Getting Ready for a Trip

The animals (and ourselves) are getting ready to move to New Zealand.



The amount of work to get them ready to go is amazing. The regulations for importing cats and dogs into New Zealand are very extensive and specific. When it's all said and done, this is by far the most expensive and stressful aspect of our move. Here's the rundown of their vet visits for the month before departure:

Visit 1: Within 30 days

Monday December 21^st – both pets

*Blood draw for rabies titre

*Blood draw for leptospirosis, ehrlichiosis and brucellosis (brucellosis must be a serum agglutination) (ONLY TOBI)

*Two heartworm tests (antigen and microfilaria) (ONLY TOBI)

*First fecal test

(we recommend direction submission to Kansas State to expediate the results, attached please find the Kansas State submission form)

Visit 2: Within 10 days

Wednesday January 6^th – both pets

*First worming with Praziquantel and Pyrantel

*Blood draw for Babesia (ONLY TOBI) (we recommend direct submission to Texas A&M to save time as Antech or Idexx will take an additional day or two to get to the sample to the testing lab)

Visit 3: Within 4 days

Thursday January 14^th

*Flea/tick

*Worming with ivermectin (see Certificate A (attached) for other types of acceptable wormers)

*Second fecal test

*Second worming with Praziquantel and Pyrantel

*Exit Exam

*Sign off on Certificate A

Friday January 15^th

Departure!

In addition, they require and import permit and a courier to ship them. Once they arrive, they'll be in quarantine for 30 days. One week to go, cross your fingers that it all works out as planned!

Tobi Update

Quick update on Tobi, I haven't posted in a little while. A month and a half or so ago, she started losing hair like crazy and her skin got really pink. After a lot of baths, we realized it was the flea shampoo that was irritating her. So we switched back to Trader Joes Tea Tree shampoo, and within days she was way better.
We also switched her food, mostly for selfish reasons involving $80 a bag, but she got really stinky. She's better now, so we think it might be something else she ate, but nonetheless we ordered another bag of her old food which we know is good for her. We'll mix them together for a while, and see how that goes.
And that's the update!