Health Records Complete for Pet's Trip to Italy

I don't know what I am going to do with my time now that Seymour has all of his vets visits and health records completed! We had our last visit to the Vet on Tuesday when he had to be checked for parasites, fleas and other gross stuff. We purchased a 3 month supply of heartworm/flea pills to take with us. The Vet was great. He and his overseas specialist, Ann Marie reviewed all of the paperwork and went above and beyond with making sure it was right. Besides all of the health exams, the hardest thing was getting used to writing the date the European way: DD-MM-YYYY. Then we had to remind the Vet to sign things in blue ink. I brought my own blue pen, just in case. The vet visit was more expensive this time because they charged me for the time it took to complete the paperwork. I do understand that.

Wednesday I made copies of most of the forms and called the USDA to make sure we had everything we needed. The man mentioned another form that I had never heard of and told me to check with the airline to see if it was needed. So, I called AirFrance and they said that as long as I had something from the doctor saying he was healthy to fly we were OK. I also made sure Seymour still had his reservation. They had him listed as a "5 pound chihuahua". Although he is 7 pounds, he is still well within the weight limit to fly under the seat.

I then headed to the USDA office. I am so lucky to live near one of the offices. I don't think I would get the paperwork back in time, otherwise. They ended up taking most of the paperwork I had in my folder even though they really only needed the form 998 and the Certificate of his Rabies Vaccination. I hope I get it all back! They did ask me when Seymour had been microchipped and when he had his rabies vaccination. I had researched this and knew that he had to have his microchip BEFORE or the same day as the rabies shot. Otherwise, he would need an additional rabies vaccination.

Besides the Health Records, the USDA also needed $36.00. I paid by charge because I didn't want the paperwork held up waiting for the check to clear. They told me that the turn-around time to get the certification done was 24-48 hours and that it was better for me to come back and pick it up than for them to mail it. So, I got home and accidently left my cell phone in the car. This morning I retrieved my phone and there had been a message from the USDA that the paperwork was done. That message came yesterday afternoon, probably 1 hour after I got home. Talk about fast! The USDA is about an hour away in downtown Austin, so I plan to go back this afternoon to get it.

We will finally have Seymour ready to go to Italy. But I still won't relax until he is officially on the plane!

European Microchip and Health Record

Today Seymour got his microchip for Italy put in. He's now a two chip dog! The opening on the needle is a bit bigger than for a regular immunization but the vet and his assistant did a great job of keeping Seymour's attention while they did it and he didn't even flinch - of course I did!

What I learned about the European microchip is that it is probably cheaper to get it from the vet, even if they have to order it, than it is to order it from one of the pet travel companies. I had thought about ordering it for $49.95 (plus shipping) but decided to just get it through the vet. It ended up costing me about $36.00, including the vet visit. So, I would recommend checking on which is less expensive.

I had also ordered the Pet Passport, which was supposed to include some passport carrier as well as the forms that were supposed to be emailed and sent to me. I only received the email and even after writing to them to tell them I did not receive the mailing, I got no response. I could have downloaded all of those forms - for free. They did email me the info on what needs to be done for Italy, but again I could have found that myself. Another lesson learned.

While reviewing the AirFrance website, it did not say that we need to have a Pet Health Certificate for the plane, although other airlines require it. While I was at the vets, they told me about a woman who didn't have a Pet Health Certificate when she went to the airport (probably because she read the same info I read) and she found out that she did need it, and they couldn't board the plane. I recommend that everyone get a Pet Health Certificate completed and have it with them, along with the other necessary paperwork. In this case, more is better.

It is still my fear that I won't have all of Seymour's paperwork together and we won't be able to get on the plane. I'm sure I'll worry about that until I'm actually sitting on the plane - or maybe until I go through customs in Rome!