Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

The EU pet passport is for taking the pet from the US to the UK, not the other direction. You need the confirmation in order to take the cat into the EU, not into the US.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

Yep -- pets cost money.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

Should pets cost extremely unnecessary money caused by lack of specific information on US government websites? (btw I've already wasted tons of money on lawyers thanks to badly worded USCIS stipulations, I don't need to do this again with the cat.)

If it happens and I waste £700 for no reason I'll be extremely upset, the cat will have to live several months with a cat-hating dog and be flown in in the hold after that period instead of flying with me.

There's a time to be smug towards people who don't want to/cannot spend money on animals. This isn't one of those times.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

When we our cat moved over we only need to get a blood test a few weeks after the jab to check it had "taken", not months later.

My feeling is this, the State Vet may have told you it's not needed, but it's not the State Vet who lets the cat into the country, it's the US Department of Agriculture inspector (who may or may not actually work for USDA, it most likely will be a Customs and Border Protection officer wearing an USDA "hat"). If he thinks, from his reading of the Florida rules, that Tiddles needs a rabies jab and Tiddles doesn't have one, what's going to happen then?

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

Do you have a link to something that says this, also how do I persuade the vet of this - most want to do the full pet passport deal. Is there anywhere that will just do the rabies vaccine and nothing else? Thanks.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

If you just want a rabies vaccine, ask your vet for the rabies vaccine. He can't do anything that you don't want. As to pet passport, have you found anything online about a pet passport UK to US? -- it is all in the other direction, because the US has rabies and the UK doesn't.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

You simply don't understand the many rings of US authority as demonstrated by your futile quest for absolute information.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

"At least 30 days after the initial course of rabies injections is completed, they must be blood-tested to show that vaccination was successful, if they fail, they must be vaccinated and tested again."

Now the problem with this is, I want to leave the UK next month, my rent agreement is up on June 15th and I need to book the flight. What happens if I book and the vaccine didn't "take," I don't have any time then to redo it. So if anyone can get me some confirmation that I don't need to do the test to see if the vaccine worked til AFTER I get to Florida, and that all they want to see is proof of initial vaccine, I'd be really grateful. Because there's no clear information out there.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

I've been frustrated for about a year, and I'm still extremely frustrated, by the poor wording on US immigration forms. When you have to pay hundreds to get a lawyer to tell you what it means (and who btw agrees with you 100% that the wording is cackhanded as all getout, and he only knows what it means through experience of other cases*) it's not a bad thing to want somebody who has done this before to tell you exactly what went down.

*the wording I had a problem with has since actually been changed to something sensible on DS-260, so it's not just me.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

And to make it wonderfully more worrying, the cat has managed to get himself flea infested over the few days of him being outside and fed by a neighbour while I did my final interview. I've never had a flea treatment that worked 100% so I can't see him being let in anyway. :(

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

It's not you at all. The only thing you can do is understand how it works in the US so it doesn't confuse you. Don't attempt to fight it unless you want to go mad.

The info you require is here:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_exp...rts_pets.shtml

These are the people (or as one poster pointed out more likely a CBP bod wearing a USDA hat) who actually sign off on Tiddles' entry. So they're the only ones who really matter....whatever the other empires say.

Tiddles doesn't need a rabies shot. But spend that 70 squid and get one anyway complete with documentation.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

The folk letting our dog into the country said they weren't intereested in seeing any of the rabies things as he was from a rabies free country. We got the shots and bloodtest before we came as we wanted to be over cautious for getting him back into the UK with his pet passport when we return.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pet...et-travel1.htm

"The EU is the only place where pet passports are required."

We got our cat rabies jabs, no Pet Passport. If you think there is the slightest chance you will be returning to the UK then you should get the pet passport as that will avoid having to put the cat in the quarantine period upon your return to the UK.

Get the jab now, then go back within a week of your flight to get the confirmation that all is well and also a "fit to fly" certificate, which the airline requires for any pet travelling, and must be obtained 10-7 days before the flight (depending on the airline).

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

Make sure your cat gets the correct type of vaccine. Some states require live vaccine...others do not.

Re: Cannot get a straight answer about whether a cat going into Florida needs rabies
 

Absolutely --but hopefully they won't be rushing back within six months, so can get the full pet passport requirements fulfilled at their leisure once they get here, as they seem to be in a time bind now.