Vet signed certificate of health?

[chinhappy]

What vet would jepordize their reputation signing a paper stating that a underweight animal was of good health?
Apparently there is one out there. I heard about a chinchilla purchase that the buyer had to pay for a certificate of health and the animal was in somewhat poor condition.
This is not a gaurantee that you will have a healthy pet in my opinion.

How do you feel about this?

[Sassy]

IMO if a vet signed a certificate and the animal wasnt in good health then it was not a very good vet. `

[PokeyPokey]

The three new chins I got had a vet certificate with them insuring they were healthy and such. But just to be on the safe side I am going to take them to my vet to make sure they are healthy enough for breeding. Just for a second opinion!

[cheshirechin]

Sometimes it pays to be specific. When I brought my animals from Louisiana to NY, my vet signed a health certificate that would insure that it would be no problem for me to cross state lines with them. The basic point was that the animals did not have any contagious diseases and required no vaccinations. If they would have been cats, I probably wouldn't have done it, but Southern state troupers might take a little convincing that 'giant rats' posed no health risk. That being said, Maureen is by no means the picture of a healthy chinchilla. She has epilepsy and a heart murmor. However, the vet knew that he wasn't signing the certificate so that I could sell her. I just wanted to not get bogged down in red tape if someone caused a fuss.

I guess the point is if you are in doubt, call the vet who signed the certificate. Ask him what tests he did and what he means by 'healthy.'

Patti

[chinkeep]

Health certs are to ensure that animals being transported aren't infected by a communicable disease which could be spread to other animals or humans during transport, and that any and all shots required are up-to-date. Everyone's idea of "underweight" could be different, and though I think the weight is recorded on some health certs, it is not a requirement as there are no "set" weight standards on chinchillas, or most other animals as for that matter.

Chinchillas can lose weight just during transport and afterwards from the stress of the transport. Again, your idea, their idea, my idea of somewhat poor condition are three different things.

[chinhappy]

Unfortunately the animal was under weight! This was a local pick up animal not transported.

The idea of a certificate for transport is a great one and I believe it is mandatory for the airlines to verify such a certificate.

For those loving chin owners it is a good idea to have your vet check your chins periodically. Heart murmmers can go undetected for several years if a qualified vet hadn't check your pet as well as other things. A yearly vet visit for a check up and stool sample is a great idea.

[chinkeep]

Debbie,

Is this the same one that you posted about with the deposit issue? I think if I were the person that bought that chin, I would be raising holy cane with the breeder. And I think that I would be contacting the vet as well, chances are the vet didn't even do a checkup, a tech may have done it and the vet just signed it, especially if they don't charge much for the certs. I don't know about the laws on this, but the vet could be liable. I've only ever had to do one cert for one being shipped, and they only did a short checkup because she was healthy and no signs of any problems, but the vet did check her over before signing the cert. Well, just goes to show that a cert may not really be worth the paper it is written on.