I Should Have Known Better

On Tuesday I took the two brown cows to the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan in Shah Alam to get their blood sampled and have them microchipped. Since we're heading over to Singapore at month's end and we need to have their blood tested at least 14 days prior to shipping (scheduled date: 24th March), it was timely. And since the JPH only did the Nipah test in Ipoh on Tuesdays, I was told explicitly to come only on Tuesday.

Silly me. It never occurred to me to ask how or who will send the blood sample to Ipoh from Shah Alam. When you go to a clinic to get your blood tested, the doctor doesn't ask you to send your own blood sample to the lab. Well, apparently, at the JPH, the onus is on the pet's owner to take their pets' blood samples and drive all the way up to Ipoh, hand in the blood to them for testing after which they will deliver the results directly back to Shah Alam. And only 7 days prior to shipping can you apply for the export permit (even though the JPH guy insists 48 hours prior, Singapore AVA and Maskargo say 7 days), during which you must also have your pet's health certificate and they must also be deflea-ed and deticked.

Well, I almost had a coronary when he told me I was supposed to drive up to Ipoh with the blood samples. No one told me. But then again, I hadn't asked. No wonder he'd stressed again and again that the test is only done on Tuesdays because the lab only tests for that particular test on Tuesday. Don't they understand the concept of despatch? Aren't there enough people testing their pet's bloods so that they can consolidate all the samples and send them all at once? Even a once a week run would be sufficient; they could draw the samples any day of the week, freeze them, collect them all and then send them together. And cost the charges into the pet owners.
I don't understand the way the government works, or thinks, for that matter.

So lucky for me, there was a vet there who'd also sent in a client's pet for blood sampling. Apparently he also does shipping for his clients. And coincidentally his client needed to send his cat to Singapore as well. I ended up paying him RM150 to drive the brown cows ' blood samples up to Ipoh for me. And found a potential agent to take on the job of preparing my brown cows to ship. From here on, he can take over from me, all the way till shipping point at Maskatgo, for a fee, of course.

It will cost me at most, around RM500 to send the cats myself to Maskargo. But I will need to pay for the customs forms in the government customs building next to Maskargo in Sepang/KLIA. Now, why can't they make it easier and allow us to pay for all the forms there at Maskargo? I dunno, that's why we need a new government. Engaging the agent will cost me about double the amount but at least I won't have to find a babysitter fir the girl while I drive around from one building to another at Sepang and Shah Alam. I also won't have to sit around and wait for hours while the kitties are being processed or deflea-ed or deticked. Since the agent is also a vet, he can issue the health cert and do the necessary to prepare the brown cows for the crossover.

Having sufficient dough really can help move things along. Inefficient government processes also perpetuate the cumbersome system of engaging third parties when it should be a simple process of DIY.