PET PASSPORT PERILS

[Di Rolph]

I’m writing this as a timely reminder to anyone bringing their pets back into the UK after their holiday.  It seems that some passengers are still not fully aware of all the dictates of the Pet Passport Scheme, which can lead to distressing situations as I recently discovered!

 

Last Saturday we returned from France via Eurotunnel with our dog and two cats.  On entering the ‘pets’ building to have our animals ‘passed for passage’ there was a shouting match going on between an English woman and the two French assistants.  The woman was accompanied by two small children and her dog.  Apparently she had had the dog treated for ticks and tapeworms 3 days earlier, and her timescale had elapsed.  She was screaming at the assistants that she would have to find a vet in Calais to perform the treatments again, and somewhere to stay the night with two small children and a dog!  Eventually the French assistant gave a Gallic shrug and said “They aren’t our rules, they are UK rules”.  The last we saw of her was back in the car park in her 4x4 shouting down her mobile phone.

 

In front of me were a young French couple with their dog.  The dog’s rabies jab was up to date but they were not even aware that tick/tapeworm treatments were necessary.  They had assumed they could travel anywhere in Europe with their Passport!  “No”, said the assistant, “anywhere except the UK” and grabbed my dog’s Passport which was already on her counter and showed them the date and time of her tick/tapeworm treatment.  The couple explained that they were due at a wedding reception that evening.  The French assistant gave another Gallic shrug and repeated “They aren’t our rules, they are UK rules.  They left despondently.

 

Then it was our turn.  The three Passports were examined and ‘passed’ and microchips beeped.  “I am sorry Madam, the dog is fine to travel, but we have a problem with your cats”.   The cats both have French Passports, and it seems our French Vet wrote one digit incorrectly on both the cat’s Passports compared with the microchip reading.  They have travelled back and forth many times on these Passports, but this has not been picked up before.  Now this is where a little preparation has proved essential……..  From the other documentation I had with me I was able to produce both their microchip certificates – phew!   “Do these problems occur a lot?” I asked the assistant “All day, every day” he replied, “this is a terrible place to work because all you get is abuse”  He shrugged again “They aren’t our rules, they are UK rules”.

 

When the Pet Passport was introduced it was intended that it would be the only necessary document for UK re-entry as all information on the animal would be contained therein but please don’t rely on it entirely.

 

So below are a few rules and extra tips for re-entry

 

a)       The tick and tapeworm treatments must be recorded in the Passports with the date and time they were administered.  Do ensure the Vet also signs and uses his/her practice stamp in the appropriate place

b)      Make sure the Vet also checks the microchip, just in case its become dislodged

c)      Ensure you only travel between 24 and 48 house after the two treatments have been administered

d)      Rabies jabs must not be out of date

e)      DON’T RELY ON JUST THE PASSPORT.  TAKE ALL THE OLD DOCUMENTS YOU HAVE WITH YOU!  INITIAL CERTIFICATE OF RABIES INNOCULATION. THE SUBSEQUENT BLOOD TEST CERTIFICATE, CERTIFICATES OF ALL INNOCULATIONS AND THE MICROCHIP CERTIFICATE – YOU JUST MIGHT NEED THEM!

 

Diane Rolph

[Christine Animal]

That's a good and useful message Diane, it can't be stressed enough that the UK is different from the rest of Europe.  Back in the days when we had only a couple of dogs, we could hardly ever go back to see my parents because of quarantine and in those days there were not many trustworthy establishments here to leave them.  We had several bad experiences (this is over thirty years ago) only leaving them for a few days.  We suffered from this as my parents couldn't come too much either, having to leave their own dogs in kennels.  Eventually, we only went back about once a year for a very short stay, or I went on my own.  However, we often went to Spain with our pets.

Now everything should be so easy,  I feel so sorry for you all that it is so complicated... to go to the UK.

 

[Ewa]

Good advice! I had a bit of a heart attack in Le Havre on Tuesday afternoon, trying to check in for the LD Lines ferry to Portsmouth. My dog's passport does not show the date the microchip was inserted as we were given him when he had just turned 1 year old (and it had been done by the previous owner). They refused to check him in and sent me to the main terminal for the supervisor to ring DEFRA for clarification.

I had all his previous documentation with me, but of course as he was a rehomed animal we didn't have anything relating to the microchip insertion!

Finally, after half an hour of palpitations and worry, he was allowed to check in and everything else went fine (apart from getting out of Portsmouth whilst BF was offloading too - but that's another tale...!).

Good advice to double check everything is correct - even though in our case the date of insertion had never been asked for before (it was his 3rd time of travelling abroad) but you never know what will be questioned.

Ewa

Devon & 27

[Maddie]

Some of the things you descirbe are down to the owners not being au fait with the rules.  The first time I travelled I made sure everything was correct to the last crossed "t", even got my French vet to redo some paperwork as it was illegible!  These days it's easy to find out the requirements, esp if you are online.  IMHO there's not much excuse - would they travel without their kids documents?  No!  Would they travel to a place where prevetnative medication was required and not give it to their kids? No! [:)][;-)]

Good reminder though, Diane - thanks! [:)]

[KathyC]

[quote user="Mrs MDW"]

Some of the things you descirbe are down to the owners not being au fait with the rules. 

[/quote]

And some things are down to the UK vets not being au fait with the rules. I have to check all the rules on the internet and then go and quote chapter and verse in the surgery. Here on the Isle of Wight they obviously think that going over to the mainland should be quite enough for anyone!

[Maddie]

[quote user="KathyC"][quote user="Mrs MDW"]

Some of the things you descirbe are down to the owners not being au fait with the rules. 

[/quote]

And some things are down to the UK vets not being au fait with the rules. I have to check all the rules on the internet and then go and quote chapter and verse in the surgery. Here on the Isle of Wight they obviously think that going over to the mainland should be quite enough for anyone!

[/quote]#

Hee hee exactly!  If the owners are "au fait" then there's no problem, it's then they are not the problem arises.  We owners need to keep these vets in line!

[Llwyncelyn]

Once just after New Year returned from Le Havre to Portsmouth.  Know the rules about 24/48 hours and ticks and things  Had that done in our local vets.  Not a problem.  But most passports have lots of zeros in them.and what the Vet had done was to omit one zero.  No cannot get on the boat, had to get on the boat directed to local vet driving at 100 miles an hour found vet explained problem, resolved problem after £50 fee!  He knew we wanted to get on that boat.  Now we live here no such problem but still everything to do with our dogs and cats are up to date they have rabies etc etc done and I in fact just come back from the Vet.

[Christine Animal]

Now I'm almost glad I have too many to be able to go at all !   [:D]   [:P]   [geek]

 

[Deimos]

----- 3) Ensure you only travel between 24 and 48 house after the two treatments have been administered -----

The tick and tapeworm treatment should be done between 24 and 48 hours of you check-in and NOT 24 to 48 hours before TRAVELLING. This is really important and there is absolutely no flexibility here. Some people travel a long way and it can take them some time so the 24/48 can become 3 days, etc. RULES ARE "Your pet must be treated against ticks and a tapeworm not less than 24 hours and not more than 48 hours before it is checked in with an approved transport company for its journey into the UK." (AGAIN NOT BASED ON TRAVELLING BUT ON CHECK-IN).

----- d)      Rabies jabs must not be out of date -----

Rabies jabs need to be more than up-to-date. There needs to be a continuous history of boosters from the date the blood test sample was taken. The history needs to show that each booster in administered on/before the previous one expires.. Just having a rabies vaccination before you go on holiday is not enough. Where the blood test was done some time ago, vets typically do not retrospectively fill in the earlier (thus complete record) rabies vaccinations so you should make sure you take other vaccination records in case this is questioned. However, a Pet Passport showing e.g. vaccination 1/Aug/2004, valid until 1/Aug/2005, then the next 3/Aug/2005 valid until 3/Aug/2006 will problems and you will not be complying with the regulations and will probably not be allowed to travel.

I would suggest somebody corrects the above post as it is wrong (I'm afraid) and could cause people to have travel problems. Remember that many people start their travelling a long way from a ferry port, etc. (e.g. start travelling from the south of France).

Ian

[Skye]

An interesting thread for me since I was just at the vet to check the regs and it seemed all too easy given my circumstances. I brought my cats from Kenya in June with all relevant documentation and plan to take them on to England in January. The vet here tells me that its sufficient to bring them in to get their tick treatment etc. a day before and he will issue their pet passports, therefore complying with the 24-48 hour rule provided I get to the ferry in time. But since their last rabies shot was in Kenya in March 2006 (therefore won't have expired), similarly their blood titre test (sent to France from Kenya therefore an "approved" lab) 1) they won't have a French rabies shot and 2) more importantly (?) there's no proof that they've been in France for 6 months since they weren't stamped or anything when they entered through the Toulouse airport.  Does this sound to anyone like they're going to have a problem entering England? I do remember a post a while back indicating that they had to be in France for at least 6 months but how can I prove this? Any ideas?

[Deimos]

If you are unsure, and as your circumstances are not the "normal scenario" you might want to contact DEFRA. DEFRA run a helpline on +44 (0)870 241 1710 (Monday to Friday - 8.30am to 5pm UK time). Appears to me the problem you may have is that of "having been outside a region ... in the previous 6 months" - or rather you history suggesting your cats might have entered France more recently than the 6 months ago. I would thus try to think of any proof you might have that you cat has been in France with you (e.g. any vet visits, would your vet write a note stating you your cat has been in France, maybe the "relevant documentation" will prove when they entered France, maybe the flight booking/tickets/whatever for the cats on the aircraft, etc.). Maybe the vet would accept some of these to certify. Maybe DEFRA will say "no problem" and you will need nothing like that. Another possibility is to ask the British Consul Agriculture section (in Paris) on 01 44 51 33 13 (I have found them pretty helpful in the past). One area they might be able to help in is if there is documentation in French that DEFRA "do not understand".

I used to have to sign a declaration that the animal had not been outside the approved regions in the last 6 months, but this has gone now there is a Pet Passport (though the regulation remains). However, given your cats history it may be that questions might be asked so it may be safer to check.

Ian

[Alexis]

Gratefull thanks for starting this thread.

I checked all the paperwork of "our Loulou" the other day after reading all the above messages and the laboratory that had tested her blood sample for rabies had got all the dates wrong.

We went to the vet's this morning and he telephoned them and they will be sending a new letter/form with the correct dates.

Then the vet will issue a passport.

I can just imagine what an uproar if we had been turned back at Boulogne!  Firstly by the cat...and then me[:D]