After much debating we decided although Lacey has had her Rabies..

My family & I debated after calling Hawaii Dept of Agriculture on the quarantine who told us that 5 day or less is pretty much the same as Direct Airport Release.Direct Airport Release just means you pay $165.00 and your dog is released right then & there.Of course,there’s the paperwork:health certificate,rabies vaccines,titer results etc…send in the cashier’s check…
Once I asked the DOA staff about Frontline or Only Natural Pet All in One Flea Remedy(The requirement is that the owners use something with the poison Firpronil(sp?)on their dog 14 days prior to departure from the state(Hawaii) along with everything above…)the staff said it has to be Frontline..I guess not many owners ask about natural alternatives for ticks as she had had no clue what I was talking about and that it was okay for ticks! Now,once I heard that,I became very very skeptical…simply being,one..Lacey never had Frontline..Two…when you google it…there is frontline for smaller dogs but the question is how small is small we’re talking for the dog’s weight???!Google more and you will find the frontline for small dogs if you look very closely at the picture will say 11-22 pounds…Lacey is about 7 pounds so we were debating saying that we could use 1/3 of the amount or just say yea,we put it on…put the lot # and all BUT looking at the paperwork..it says the Vet MUST apply Firpronil(sp?) aka Frontline on the dog 14 days prior to departure…so that means Dr Kaya would apply the whole application for whatever size dog the sample(that we had gotten when Lacey went to VCA for her first puppy check up)is…The reason I am so concerned is that when you google frontline maltipoo there is/was in fact a owner whose maltipoo is just about the same size as Lace who seems to have appeared a seizure after application…Lacey’s health has been so good since she turned 2 I’d really hate to mess that up & have her suffer a seizure based on one bad judgment that we made…Thinking of ourselves before considering health risks/sufferings…
Reality is,no matter what size dog you have whether you vaccinate/or use anything a typical vet prescribes you are as a matter of fact placing the dog at risk so owners just have to use their best judgment…I don’t think I could’ve made a better decision for Lacey about not vaccinating her & have such a sound/peaceful mind about it…Although there are dogs whose immune systems who have not vaccinated they CAN still contract Parvo/and or autoimmune problems but in a few dogs’ cases they were way beyond the years of the time they spent on earth.You’re talking dogs past 15 and up to as old as ~18 years old for a dog.
So,we decided Lacey’s health was not risking & although we got her titer we won’t be going to California…There’s way too much at risk to put ourselves in that position..Of course,things can change over the years like maybe in the future the DOA will know about natural tick products but if we ever consider it again with any future dogs we’ll definatly keep the qurantine paperwork & call the DOA first about the tick requirement(using natural tick prevention).So..Lacey & the family will be going to Maui instead!

Questions for the Department Of Agriculture

To Whom It May Concern:
What are the differences between the Direct Airport Release & 5 day or less Programs?If I want my dog to be released as soon as the plane arrives in Honolulu does that mean we pay for the Direct Airport Release rate?I also had another question to add to this email.On the Checklist it says that:
A veterinarian must treat the pet for ticks with a product containing Fipronil or an equivalent long-acting product labeled to kill ticks (Revolution® is not acceptable) within 14 days of return to Hawaii and the product name and date of treatment must be recorded on the pet’s health certificate
My question is instead of having our vet give my dog Frontline is it okay to use Only Natural Pet All in One Flea Remedy which is supposed to kill ticks as well including fleas or do we have to use something like Frontline on our dog in order to comply with checklist?
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