Traveler faces inconvenient truth about vaccines
Dear Dr. Forsythe: I wanted to relay an incident that happened regarding an attempt to board my dogs a while back that turned into a major fiasco because of his vaccines.
I tried to drop off my dog at the boarding center my girlfriend recommended in the East Bay. I made a reservation, and planned to leave our two small dogs there while my husband and I had a week in Hawaii. The day we got to this kennel to drop off our babies (on the way to the airport), the girl in charge looked over our dog’s vaccine paperwork and notified us that one of our dogs was behind on all of her vaccines and the other dog needed a vaccine for “kennel cough” before they could board. I politely told them we would take care of this as soon as we returned, but she was very adamant: “Sorry, no exceptions.” We were sent away and told that neither dog could stay for boarding until we got the vaccines done.
Since this nightmare was all taking place late on a Saturday afternoon, there was no time to search for another option. We wound up missing our flight. We even offered the girl behind the counter money to please take our dogs to a nearby vet on the following Monday and get the necessary vaccines done, but they were unable to accommodate that request.
So we missed our vacation all because of a silly vaccine and a stupid rule. Please tell your readers not to count on boarding centers to bend any rules about vaccines and to make sure their pets are up-to-date before going on a trip.
Mrs. R.S.G.
Dear Mrs. R.S.G. Thanks for your story. I’m sorry you went through such a fiasco and then missed your trip. It’s really a terrible feeling to be down to the crunch on something and find out that rules and policies prevent us from getting what we want or going where we want.
However, that being said, I must address your comment about missing your vacation “all because of a silly vaccine and a stupid rule.” Vaccines are actually quite important for dogs and cats. Bordetella, better known as ‘kennel cough” is a highly contagious, virulent upper respiratory disease that can travel quickly though a boarding facility and cause serious and life-threatening disease to many pets in a small amount of time. Even pets that don’t exhibit clinical signs — pets just like yours — could be at risk for carrying the disease or getting the disease if they don’t have the proper up-to-date vaccine protection.
I would hardly call the implementation of good veterinary standards of care at a boarding facility “silly.” Some rules, such as those that protect children and pets, are very sound and wise. Perhaps a better way of looking at this is that you missed your vacation because you either didn’t know or didn’t care about how important getting those vaccines was. It sounds like you procrastinated, arriving at the kennel at the last minute and then blaming the staff for your poor planning and lack of preparation. I know I sound harsh, but I feel I can blurt this out to you because in one sense, I am a little bit like you. I am also often impatient about things and wait until the last minute to get them done, especially when it comes to packing for a trip.
If there are problems, I always hope that the person on the other side of the counter has a magic wand; but they don’t, they are just doing their job, and owning our own short-comings and becoming more responsible and steadfast about planning for our pets is a good lesson to learn, I just hope that my comments will help remind everyone that the next time you are darting out of town, you will in fact be able to get that fabulous tan you want AND your pets can get the proper veterinary care they deserve.
Dr. F
