Step One: Le Vaccination Contra Rabies

We generally procrastinate with our moving preparations until they are absolutely necessary. Checking the calendar over the weekend spurred me to dig out the cat's vet records... We realized it's absolutely necessary for the cat to get her rabies vaccination immediatement if we have any hope of getting her on a plane with me in June. The rabies vaccination has to be given at least 30 days prior to flying, but no more than a year before. Ellie's last vaccination was last April. And there's a slight chance my travel dates will be moved up, so we want her ready for that if it happens. Did you know that it's May already? That sort of surprised me.

On Saturday we called the one vet in town. She was closed that day for a national holiday and she's always closed on Sunday. We had her come by the house while we were home for lunch this afternoon. (J'aime vet house calls! For an additional $5, the vet will come to your house, which we know after some experience that that is much preferable to bringing the cat into the laboritoire.)

The vet prepared the shot, Mike grabbed the cat, and the vet jabbed her before she even knew what happened. It was the easiest vaccination experience we've ever had. And I'm still the good guy. The cat came out of hiding as soon as Mike left to return to work.

But the vet did not bring a rabies certificate with her. She was expecting us to have a vaccination card, which we've never had for the cats. Luckily I had the certificate from last year, in French, with all the cat's pertinent information, and she took that with her and will deliver the two certificates back to the house later this afternoon. She also said that it will be no problem to prepare a certificate de bonne santee in a few weeks when we are ready to voyager. Will that certificate of good health be in English? We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I think we can get it translated and notarized for the nice people back at Newark airport (who reportedly tried to turn away an American traveling from Burundi for having a visa from a made-up country).

A tiny bit of my travel anxiety has been alleviated now that the rabies vaccination is taken care of. I always stress out over traveling with the cats. (The fact that we only have one cat now makes me sad, not less stressed out.) And we really, really want her to get on the plane with me as excess baggage. She can't fly in the cabin and by the time Mike flies home we risk it being too warm for her to go in the cargo hold.

P.S. By the time I finished writing this post, the rabies certificates had been delivered. Delivery is one service area that Burundi tends to get right.