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Hi, has anyone who has traveled with their dog by plane been asked to show vaccination paperwork? I'm asking because my dog cannot get a rabies vaccine--he has a liver issue. My current vet however, feels he can have the vaccine whereas my old vet who is in another state, did not feel he should have one. So I don't know if my vet will write a rabies waiver for me. So my question is, has anyone been asked to show vaccine paperwork? Thanks.
Many times I flew with my chug on Southwest Airlines. No one checked his vaccination report or vet records, but I always carried them with me. At the counter, they checked the weight and put the tag on the carrier, and when I boarded, they checked the tag on the carrier a few times.
Yes, I have had health papers checked on several different occasions.. The health papers show the rabies vaccination is current. There is also a waiver required for short faced breeds and for any dog when air temperatures are about a certain point.
I've also had an airline make me take my dog out of his carrier, show his service dog vest, and medical documents. (which happens to be illegal, but I had them and I wanted on that plane without any more fuss, so I provided them. Choose your battles))
I've also had an airline refuse to take my dog because I didn't have a bag of kibble taped to the outside of the carrier. I had the water bottle, as required by their instruction sheet, but nothing had been mentioned about kibble. Fortunately, a person who was checking in their dog at the same time gave me a handful of their kibble so my dog could get onto his flight.
But on a couple of different occasions. no one has checked my carry-on dog, other than to make sure I had paid the extra fee to carry the dog on with me.
Guess you won't know whether your vet will write a rabies waiver letter until you ask them. Has your dog ever gotten rabies vaccinations before? Ask the vet to do a titer test. Resistance/immunity can last longer than most people realize. If the dog still shows some evidence of resistance your current vet might write you a letter for the trip verifying that.
I would do whatever I could to avoid rabies exposure. A horrible, infectious, lethal disease! If you're getting conflicting opinions from vets, get another and do some research! It could be there's a way to protect your dog (and yourself) without putting the dog at risk.
Last edited by Parnassia; 05-04-2024 at 03:39 PM..
Thanks all. Yes, he had a rabies shot in 2015 and 2016. After that problems arose with his liver (and currently kidney-but mild) and my old vet did not want to give the rabies shot. Since then I have moved and my current vet thinks he's stable and wants to do the rabies but she stopped pushing it. Not blaming the rabies shot for the onset of the problems but I'm afraid it could make things worse. We never knew the cause of the problems because when I adopted him in 2015, we didn't do baseline bloodwork so by 2016 -17 we had nothing to compare it to. But he does have a liver birth defect so possibly this is all a result of that. It sounds like from what everyone is saying, that sometimes they do indeed check. I've asked about doing a titer before and vet was not eager to do it. Probably best not to fly with my dog and he never has flown anyway. Thanks.
Your vet might compromise and do a blood titer and if the count is good, issue the dog with a letter that he is protected from rabies.
As far as I know , the lepto vaccine is the only one that gives a bit of extra stress to the liver, and it is not enough to avoid the vaccine, just enough for an extra day of pampering for the dog. I suggest that you do a bit more research about the effect of rabies vaccine on kidney function, from legitimate medical sites, not sites run by health food nuts, who basically just make stuff up and pass it around and claim it is the only truth.
No dog of mine has ever had any sort of reaction to a rabies shot, other than the very first one sometimes causes a little sore spot in the muscle at the injection site that goes right away. No subsequent shot has ever caused any reaction.
I have flown many times with 2 of my dogs on the plane under the seat in front of me and never has anyone asked for proof of vaccination or health records.
Your vet might compromise and do a blood titer and if the count is good, issue the dog with a letter that he is protected from rabies.
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This. It is state dependent, but a positive titer is often the equivalent of proof of rabies vaccine.
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