It seems more people are traveling these days with their animals, including taking big trips across vast oceans with them. For a variety of reasons, most importantly preventing the spread of diseases, animals must travel with a health certificate. When traveling across national borders and some state borders (we’re looking at you, Hawaii), the federal government gets involved and an accredited veterinarian is required to complete the certificate.
Two of our doctors here at Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic are USDA-accredited allowing them to write and prepare a health certificate (HC) for endorsement. The process and ordeal of becoming accredited and maintaining accreditation is long and costly. The process of preparing a certificate for endorsement necessarily involves a very specific and narrow timeline with very urgent deadlines. For these reasons, there is significant cost associated with obtaining a health certificate, and it is vital that our clients both understand their role in the process and set their expectations appropriately, including…
1. You, the animal’s owner, are responsible for knowing your destination’s laws and timelines related to a HC.
This responsibility does not fall to the doctor. The doctor will inform herself/himself of these details along the way, but we do not accept the responsibility of knowing a particular nation/state’s requirements ahead of time and then informing you, the animal’s owner.
There are generally considered to be 195 nations on our planet, and while not all of them allow travel from the United States (US), more of them do allow travel than our doctors can reasonably be expected to keep up with. Recently, some states have required additional hoops through which to jump when traveling with animals. And laws change frequently, both within the US and in other nations. Therefore, you are responsible for knowing what criteria needs met and when. The USDA website has helpful information, Hawaii’s website is very detailed, and the respective consulate here in the US can be helpful, as well.
2. Do not expect to leave Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic with your HC following your initial visit and examination.
The process of obtaining an IHC involves an examination of the patient, some degree of confirming parasite-free status, some degree of vaccination confirmation, and the completion of a series for forms and questionnaires. All of this takes at least several hours, and it involves close communication between the accredited doctor and you, the animal’s owner. We have found over time maintaining communication via text messaging helps greatly in this process, and we are extremely grateful when our clients reply promptly when we have particular questions for them along the way.
3. HCs are costly.
Between our fees and whatever medical interventions are indicated, you can expect to pay between $650 and $1,200+. As most nations have their own unique laws and requirements, an animal’s vaccine status prior to examination, timing of parasite control administration, and the requirement of an ink endorsement as opposed to a digital endorsement can all contribute to this broad cost range. Hawaii requires a Rabies vaccine titer, the timing of which requires the traveler to start the process at least six months in advance, which leads us to…
4. You may be at the mercy of the calendar.
Typically, an examination of the patient is required ten to thirty days prior to travel. Thirty is no problem; ten is usually not a problem… depending on how the weekends fall over that ten-day span… and if that span overlaps a federal holiday. Further, the USDA tends to endorse in the order of urgency, not in the order of when they receive certificates. You may be diligent, scheduling your examination at the ten-days-from-travel date, but still not receive your endorsement until just before your travel date. This is not unusual.
In the past several months, we’ve taken calls from a number of individuals who’ve simply waited too long to start the process. One recent and simply unrealistic request involved Italy and five calendar days. This person was quite rude to our team about this. Please don’t be rude to our team.
5. A courier may let you down.
Should a digital endorsement not be accepted, and the process requires an express courier delivery in an effort to fit everything into the ten-day window, the accredited doctor and the USDA may be prompt, accomplishing their tasks in a timely way, only to see the courier fail to meet their advertised delivery time. We’ve experienced this very episode. The certificate was accepted without need for modification, the USDA veterinarian endorsed the certificate quickly, the overnight FedEx label was purchased and employed… and the certificate was delivered three days later. Under such circumstances, fees are not refundable. This risk is assumed by the pet’s owner, not the accredited veterinarian and not the USDA.
If all of these expectations sound pessimistic, please understand that is not our intent. Dr. Gates has long told clients, “The quickest way to be disappointed is to set unreasonable expectations.” Our goal here is to set reasonable expectations in an effort to achieve satisfaction.
A previous version of this post differentiated between International and Domestic Health Certificates. The nature of particular states modifying their own animal travel guidelines prompted us to no longer differentiate between the two. Each require planning and gathering information well before the time of travel.
One of these days, there’ll be a standardization of these state-by-state requirements, and we at Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic will welcome such improvements. Until then, we’re at the mercy of the system(s). We ask for your patience in circumstances where we need to navigate these ever-evolving items. We can very likely achieve the end you’re looking for, but it very often will take some time.
No matter the health certificate you need, you’ll thank yourself if you give yourself plenty of lead time and set your expectations according to all we’ve shared here.
