<I’m writing this with a view towards a) satisfying curiosity and 2) providing information to anyone who may need to do this as well. So it may be a lot more detail that some of you want to know. >
In this post it may sound like I’ve gotten past the whole missing telephone thing. I really haven’t. It’s a huge fiasco as so many things are set up to use my US phone number to verify my identity. I’ve been trying to get through to someone at AT&T to help me, but you know what, I’m just going to think about that later. Did you know my nickname is Scarlett? (ok, not really)
Bringing the dogs to Portugal required that a USDA-certified veterinarian examine the dogs no more than 10 days before our planned arrival date. One of our Charlotte vets is certified and has a good bit of experience with the shit-ton of paperwork that is involved. Although Lola and Bitsy came to us with microchips already, Dr. Briggs had to insert new Europe-compliant chips (more digits than ours) and give them new rabies shots even though, technically, they didn’t need new ones. It’s just a requirement. This was VERY EXPENSIVE, mainly due to the insane paperwork involved. I’m not complaining, though; not having to deal with any sort of quarantine period was excellent.
Dr. Briggs loves Lola and Bitsy and was very proactive about making sure that we could keep the pups comfortable both during travel and right afterwards. From what I’ve read, a lot can go wrong with these forms and with such a tight timeline some people have had to change flights at the last minute and all kinds of things. The fact that we were going to be in NY for several days before our flights was rather stressful, but the host at the Airbnb where we stayed was totally cooperative about our receiving a FEDEX of the documents there. (I mention that because the first host I asked about that said, NO). Anyway, we got the paperwork with days to spare, and all went smoothly at the airports.
Is that all? Of course not. I’m not sure about the exact timeframe required for the next hurdle, but I got to it last week. We needed to go to a local veterinarian and get their chips verified and registered into a national database. Now, I don’t know why the veterinarian they have to see at the Lisbon airport doesn’t do that, but they don’t. A happy thing about where our apartment is located is that a veterinary hospital, that also has an emergency hospital open 24X7, is about 3 blocks away!
I got an appointment by using their online request form. Actually, that took 2 or 3 tries. Apparently, businesses here aren’t known for communicating via email all that much. But I was trying to make sure didn’t have to explain with my limited Portuguese what I thought I needed over the phone. Turns out that almost all the staff speaks pretty good English. We saw Dr. Beatriz Almeida.
This is a side note. Many, maybe all Portuguese people seem to have at least 4 names. The receipt from our visit had a different last name for the veterinarian. I don’t know if she changed her marital situation or what, but it’s been interesting to see this phenomenon. I’ve seen our landlord’s name listed 2 or 3 different ways. I’ll figure it out eventually!
Anyway, Dr. Almeida was extremely nice, thankfully spoke English and did not seem rushed in any way. I guess I need to stop being surprised by people who aren’t in a hurry! We talked about some ongoing medication needs AND, the dogs are the proud owners of their very own European Pet Passports!
We left with a prescription for each dog, well, actually 2 for Lola. The packaging is totally different, and, dare I say, more earth friendly. In the US you get pet meds from the vet in a medicine bottle, pretty much exactly like for people. These came in paper bags. I was a little displeased at first, cause, you know, we’re predisposed to resist change, but when I considered that this is just paper and not plastic, I adjusted my attitude.
This is sort of a side note. We were really afraid that the dogs were going to bark at the slightest sound/noise. Well, I mean, they did at the house in CLT. But they’ve scarcely barked in this apartment. When people have come to the door or a couple of times if we go to the door for some other purpose, they start to bark, but settle down quickly.
That's pretty much it for now.
Y’all come back now, ya hear! (this has been a filmways presentation)
RMW
PS. we also have a 24-hour pharmacy for people just down the street. I think we'll be happy about that.
Commentaires