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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Gokussj5okazu on 2025-12-22 00:34:49+00:00.
Long story short, we're leaving the country mid 2026, with pets.
The schedule for rabies vaccines and paperwork is VERY precise and has no wiggle room.
In November we took our cats to the vet to be microchipped and receive their first rabies vaccine with the chip. The rules say we have to wait 30 days, do a second rabies vaccine, and FAVN blood draw for testing at the same time.
We informed the vet of this, who insisted they were familiar with the steps for export.
Last week was the cats' second visit to receive the 2nd rabies vaccine and blood draw. However, upon arrival, the vet was confused and said they only had them down for basic boosters. This should have been red flag number 1.
Then, they wanted to argue that we didn't need the FAVN draw until 30 days before departure instead of the 180 days we said. This was red flag number 2.
Regardless, they went to "look it up and double check" and eventually did the rabies, blood draw,.etc. No issues.
Now, only after going through the paperwork to file it away, I realized that there was only 22 days between the first and second rabies vaccines instead of the minimum required 30 days. Completely invalidating the 2nd rabies vaccines and FAVN test.
A $520 loss and a punch to the gut because I didn't double check the appointment dates.
TL;DR: Waited 22 days between rabies vaccines instead of 30 days, trusting the vet knew what they were doing, and losing $520.