since the window for the certificate is 10 days, if they did it now it would be expired by the time you want to take her. They will scan her chip and do the certificate, but it should be no more than 10 days before you plan to leave.'

I'm confused. This doesn't seem to be any kind of DERA requirement. Did anyone else have their vet say something of the sort regarding the rabies vaccination certificate?

'<the vet> said she just had her booster in September, and she won't need another one until September 2012.They said since the window for the certificate is 10 days, if they did it now it would be expired by the time you want to take her. They will scan her chip and do the certificate, but it should be no more than 10 days before you plan to leave.'

This likely refers to the EC998 form that you have to get your state USDA vet to sign off on proving you've completed the pre-moving steps (rabies vaccination, microchip, etc). It used to be valid for 4 months (so you could do it well ahead of time), now it's only valid for 10 days from USDA sign-off.

You can still do the rabies vaccine anytime (or not at all if she's not due until September and will be here by then - assuming she was microchipped before she had her rabies vaccination).

Then when you're ready to ship her, get the USDA sign-off and any extra forms the airline might require (fit-to-fly certificate, etc), and you're good to go. The airline forms are generally valid for 10 days as well.

Yep, Defra changes their policy as of the first of this year. Remember as well those 10 days need to include your travel time, So probably 7-8 days before travel get the papers signed.