Moving US to UK - Cat Travel and Vet Questions

Hello everyone,

Great forum, I've read the sticky about pet travel as well as a couple other posts.  However I believe a couple of the forms and links referenced are a bit out dated.  In addition I had a not so confident visit to my Vet today and I want to make absolute sure that they are handling things correctly.

My cat received a Home Again ISO 15 digit micro-chip from my vet about 10 days ago. Today we went in to get his Rabies shot.  We booked this day as there's a specific employee there trained to do this paperwork for UK and international travel.  The doctor came in and he had no idea why we were there aside from getting his rabies shot. As he was about to administer it I said "Hey, don't you need to scan his micro-ship or something first".  He said "Sure we can scan it, see he has a microchip" (yeah...that's not what I meant).  He gave him the shot and then said that the person that knew all of this stuff was in surgery.  He came back with some confusing information.  What I was told was:

1. He said not to worry that the Vaccination Certification he printed and signed for me didn't have the microchip number on it (this may be for local purposes and not international purposes?).
2. He printed a medical history of my pet. It clearly shows all his shots as well as his microchip that came days before his recent vaccination (but does this qualify?).
3. He said we need to FedEx or drive to a USDA service center (they appear to be everywhere) with a form after our cat gets a second physical within 10 days of our flight.
4. I mentioned that we may be in Wisconsin visiting my parents (we live in DC now) before flying out of Chicago. He said they would fax his medical history to a vet over there, they would do the final physical and fill out a form and I would take to a USDA office in Wisconsin all within 10 days of our flight.
5. He said we need to do a fecal test, gave us a plastic container, and said bring it in a few weeks before travel. He said this is a USDA requirement to make sure he has no parasites.

What exactly is the correct procedure, forms, etc.  If they screwed something up I want to make sure I catch it early as we also bought flights with Virgin Atlantic today for October 3rd. If I have to get the rabies redone I want to make sure I do it in time.

Is there a certain form we should have gotten right after the rabies? When do we send forms to USDA (or should our vet do it or should they be stamping things themselves). Can we get our cat's final physical done about 14 days before our flight in DC but then take it to a USDA location in Wisconsin 4 days or more after?

Thanks for everyone's help, a bit nervous after today. 

1. He said not to worry that the Vaccination Certification he printed and signed for me didn't have the microchip number on it (this may be for local purposes and not international purposes?).

The rabies vaccination certificate needs to have the microchip number on it.

2. He printed a medical history of my pet. It clearly shows all his shots as well as his microchip that came days before his recent vaccination (but does this qualify?).

Qualify for/as what? Proof that the chip came before the vaccination?

3. He said we need to FedEx or drive to a USDA service center (they appear to be everywhere) with a form after our cat gets a second physical within 10 days of our flight.

It's true that you'll need to post (probably overnight) the paperwork or drive to the USDA office after the cat's physical that's within 10 days of the flight. HOWEVER, the USDA is not "everywhere" -- there's fewer than one office per state. The list of veterinary services area offices is here (some offices cover more than one state): http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/area_offices/

4. I mentioned that we may be in Wisconsin visiting my parents (we live in DC now) before flying out of Chicago. He said they would fax his medical history to a vet over there, they would do the final physical and fill out a form and I would take to a USDA office in Wisconsin all within 10 days of our flight.

This would not cut it. The cat MUST have a physical within 10 days of the flight, an appointment at which the Annex II is filled in by a USDA-certified vet -- before sending/hand-delivering to the USDA veterinarian-in-charge. Keep in mind that each V-I-C has a specified territory; I have zero clue whether a vet visit in D.C. within 10 days of flight would be accepted for endorsement by the V-I-C in Wisconsin. (Knowing bureaucracy, probably not, but you never know. I wouldn't feel comfortable guessing either way.)

If you were to do the physical in Wisconsin, keep in mind that it will have to be with a USDA-certified vet.

5. He said we need to do a fecal test, gave us a plastic container, and said bring it in a few weeks before travel. He said this is a USDA requirement to make sure he has no parasites.

Not true. Only dogs need to have tapeworm treatment before flying.

What exactly is the correct procedure, forms, etc.  If they screwed something up I want to make sure I catch it early as we also bought flights with Virgin Atlantic today for October 3rd. If I have to get the rabies redone I want to make sure I do it in time.

Is there a certain form we should have gotten right after the rabies? When do we send forms to USDA (or should our vet do it or should they be stamping things themselves). Can we get our cat's final physical done about 14 days before our flight in DC but then take it to a USDA location in Wisconsin 4 days or more after?

You will not need to have the rabies vaccination done again. You CANNOT have the physical done 14 days before the flight, period. I doubt a V-I-C for one area can endorse an Annex II filled out by a USDA-certified vet in another area.

Here's a capsule summary of the three forms you'll need to bring your cat: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=80569.msg1084240#msg1084240

And here's a rundown of how I coordinated completion and endorsement of the Annex II for my cats in April: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=70546.msg1074727#msg1074727

Thanks for everyone's help, a bit nervous after today.  

Good luck. You might want to double-check that your vet is truly USDA-certified. I'm surprised by how misinformed he seems to be.

The rabies vaccination certificate needs to have the microchip number on it.

The woman that knows her stuff called us back and said they should have included.  She reprinted the Vaccination Certificate with the microchip number and we picked it up the next day, looks good now.  Do we really need this form? It's a simple print out with some data, the vaccination type, the doc's signature, and a sticker from the vaccination applied to the bottom. Do we hand this off to the USDA V-I-C when we submit the Annex II form?

Qualify for/as what? Proof that the chip came before the vaccination?

This was the first doc's way of proving this microchip number went with the vaccination. The woman who called me back and fixed the certificate made this moot.

It's true that you'll need to post (probably overnight) the paperwork or drive to the USDA office after the cat's physical that's within 10 days of the flight. HOWEVER, the USDA is not "everywhere" -- there's fewer than one office per state. The list of veterinary services area offices is here (some offices cover more than one state): http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/area_offices/ [nofollow]

We're in DC, our USDA office is in Richmond, VA. I'm visiting my parents in Middleton, WI just outside of Madison. The WI USDA office is in Madison, about 40 ft away from the Middleton border and 1.5 miles from my parents house! 

This would not cut it. The cat MUST have a physical within 10 days of the flight, an appointment at which the Annex II is filled in by a USDA-certified vet -- before sending/hand-delivering to the USDA veterinarian-in-charge. Keep in mind that each V-I-C has a specified territory; I have zero clue whether a vet visit in D.C. within 10 days of flight would be accepted for endorsement by the V-I-C in Wisconsin. (Knowing bureaucracy, probably not, but you never know. I wouldn't feel comfortable guessing either way.)

If you were to do the physical in Wisconsin, keep in mind that it will have to be with a USDA-certified vet.

I called the USDA V-I-C in Madison. They said I could make an appointment (plenty available) and bring my Annex II form from my USDA certified Vet located in Washington, DC into them a couple days later and they would certify the form. They would just want to talk to our Vet and our field office (Richmond, VA) first to confirm that our Vet is indeed USDA certified. I also called the Richmond field office to confirm and they said that was perfectly fine and they've done it before.  I have the name and number of the woman I talked to in Madison and I will call back soon and book the appointment and give her my Vet info.

5. He said we need to do a fecal test, gave us a plastic container, and said bring it in a few weeks before travel. He said this is a USDA requirement to make sure he has no parasites.

Not true. Only dogs need to have tapeworm treatment before flying.

My vet said this was for Parasite verification and not tapeworms.  They said this was a USDA requirement for general health and that some vets just sign off on it and never check but they don't like to do that (I'm sure they will charge and make $$ that way).  Do you know where this may be written down in USDA forms/reqs?

Good luck. You might want to double-check that your vet is truly USDA-certified. I'm surprised by how misinformed he seems to be

Yeah I wasn't too impressed, but the second person that followed up with me (who we were scheduled to see but she was in surgery) knew her stuff pretty well and sounded confident, well informed, and totally understanding.

Some follow up development, and hope to get some insight ASAP.

We depart October 3rd and arrive in London on October 4th. As discussed we're traveling from Washington, DC to Madison, WI then flying out of Chicago. The question is when and where to make his appointment to fill out the health certificate.

If you count back 10 days from Oct 3 (with Oct 2nd being day 1) the earliest his vet appointment can be is Sep 23.  However I called Virgin Atlantic (the flight I've booked for myself and my cat already) and they count Oct 3 as day 1 and therefor the earliest I can book my vet is Sep 24. Finally the Pet Travel Scheme on the gov.uk site said that I must ARRIVE in the EU within 10 days of when the certificate was issued.  Since I arrive Oct 4, that date could be Sep 25 now if they count the same way Virgin did.  Does anyone have any information on how to actually count the days?

Compounding all of this, by booking the earliest possible date, if there's a delay in our flight we could have an issue.  My original plan was to have our regular vet fill out the certificate (they do this a lot and have some familiarity with the UK) and the USDA VIC in Madison, WI has agreed to certify our vet even though they are out of their region.  However I'm thinking it may be better to take our cat to a vet that a family member uses in Wisconsin (who has experience doing international certs but not necessarily ones for UK) and having him get his appointment about 5 days before travel and have the USDA VIC certify it same day. I talked to the vet in Wisconsin and they said they could fill out the certificate if they had the official rabies documentation and microchip number from our DC vet to verify.

Thoughts on this?

Some follow up development, and hope to get some insight ASAP.

We depart October 3rd and arrive in London on October 4th. As discussed we're traveling from Washington, DC to Madison, WI then flying out of Chicago. The question is when and where to make his appointment to fill out the health certificate.

If you count back 10 days from Oct 3 (with Oct 2nd being day 1) the earliest his vet appointment can be is Sep 23.  However I called Virgin Atlantic (the flight I've booked for myself and my cat already) and they count Oct 3 as day 1 and therefor the earliest I can book my vet is Sep 24. Finally the Pet Travel Scheme on the gov.uk site said that I must ARRIVE in the EU within 10 days of when the certificate was issued.  Since I arrive Oct 4, that date could be Sep 25 now if they count the same way Virgin did.  Does anyone have any information on how to actually count the days?

Compounding all of this, by booking the earliest possible date, if there's a delay in our flight we could have an issue.  My original plan was to have our regular vet fill out the certificate (they do this a lot and have some familiarity with the UK) and the USDA VIC in Madison, WI has agreed to certify our vet even though they are out of their region.  However I'm thinking it may be better to take our cat to a vet that a family member uses in Wisconsin (who has experience doing international certs but not necessarily ones for UK) and having him get his appointment about 5 days before travel and have the USDA VIC certify it same day. I talked to the vet in Wisconsin and they said they could fill out the certificate if they had the official rabies documentation and microchip number from our DC vet to verify.

Thoughts on this?

No response yet, but I did talk to a vet in Madison, WI that said all they needed was my Rabies Certificate with the live signature from my DC vet and the microchip number on it and they would fill out the health certificate.  Medical history of my cat will be faxed from the DC to WI vet showing the microchip happened before the Rabies also. The USDA office confirmed the Wisconsin vet was USDA certified (apparently often they say they are but their certs have lapsed, and issue I found with the first vet I called in Madison) and that the process I laid out with my DC vet forwarding the information to the Wisconsin vet is acceptable. They are a 15 min drive from the WI vet so I can even go back and forth if anything isn't done correctly.