We’re not in Australia any more, Ted
Ted and Pademelania the pademelon at our old house in Tasmania, Australia
Carrying a screaming cat in a very small bag through the streets of Jerez in 39-degree heat (that’s 102 ºF for you Yanks) is a hoot. Not. To begin with, Ted is a Siberian forest cat and even naked weighs in at a rather hefty 6.5 kg (that’s 14 lbs for you Yanks), which doesn’t sound much until you contemplate that he had adopted liquid form, cat and bag behaving somewhat like a sloshing bucket of water.
According to Ted’s vaccination passport, he was due for some shots. We’d had him vaccinated for rabies in Australia before we left in 2022. Being so far away – and because of extremely strict biosecurity practices – Australia doesn’t even have rabies. It was solely a requirement of the European quarantine system that he had a shot before they’d allow him in. Fair enough, of course.
But somewhere between Australia and the rest of the world has arisen a mismatch in the rulebooks. Ted’s paperwork clearly states that he wouldn’t be due for a booster until the end of 2025. The thing is, that ain’t the rule here in Spain. We thought we were doing the right thing, dragging Ted to the vet a couple of months early, only to be told that no, he was nearly two years overdue.
Our lovely vet Patricia wasn’t overly concerned nor judgmental in the least. It was an honest mistake; we had the paperwork to prove it, plus Ted is an inside cat and doesn’t pose much of a risk even if he were carrying that horrible virus. But Spain ain’t Australia. Rabies is a real threat here and never far away. Hence the requirement for annual vaccinations regardless of how many protective antibodies Ted was likely still sporting.
Plus, there’s the need for an annual shot against hydatids, then the usual cat-flu ‘trivalent’ booster to be had. All these have to happen over two visits a fortnight apart (that’s two weeks for your Yanks), presumably so as not to overload the poor little bastard’s immune system all in one go.
All in all, it wasn’t a great day for Ted, and I gave him a special lunch as apologetic compensation when we got home. But we now know that letting your pet’s vaccination regime slide is a no-no. So, if you have a cat or a dog or a pademelon (that’s a kind of kangaroo for you Yanks) go see a vet.
