Emergency Room Trip

In the midst of my travel preparations, we had an emergency last night. I took Seymour out for his last walk of the night at about 10:30 pm. Just as we were coming home, I heard him yelp and then saw him with his leash wrapped around his legs and his front paw was bent up close to his chest. I couldn't see anything wrong but he couldn't walk. When I carried him back into the house, he started coughing like he had severe kennel cough and still couldn't walk. All my research about where I would take him if he needed emergency care had never been written down so I had no idea where to take him.

Holding Seymour while Googling "Emergency Vet Clinics", I found names of clinics where you could call in case of an emergency and a 24 hour clinic. I finally called the 24 hour clinic, which was quite a distance from my house. They were exceptionally nice and gave me the names and number of 2 clinics closer to me. I called one, got directions, put Seymour in his crate, and headed there. It was about 40 minutes away. I have never been so frightened for Seymour as I was then. I prayed that I wouldn't get stopped for speeding or going through yellow lights. I was thankful when I heard Seymour's constant coughing because I knew he was alive. OK, I'm a little dramatic but he is very important to me.

We finally found the clinic and luckily no one else was waiting. After I filled out the paperwork and gave them Seymour's symptoms, they said that it sounded like he had been stung by a scorpion. Three other animals had been in that night with the same symptoms, and one had an especially severe reaction to the sting.

They took him back to the exam room, without me, and said they would give him a shot of Torbugesic, which is a pain killer and sedative. I had given him some Children's Benadryl earlier because I was afraid he might have been bitten by something. The doctor said (and don't quote me here because I was a bit stressed) that you should give an animal 1 mg for each pound of their weight. So Seymour weighs about 7 pounds and he should get a little over 7 mg of Benadryl. I need to see if I have a dropper with mg or ml on it. I really want to be better prepared in case this happens again.

So now I have the name of the Emergency Vet clinic, the address and phone number. They were going to send my vet a copy of the records for their file. I was very pleased with the customer service at this clinic and will go back, if needed. It is called the Emergency Animal Hospital NW Austin, although they have 2 locations and the one in South Austin was closer to me.

Seymour is much better today but still coughing a little. The only good to come from this was the I finally used the crate Seymour will be using on the plane to take him to the clinic. I zipped it up so he was confined for over an hour. When we got home, I kept him zipped in the crate and put the crate next to me on the bed, so he was in it for a few more hours. He started whimpering and I kept telling him "no" until the whimpering got loud and steady. I then took him outside and the poor guy really had to "go". So, I will need to figure out when he is whimpering because he wants to get out versus when he need to "go".

What a night!!

More Pet Travel Updates - Updated

I have to admit that I've been slacking off a bit in my planning for our trip to Italy. I have finally printed the right forms that need to be completed related to Seymour's health status. I called my vet and found out that he is an accredited vet through the USDA. That is very important - make sure the vet you go to is accredited - not all are since accredited is different than licensed. When I called my vet, they told me that when I make an appointment, I need to let them know to which country we will be traveling because they do their own research on what tests, etc. need to be completed. They won't rely on the information I have. I like that.

I'm still concerned about the microchip. One piece of information I read said that the pet MUST have a 15 digit non-encrypted microchip operating at 134.2 kHz. Seymour has a 10 digit microchip. But I also saw that if they don't have the 15 digit microchip, you must bring your own scanner. I hope the latter is true because it will be easier than thinking about putting 2 microchips in him. Other information (besides the microchip stuff) related to bringing a dog to Italy includes:
1. Dates must be written in the DD-MM-YYYY format on all forms.
2. Dogs over 3 months must have had their rabies vaccination more than 21 days prior to departure.
3. Inoculation record must include name of vaccine, manufacturer of vaccine, batch number, date administered and expiration date of the vaccine. (I sure hope we have all of that information somewhere because I did change vets)
4. Only the rabies vaccination is mandatory but the follow are recommended: Distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parovirus and parainfluenza. My vet was telling me about the parainfluenza vaccination but I opted not to get it; I might have to change my mind.

After the vet fills out the EU form 998 within 14-21 days of the date of departure, then I have to take the form to the area UDDA/APHIS/VS office with a check for $36
to get the form certified.

I also found a farmstay website where you can stay on a farm in Italy www.italyfarmstay.com I emailed them to see if Seymour could stay and they promptly wrote back and said "yes, but he would need to stay outside." That won't work for me since Seymour is not an outside dog, so I'm glad I asked.

UPDATED: I just received an email from Antonio at farmstay and they said that since Seymour is so small that if I rented a private room, it would have an outside door so Seymour could stay in the room. BUT he shouldn't sleep on the bed. I appreciated their flexibility with this and said I would get back with them when I made a decision.


Wow, getting Seymour ready for this trip is much more work than getting me ready! I am gathering clothes and necessities to bring with me. I am purchasing some quick-dry clothes so that I can wash things and have them dry overnight since I am planning on bringing very few items. I'm sure that by the end of 3 months, I'll be sick of the clothes I brought. I have heard that people have left the clothes they don't want where ever they were traveling but others have said that it isn't proper. I'll just make that decision when I'm there. I'm also planning on bringing some inexpensive bracelets to give as gifts to people we stayed with. They will take up little space in my backpack and I hope will be a nice gesture. Of course,I know that money is always accepted as a thank you.

Next step - getting those plane reservations made. I found the cheapest dates to travel but I will need to call AirFrance to be sure there is room for Seymour on those flights. Once I have those reservations made, this trip will be more "real" to me.

UPDATE: In one day, the cost of the flight increased about $200. Now I'm going to wait until next Wed or Thurs to see if the price goes down. I read that the worst time to buy an airline ticket was Friday or Saturday, but I have a feeling it is probably going to be the same price (and hopefully not higher) next week. Another lesson learned!

You Never Know if You Don't Ask

I am starting to get responses back on my doggie questions.

Scanner and microchip - I don't think anyone has ever asked this question to the animal shelter. They have responded with a lot of information and it appears that they have a scanner that scans both USA and International chips, but it looks like Seymour's chip is not an international one. It needed to be 13 digits and Seymour's chip is only 10 characters. Dang - another thing to purchase and carry in my backpack. Now I just have to figure out what kind to buy!

I also contacted a very nice person named Heike at Il Sasso, a language school in Montepulciao, Tuscany. There were very good reviews for this school and it is pretty reasonable. I've never been to Tuscany so I thought that would be a good place to visit while learning some Italian. I wanted to do a homestay while I was there so that I could be around native speakers - and because it is less expensive than a hotel or apartment. He said there is one single woman who allows dogs in her house, but she has a small male dog. If it didn't work out between the 2 dogs, I'd have to move to an apartment. Heike also responded that I could bring Seymour to class with me. I plan to take a 4 week course and hopefully I will learn enough basics to get me through the rest of my trip. Right now I'm trying to read a sentence in Italian and I can't figure out any of the words. "Segnala questa attraione agli altri viaggiatori". I'm in big trouble!

Trip Planning Odds and Ends

There is so much to plan for this trip to Italy. I'm slowing getting things done - or at least started:

1. Emailed the Animal Shelter where Seymour was adopted from to find out what kind of microchip they put in him. I hope I don't have to purchase a separate scanner.

2. Signed up for a class "Italian for Travelers" that will be held in July. I decided I better get some early practice, before I take my language class in Italy. It's like someone who cleans their house before the cleaning people come. I would totally do that if I had cleaning people!

3. Wrote to a language school in Italy (It's in Tuscany) to see if they would accept me with a dog, and if one of the homestays I want to stay in for a month would also accept a dog. I haven't heard back yet.

4. Found a pretty good website www.pettravel.com that has a lot of good information on traveling with a pet overseas. I ordered the Pet passport from them. It comes with all of the paperwork and list of health records I will need to get filled out before we go. They have a forum and I posted a question about how to get a Pet's Health Certificate translated into Italian. Supposedly I need to get that done. No response yet, but five people viewed my question. Maybe it was too dumb to answer!

5. Seymour is beginning to spend more time in his new carrier. Because he likes his sling, I put that in the carrier as a blanket and he has really taken to it. Unfortunately, I haven't started zipping it up yet! He is an expert un-zipper so I'm not ready for that challenge yet.

Carrying Less on Walks

Seymour and I take long walks every day. Sometimes we end up passing a place where I'd like to buy a coffee or drink and I have no money with me. Or we walk to the pet groomers to get Seymour's nails clipped and I have to hold my money in my hand or bring a purse. Most of my pants or shorts don't have pockets and I don't like carrying a purse during walks. I may be the last to realize this but I always have the poop bag bone dispenser attached to Seymour's leash, and figured out that was a good place to keep some extra money. I took out the roll of bags and stuffed 2 bags back into the bone dispenser. I then put in some bills and some change - and even a Kleenex, and it all fit. One word of caution is that change will fall out of the hole for the bags so it needs to be kept behind the bills and poop bags.

I was thinking that this would be a good place to keep some extra money and a folded copy of my passport when we are in Italy. I doubt that anyone will try to take Seymour's poop dispenser and screwing it open takes a little effort. I can't see where I'll ever need more than 2 bags on a walk, so I should always have extra room for my stuff. The dispenser has never come off of the leash but I think I will use an extra tie, as a precaution. Another problem solved - I hope.

Seymours' Sling

The new sling I bought came yesterday and I've been carrying Seymour around in it. It feels like a lined sweatshirt material, thicker than I expected, but the layers make it more comfortable. The strap is pretty comfy across my shoulder. It is basic; no pockets, but it does come with a strap to hold him in. He seems to like it. Mostly he sat it in, which is why he looks big in the picture, but when he would lay down, you couldn't see him at all. I won't be able to sneak him in anywhere in this sling, but I think it will work great to take him in places where pets are allowed and have both hands free. It is smaller than the previous one I purchased, so I think it fits him better. I bought it on eBay and it says it was made by Outward Hound but I couldn't find it at other places. It cost $16.50 with free shipping, so I was pleased with the price.

Next I want to see how this sling works when I ride a bike because I expect to do that in Italy.

Still Planning for Italy with Seymour

My current planning steps include getting everything I need lined up for Seymour's Pet Passport and getting the travel gear Seymour will need. What I've done so far related to his Pet Passport:
1. I downloaded the paperwork I need to take to my vet from the USDA website: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/pet_travel/pet_travel.shtml

Part of the paperwork is in Italian so I think I have to get it translated but I haven't gotten that far in the process yet.

2. I updated Seymour's chip information because I hadn't done that since I moved and I wanted to add an emergency number.
I now have to contact the Animal Shelter that put in the chip to see what type of scanner they used. If they don't have an international one, I have read that I have to bring my own. I have to say, that doesn't make sense because if he does get lost in Italy, he won't have the scanner attached to him. Again, I need to do more research on this.

Then I started looking for Seymour's Travel gear. I think I'll be able to start my own Pet Travel Store with all of the stuff I'm getting and probably won't use. Hopefully, I'll save others from making the same mistakes.

My first concern was finding a carrier that is airline approved and is the right size. I went to Pet's Mart and also checked on Amazon.com and eBay. After reading great reviews about a rolling pet carrier, I purchased one similar to the attached picture

The chihuahua in the carrier looks a bit like Seymour, but Seymour wasn't as happy as that dog when he tried it. He was willing to go into the carrier and have me roll him around, but he was bracing himself because the carrier was at a 45 degree angle when rolled. I then unzipped it and left it on the living room floor to get him used to it - and he wanted nothing to do with it. Although it was for pets up to 15 pounds, he looked gigantic in it. It was also not very comfortable because when it's laying down, the metal handle is folded under it.

I then checked on the carriers that the different airlines sold and decided to get one similar. It's a Sherpa carrier, size medium with 3 mesh sides and a back pocket. It is a little bigger than the rolling carrier.

Seymour seemed to like this carrier a little better because he would go in by himself but wouldn't stay in long. It has a nice Sherpa pad but when I pushed on the bottom of the carrier, there was a very hard floor under it and the pad is very thin. I couldn't see Seymour being comfortable in it for 8 plus hours. I took out the floor and put him back in the carrier, zipped it up and carried him around. His body weight made the bottom droop a little, but overall, he seemed satisfied with it. I plan to make another Sherpa-type pad that is a little more cushy for him and will zip him in it when we are in the car so he gets used to being confined. This is the carrier I plan to use - I just hope I don't have to put that hard floor back in it. The other thing I do like about it is that I can make the strap long enough to be able to carry it across my chest - so it's hands-free.

Next I checked on carriers I can use when I take him in stores. etc. but it needed to be very fold able since I am only carrying one small carry on suitcase with me. I found a Outward Hound Sling that said it was for pets up to 15 pounds. I purchased it and tried it out while we walked around an outdoor festival last weekend. He was pretty comfortable and I did like that there was a strap inside that I can connect to his collar and a Velcro strap that goes across the opening. He felt pretty secure in it.

But, the bad news is that it is bigger than I expected - it really is for pets up to 20 pounds so Seymour swims in it. It is sturdy and folds up but is a little bigger than I wanted. Luckily it was only $19.99 because I decided I needed a different one. This trip is getting expensive and I haven't even purchased our airline tickets yet!

I found a smaller Outward Hound sling. It fits in a small pouch - included - and is for pets up to about 7 pounds, which is close to Seymour's weight. It hasn't come yet, so I haven't been able to test it. I really hope that this one works because it would take up minimal space in my suitcase. The only thing that makes me a bit nervous is that they show the carrier with a stuffed animal in it!



If it doesn't work, we will go back to the larger one.

The other thing they mention in the pet travel site regulations is that dogs are supposed to have muzzles, in case they need them. Now, I tried a muzzle on Seymour and he hated it. He is so little, I am hoping no one will say anything because I just can't see putting his little snout in one!

As to other things I will bring for Seymour, he will have a couple of sweaters, a couple tee shirts, a raincoat and a harness. He is just about packed and ready to go!