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Rabies vaccination - advice please


napoleon
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We have been using pet passports for our dogs for many years and have given the dogs annual rabies vaccinations. Our old, experienced vet said that even if the vaccine stated two and now three year validity it would be best to vaccinate every year. This was not for health reasons but to avoid complications if we crossed frontiers in Europe, such as Spain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, during our long holidays in France.

This year we have our new puppy (now 16 months old) and an annual booster would be due next week. I would rather save the time and money as we are both retired and have a greatly reduced income. Has anyone experienced a problem with the extended rabies dates in the pet passport when travelling out of, or back into France or any other combinations of country hopping?

Thanks, Alistair.
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We have our dog vaccinated every year just in case we need to take her to the UK for one of life's unexpected reasons.

As we have only ever taken her once in the 8 years we have lived here, we haven't actually "tested" the system.  To my mind it's a bit like having a current passport and EHIC at all times; not because we are planning on going anywhere but just IN CASE, lol!

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The rule used to be that as well as the annual injection the dog had to have a positive blood test result, after which it had to wait 6 months before entering UK.  Now not necessary - that's the main change, in my view. We were once a few days late with the booster and both had to have another blood test, which would have been a real pain if we'd wanted to return.

France seems to be more relaxed - many dog owners here don't bother at all with the anti-rabies vaccination.

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Whatever expiry date is put into the pet passport, is the expiry date. Before that date, a new injection will generate a new expiry date. After that date and you need to get a new injection and wait 21 days before crossing any international borders in the EU (and some countries beyond).

So if the new dog has a 2 or 3 year validity date in the passport, you are fine up to that expiry date.

There is much confusion around which is caused in part by changing rules. We have cats rather than dogs and the rabies vaccine they have been given has a 1 year validity. Our vet however has made it clear, that as long as we do not intend to take them out of France, the vaccine is effective for 3 years and no need to renew - so saving us significant costs.
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[quote user="Rabbie"]Just checked with Mrs R Abbie - a vet - that if you are UK resident then you will be OK with vaccination every two years. Good luck[/quote]

I have phoned DEFRA to make sure that we can expect the validity date in the passport to be accepted without any problems and they categorically state that this is the case.

We are UK residents so that part of the system is satisfied. I was also trying to find out if crossing any of the other borders could produce a difficulty.

Thanks for your comments.
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[quote user="Patf"]France seems to be more relaxed - many dog owners here don't bother at all with the anti-rabies vaccination.[/quote]

Well, yes - but their level of relaxation also extends to ignoring obvious tumours and leaving dogs out in flimsy kennels with no bedding in all weathers.

We don't vaccinate our animals against rabies any more because they aren't going to be travelling across borders and if they were going to, it's only a 21-day wait till they're legal again. We don't vaccinate the cats against rabies because in cats the vaccination is somewhat implicated in the (rare) vaccine related / associated fibrosarcomas which usually don't have a good outcome. [:(]

If someone vaccinates their dog annually against all the other baddies (disemper, parvo, etc) then the additional cost of the rabies vaccination at the same time is small.

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