Nettie

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1813874.ece Full MP's report on the industry can be found here: http://www.apgaw.org/reports.asp

Admittedly we have only ever come to France with 3 dogs but I think we've probably now brought the dogs to France about 12 times and have never, ever been checked on the French side.  We always travel by Eurotunnel and at the French side you drive off the train and are then on the autoroute, no one there to check anything anyway. The numbers may have been increased recently but even going by the old regulations it was 3 dogs per person not per family so in effect if you have 4 people in a family you could in effect bring in 12 animals.

I'm pretty sure that Stronghold does not treat ticks (I think its fleas and certain types of worms) which is my priority given the diseases they can carry.  Please check with your vet/pharmacist if you are trying to deter ticks as well as fleas.

I'll second the Frontline Combo which is still a prescription drug in the UK but available in pharmacies in France.  The Combo kills flea eggs as well as adults and is therefore far more efficient in stopping the flea cycle. Also kills fleas and eggs in areas where the cat sleeps.  However, if the infestation is really bad then you also need to treat your soft furnishings with a product.  Before using whichever product you choose, thoroughly hoover your soft furnishings and carpets, the vibrations bring eggs to the surface, then treat with insecticide.

Anne, both you and Utopie might benefit from some Star of Bethlehem Bach Flower remedy, good for shock and grief.  

Anne, I'm so sorry you've lost Scalli, what a dreadful shock for you.   Rest Easy Scalli Burying a dog There are various places in which a dog may be buried. I am thinking now of a Setter, whose coat was flame in the sunshine, and who, so far as I am aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This Setter is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam. And at its proper season, the cherry tree strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple, or any flowering shrub is an excellent place to bury a dog. Beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer, or gnawed at a flavoursome bone, or lifted his head to challenge some strange intruder. These are good places in life or in death. Yet, it is a small matter, for if the dog be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where that dog sleeps. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked, and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in puppy hood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture lane where most exhilarating cattle grazed, is all one to the dog, and all one to you. And nothing is gained, nothing is lost if memory lives. But, there is one place to bury a dog…. If you bury him in this spot, he will come to you when you call - come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living dogs to heel, they shall not growl at him nor resent his coming, for he belongs there. People may laugh at you who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall...who hear no whimper, people who never really had a dog. Smile at them, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth the knowing. The one best place to bury a dog is in the heart of his master.  

Yes I'd take him away, he has no need to suckle and your cat will produce enough milk for the new kits but not for some grown up gullump to have a snack as well.  I'm surprised she hasn't told him where to go though. 

Hi John and Sue, Its very simple to get this dog to France.  He must have a rabies vaccination and a pets passport issued.  He will be allowed to travel to France 21 days from the date of the vaccination.  Well done for taking this chap on. Nettie

Where are you travelling from/to?  As far as I know, as long as you have a passport which is made out to correct criteria for the country to which you are wishing to travel you should not need any other documentation, it should all be contained within the passport.

There are theives in France too,  Friends have been burgled 3 times, twice when no one was living there while it was being renovated but once just recently, they even took the washing machine as well as the magret de canard and the foie gras plus the usual stuff theives go for.

Was this in France?  In order to qualify for the PETS passport your cat will have been microchipped, details on the chip form will be your name and address.  I don't think what you've been told is true as this would mean that if you had taken say a stray cat into your home you would never be able to travel with it.  In order to travel with your pet you have to have an up to date passport which contains all the information necessary for travel, you do not need anything else.  When we leave Calais for the UK the dogs are scanned for their microchips, their passports checked to make sure the microchip numbers match and that the necessary worming, tick treatment and general health check has been done in the correct time frame and that is all.  We've now done this for the past 4 years, 3-4 times a year.  

Coursing hares in the UK is illegal but you can still use lurchers on rabbits.  You just have to teach your dog the difference between a rabbit and a hare![8-)] Coursing in France has been illegal since the 19th centuary, I have tried to find out why it was banned, I doubt it was anything to do with animal welfare, can only presume it was a 'sport' of the aristocracy and we know what happened to them in France!  Would love to know the real reason though.   Lurchers are not a breed, they are a type, a sighthound crossed with a herding dog, greyhounds x collies being the most common cross.  There are pedigree lurchers available but for a dog to be a pedigree you need to know 3 generations of breeding.  Lurchers came into being when it was decreed that only the aristocracy in England could keep pedigree hounds, a few greyhounds were 'stolen' by the 'serfs' and bred with collie types which produced a fast dog with more brains than a greyhound.  They were used to hunt for the pot. I think the reason that lurchers aren't bred in France is that they never have been and there is no need for this type of dog here now.  Although across the border in Spain there are plenty of galgos which are a breed but very similar to the lurcher in rescue needing homes.  Galgos really get a very raw deal and deserve far better than they get from hunters in Spain.  I could go into details of horrific cruelty.  If anyone is interested just pop Galgo in Google, it won't be long before you find sites and dreadful photographs.  

I don't think you'll find lurcher breeders in France.  Coursing is illegal in France and that's what lurchers are for.  

[quote user="Christine Animal"] Is it the same vaccine used in the UK ?  It seems strange when they make such a fuss about rabies and pets going in that they only do the rabies every two years, that's why I wondered if it's an identical vaccine.   [/quote]   Christine, it isn't strange.  I think I've typed this on another thread.  The vaccinations are made by the same companies, the drug companies have changed their protocol because it is not necessary to vaccinate every year, in fact most drug companies now say every 3 years.  Defra rules are that the vaccination must be given to the animal according to the vaccination manufacturer's instructions.  Personally, if you don't have to vaccinate as often I'm all for it and I'd rather follow the instructions of the people that make the vaccine rather than some bureaucrat that hasn't kept up to date and doesn't know the science.  The French authorities say every year because that is what the vaccination manufacturers used to say but the French authorities have never updated in accordance with the manufacturers instructions.   There has been an increase in auto immune diseases in cats and dogs caused by over vaccination.  Drug manufacturers have also changed their vaccination protocols for diseases such as distemper, parvo etc in the UK and US, I don't know if this is the case in France.  

Aren't Teckels what the dachshund x.    I've just found this website on the Teckel http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/sunsong/UK%20Teckel/ukteckel.htm#info Seems they are a type rather like a lurcher but there is a Teckel studbook. I'm afraid I can't see this breed doing agility though!  However, they are good hunters.

You still need a European pets passport for your cat, even if you don't have the blood test done.  The cat can arrive in France 21 days from the date of the rabies vaccination.

I also use a head collar on my exhuberant lurcher, certainly saves your arm being disconnected from your shoulder, he walks very well on it.  Mine is a dogmatic headcollar but they are all much of a muchness. As for Ceasar Milan, he's been known to hang dogs from their collars to the point where one passed out, he also alfa rolls his dogs, there was an article about him in a Sunday supplement magazine and he really has a peculiar outlook on dog training and keeping dogs, another one with great pr and marketing people.    Article from the San Francisco Chronicle  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/15/CMGPHL9D1N1.DTL  

Steve the blood test is not necessary to take the cat to France but is necessary in order to take the cat to the UK, from either the UAE or France, same deal applies.  You also cannot take the cat into the UK for a period of 6 months from the date of a positive blood test.

That's because Alan all you need to exit the UK into France is a rabies jab 21 days before departure and a passport, you only need the blood test etc in order to be able to bring your pooch back into the UK, and whatever you do make sure the rabies jab booster is given before the due date on the passport, one day late and your passport will then be invalid for re entry into the UK and you have to start from scratch.

[quote user="Hoddy"] Susie I'm so glad that your dog seems to be better. A thought occurred to me - is she a muscular dog ? When I had my greyhound the vet not only weighed her, usually around five stone, but made separate calculation to allow for the fact that she had no fat, only muscle. It used to take her ages to come round after a very large dose of anesthetic and she used to jump at the sight of her hind legs following her. Maybe something of the sort is happening here. I hope she continues well.   Hoddy [/quote]   Hoddy, Greyhounds, lurchers and sighthounds in general can be very sensitive to anesthetics, in fact 8 or so years ago when I first got my lurcher I was advised to ask my vet to use Rapinovet which is much easier on the hounds's system, now most vets in the UK use this or similar anesthetic as a matter of course for all dogs.   Nettie

[quote user="powerdesal"]I am getting more confused by the minute ( I know - not difficult !). My vet here in the UAE (listed non EU country) says I should get the rabies renewed, then blood tested, then chipped. The DEFRA site, as far as I can see, says Chip, then rabies then bloodtest. I would seriously not like to get it wrong and end up a LHR with a cat that then could not be taken to France. Any comments? [/quote]   Steve the microchip and rabies vax can be done at the same appointment with the vet but must be done before the vaccination.  The vet is supposed to scan the dog and then give the rabies vaccination to confirm that the vaccination has been given to the dog being transported.  The microchip is the one thing that absolutely identifies the dog otherwise you could in essence transport an identical but different dog that hasn't been vaccinated.  Hope that clears things up the microchip identifies the dog which is why it is so important. Hope that helps.

Was the infection pyometra (womb infection) this could be why she hasn't bounced back yet?  Still worth getting a second opinion I think.  Dogs can go downhill very quickly, she also might be dehydrated so some time on a drip might be needed.  Not wanting to frighten you but I'd be going to the vets now.

Forgive my ignorance but is the black and white known as a Harlequin?  Both very beautiful dogs. Just wondering why the OP particularly wants a large dog, surely better to research a particular breed to make sure said breed would fit into the family? 

I buy Drontal Plus online, it works out much cheaper when you're treating 3 dogs, also buy Frontline online.  Our French vet always asks me if I have both with me.  He then actually treats the dogs himself.  It costs us 55 euros to have all 3 dogs treated and passports signed.

[quote user="Nicos"]Is it much cheaper to take your own Drontal and Frontline with you to the Vets then? Also what sort of pet carrier do you use? I have 2 cats which need to be kept seperate, and our English drive takes 5 hrs. [/quote] I order my Drontal online in the UK and because I have 3 dogs and 2 cats I find this much cheaper than the vets.  As far as the Frontline is concerned you can check prices between the vet and local pharmacy and see which is cheaper.  Since Frontline became non prescription in the UK it now costs about the same as it does in France, it used to be much cheaper in France, just goes to show how much margin vets were making in the UK when is was prescription only, I now also buy Frontline online. With regards travelling with cats, I have never done it, the thought of travelling with 3 dogs and 2 cats is just a little bit too much, especially since we go back and forth 3-4 times a year so the cats are looked after by a friend in the UK when we're in France.  They are both 14 now and the only time I will take them to France is if we start spending more of the year in France than in the UK.