Bringing Your Pet to Hawaii: Part3

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Poor Doodles needs to get her blood taken again because it was too lipemic.  Kansas State University (KSU) requires the blood serum sample to be clear so last night was her last meal and she couldn't eat this morning so the vet could take a fasting blood sample.  Fasting helped the centrifuged sample to turn from her prior sample looking like strawberry yogurt, to this sample now looking more like strawberry milk.  (Sample in picture isn't her's, I found a good example online.)

Luckily our veterinarian was able to contact someone at KSU who said they will accept the "dirty" sample.  Turns out it's an inherited problem with the breed of our dog - who knew!?  Doodles is a mix breed of miniture schnauzer and mini poodle.  Turns out that both mini schnauzers (dog) and Himalayan (cats) have a genetic predisposition for hyperlipidemia, which is causing the "cloudy" serum sample.  KSU said they would accept her sample (yippie, thank you!) so if you have this problem, you should have your vet work with KSU because they were very helpful.

While I was preparing for this appointment I also called Animal Quarantine in Hawaii and spoke to a very nice woman who worked there to verify if Daisy needed a 9- or 15-digit microchip.  She said the quarantine center has scanners that read multiple numbers, so Daisy's 9-digit AVID number will scan well with their AVID scanner.  She also suggested that the vet should scan our dog to verify that her true number is written on the paperwork sent to KSU.  She said many pet owners follow the quarantine rules to a T but still end up having their pet kept in quarantine when arriving in Hawaii for the simple mistake of a transcribing error of the microchip.  I'm grateful she gave that suggestion because I would never have thought to ask our vet to double check the numbers were written down correctly.  I trust our vet, but still don't want to chance poor Doodles getting stuck in a Hawaii animal quarantine for 120days due to a written number error - that would be terrible!  So I worked with her vet and we made sure all numbers were correct.  I love our vet!

Bringing a Pet you Hawaii: Part 2

I highly recommend printing our Form AQS-39 "Summary for Veterinarians" (found here) when bringing your dog or cat to the vet for their rabies titer test.  Unfortunately, like most vets, ours was unfamiliar with the process for appropriately bringing a pet over to Hawaii and I found it very useful.  But please note I still found our Countryside Veterinary Hospital to be  the most patient, comprehensive, and helpful vet!!  We highly recomend them to all our friends with animals.
The FAVN (Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralization) titer testing measures the response of the animals immune system to the rabies vaccine.   $200 later for the testing alone + $60 vet visit and Doodles had officially given her blood for rabies testing.  Step one in the 120day quarantine process complete...  or so we hope!

Bringing a Pet to Hawaii: Part 1

There is so many testimonies available in regards to bringing a pet to Hawaii, but the best resource to start at is found at http://hdoa.hawaii.gov .  Click on "animal quarantine" from the tabs on the top of the website to specifically find information.  The reason there is such specifics on bringing an animal to the Hawaiian islands is because Hawaii is a rabies-free state.  According to the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture, "Hawaii’s quarantine law is designed to protect residents and pets from potentially serious health problems associated with the introduction and spread of rabies. All dogs and cats, regardless of age (puppies and kittens included) or purpose, must comply with Hawaii’s dog and cat import requirements."  There is so much information, and I recommend reading all of what they make available so that there is no mistake made while traveling or moving with your animal.  At this point we are going through the slow, yet necessary 120-day quarantine process so I will be here to share with you if we hit any bumps along the way.  At this point, let me sum up some of the research we have found to follow on this quarantine process:

• Allow for extra time, even though the waiting period is 120 days. The waiting period starts after all the shots and blood work is done and received by Kentucky State University (KSU).
• Dogs and cats will need original records of vaccinations signed by a veterinarian
• FAVN titer test blood work is sent to the lab at KSU to be checked, and the are then sent to Hawaii, paired up with the animals microchip number .  At that point you can find out online when the first day your pet is allowed into the state.
• No more than 14 days before the pets arrive in Hawaii a veterinarian must apply a certain flea/tick preparation to the animals, and no more than 10 days before the vets must prepare a health certificate. Note that these are for the dates you are actually traveling.
• Pets must arrive by 3:30 pm in order for them to be released directly, otherwise they are transferred to the quarantine site and held up to 5 days (for the “five days or less” option, which costs $225).

So since our dog is already vaccinated for her rabies booster and already has her 9-digit AVID microchip, we have made an appointment to see our veterinarian for her FAVN test for mid-April.  Wish us luck bringing our adorable and energetic Schnoodle (miniature schnauzer, miniature poodle mix breed) over to Hawaii with us! (fingers-crossed that we still go and make this dream a reality!) This is officially the start of Doodle's Hawaiian life adventure!!