Health Certificate for Cat

Good Afternoon!
We are moving to St Croix on March 8th, but leaving our town on February 25h.
The "Moving with pets" section states the health certificate form from the vet must be within ten days of travel, which will be a little difficult since we will be leaving our home more than ten days before our flight.
Has anyone else had this issue? If so, are they a little lenient on the exact ten days?

Depends on who you get at the counter, they didn't even look at my health certificates (and I had to jump through crazy hoops to get them).

IMO, just ask your vet to date the exam 5 days in the future... it's not like your cat is going to develop the bubonic plague if your exam was 11 days ago vs 10 days ago.

Some don't even look at the cert form. Others go over it with a fine tooth comb. I'd see if I could get the post-date, as suggested. And if that's a no-go, maybe have your vet do the cert, and then make an appointment with a vet in the area where you will be in the 10 day time frame who is willing to do a cursory exam, and then piggy back off of the info on that form. I had to do that once. Still had to pay for an extra exam. But all was in order. (And the agent did check that time).

No. Must be within 10 days. Period.

it needs to be within ten days, go to a vet where you will be departing from. take the records from your vet with you and tell this other vet what you need.

As long as you have records of vaccinations getting the certificate is trivial.
We had a traveling vet come out to our RV right before we flew over to stx.

If a vet has been treating your cat for some time, it wouldn't hurt to ask if they would post date the health certificate. If they don't, then make an alternative plan. Good luck.

No one actually looked at Hershey's health certificate when we left on Wednesday. The only thing I needed to fill out the TSA form was her Rabies vaccination number and date. I kept asking if they wanted to see the form but no one was interested.

I did learn not to put a can of dog food in my carry on!
They had to take everything out of my carry on, test the can to make sure it wasn't explosive and pat me down.

At least, they didn't confiscate the single can of dog food! Who knew?!!!?

If a vet has been treating your cat for some time, it wouldn't hurt to ask if they would post date the health certificate. If they don't, then make an alternative plan. Good luck.

Photoshop.....

it's a ridiculous hoop to jump through.

We travel with a cat & always get a vet to examine our cat & fill out a health certificate within 10 days of our departure. The airlines have seldom asked to see the HC, but it is better to have just in case.

Good Morning!
Thank you for all the replies.
We are going to ask our vet to adjust the date. It's only three days and we have a good relationship with her, so fingers crossed!
We will be sure to pack Zorita's food in our checked bag! 😉

FYI for those flying animals in cargo:
You need zip ties (8) to lock all 4 corners of kennel and the doors if animal is going cargo and not in cabin. Also tape a zip lock baggie of dry food and a water bottle must to the kennel if animal is to fly cargo and not in cabin with you.

I'm thankful Lisa from the Humane Society alerted me about the zip ties and that Kathy provided them.

Last we flew down with our cat, we bought an "airline approved" carrier and at MIA we had great problems as we had no zip ties with us. But, we had Duck Tape to the rescue and by the third inspector, the supervisor, she said there's no way that cat is getting that Duck Tape off and let us pass. Neither the dog, nor the cat's health certificates were check at any point. Even though I fretted about it for months as we had a road trip planned before the flight out of MIA, so it was close as well.