An Odyssey of a Cat (and her owners): Episode 1

Our cat, Coco, a 10 years old Siamese mix, has just traveled from the U.S. to Japan. Her journey dates back to almost two years ago when we began contemplating our move across the Pacific. We knew moving with her was going to be complicated, but not impossible.

Japan is one of the strictest countries when it comes to importing small pets; it is a self-proclaimed rabies-free country, and intends to stay so with all it can.

To import a cat to Japan, you must first microchip him/her for ID purposes. Then you can start the rabies immunization process. You must make sure that the vaccine is NOT live, as apparently there are two different kinds of vaccines. And YOU must make sure that the vaccine is inactivated, for you cannot expect your vet to be versed in changing regulations about bringing pets to all those countries. Our first mistake was here. Coco was shot with live vaccine the first time.

So after we became aware of the fact, the clock was turned back, restarting the immunization process. You will have your cat get two shots, at least 31 days apart. Once the second booster is given, then a blood sample is taken from the cat, and sent to the designated rabies laboratory in Kansas for antibody testing. You can start counting the 180-day period from the day the blood sample is drawn.

There is a 180-day waiting period! That's 6 months, or 7 months counting from the first rabies shot. Your pet can wait outside of Japan, or he/she can wait at the airport quarantine in Japan.

After our first invalid rabies shot, our plan to go to Japan was up in the air, so the cat didn't go back to the vet for another year. Once we found out that we were actually moving to Japan, we only had 4 months left. It was inevitable that we left Coco with someone for a few months...