Returning to the UK with UK passported cats who are now French residents

[suein56]

 Please can someone reassure me I am doing things right?

My OH and I need to go back to the UK to visit, there seem to be no catteries around us in southern 56 so we plan to take the cats with us.

The cats came with us in March 05 from the UK with full passports, complete with entries for having passed the serological blood test in December 04, so they would seem to be OK for going back - they just need the tick and worm treatment - yes?

Question 2: being French resident now the cats need to have a booster for their rabies as the French system requires this to be done annually - this is now almost due,can any French vet do this, or does it have be a special one, as the UK?

Q 3: is there anything else I should have thought of to ensure the cats can enter the UK allright and then come back to France with us?

Thanks

Sue

[Deimos]

This post has taken over one and a half hours to make. I would have responded sooner but, probably like others it was just taking too long waiting for the forums.

Anyway, the post:

Sorry, I’ve tried to respond to you question re: visting UK with your can by posting a response but this damned forum is just so slow (I’ve now been waiting for 10 minutes after pressing the “Reply” button and I have to go out now. As an aside, I think quite a lot of people cannot be bothered as it can take so long waiting to get to the page to allow one to enter a reply. Anyway, my thoughts:

I only know what is necessary for dogs, but for dogs you need a complete rabies vaccination history from before the serological blood sample was taken. Any French vet who can do the Tick & tapeworm treatment should be OK for the rabies vaccination as well. For dogs you get a rabies vaccination certificate (an A4 sheet that is all official and is apparently quite important). The booster vaccinations are important. If you are late with one you need another blood test and 6 month wait.

Although in theory the Pet Passport should be all that is needed, do take all the paperwork you have for your vet. When you get your pet Tick & Wormed your French vet may also fill in/offer French PETS paperwork as well. If he/she does that accept it. What he is offering is the old format French PETS paperwork. When I last travelled there were errors in the Pet Passport but the French PETS paperwork was fine so I could travel OK. When you travelled UK to France nobody would have looked closely at the Passport and thus would not have detected if there were anything wrong. Apparently common mistakes French vets make in the Pet Passports include:

not entering the batch and/or type of rabies vaccination used

not entering the valid until date

Mine also made loads of errors entering the blood test results but yours was do in the UK so less likely to be anything wrong (because the blood test is very much and entry into UK thing and thus not so common in France – I’m not criticizing French vets).

If you are travelling by Brittany Ferries then you need to book for your animal(s) as well. The cost is fairly trivial but they do have limits on the numbers of animals allowed on any one ferry. Don’t know what other carriers do. Tick and tapeworm treatment between 24 and 48 hours of checking-in with the ferry/train/”carrier” company. No good getting it done at the ferry port the day you are travelling.

On Brittany ferries animals stay in the car. I am told the high speed catamarans can be a bit noisey on the car decks.

Above only relates to dogs and my personal experience (I’m not a professional or anything).

Ian

[suein56]

Hi Deimos

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. I am so grateful you made your post, especially in the light of the problems of access you are having.

****Any French vet who can do the Tick & tapeworm treatment should be OK for the rabies vaccination as well. For dogs you get a rabies vaccination certificate (an A4 sheet that is all official and is apparently quite important). The booster vaccinations are important. If you are late with one you need another blood test and 6 month wait.****

Yes I agree - I finally got through to Petline run by Defra who were very helpful once I had explained my query twice. The difference seems to be re the accepted vaccines for the rabies booster. In the UK this has to be done by a LVI with one of 4 acceptable vaccines, but, because we are now resident in France we come under French rules re vaccines and as long as our French vet uses an approved French vaccine there is no problem.

Edit: This we have now had done and we also have the A4 sheet that accompanies all rabies boosters for cats and dogs.

Re the tick and worm treatment this should be OK with our vet, but I did have to explain to him it should be given at least 24 hours before book in for the ferry.

I have booked the cats and us by phone as we are travelling by Brittany Ferries from Caen and I know what it was like when we came - the UK authorities nearly did not let one of our cats travel because he could not read her chip. After 4 goes he discovered his machine was switched on to the wrong (?) kind of chip. It was only me repeating - it worked fine yesterday at our vet's - that kept me sane.

I have checked and double checked the cats' passports as the French vet made an error in recording the chip number on the accompanying booster A4 sheet for one cat and had to redo it - the difference between UK 7 and French 1 making an appearance. But all seems fine now.

It almost seems as though paranoia can set in over this but I just do not want to have any problems leaving France or returning - that would be a nightmare.

Thanks again.

Sue

 

 

[Deimos]

Quote: “Re the tick and worm treatment this should be OK with our vet, but I did have to explain to him it should be given at least 24 hours before book in for the ferry.”

The treatment must be given between 24 and 48 hours before ferry check-in. The range is important. They are very strict about this – no flexibility. I have seen one couple not allowed to travel on a ferry because they got the time wrong (actually at Caen).

Travel UK to France is really easy and often they don’t even look at the animals paperwork nor read the chips. France to UK is stricter. Its actually very easy but everything must be correct. I have always checked-in very early so I have time to seek out a local vet. My own vet is very understanding and reminds me he is available 24 hours a day so if there are any problems he (or a local vet) can telephone him. I am paranoid – particularly as the last time (and 1st time with Pet Passport) there were too many errors in the Pet Passport and it was rejected. However, the French PETS paperwork the vet had also given me was fine so we could travel no problems.

When you check-in at Caen they will probably give you a sticker with an animal or something to stick on your window to indicate you have an animal in the car and have had the paperwork, etc. checked. Once when travelling I immediately lost the sticker which was not a problem. However, I was then stopped by Customs on the UK side and asked “do you have anything in your car you should not” and with this dog leaping around in the back (in clear view in the car) I said “no” and was allowed to continue without problems.

Ian

[suein56]

****However, I was then stopped by Customs on the UK side and asked “do you have anything in your car you should not” and with this dog leaping around in the back (in clear view in the car) I said “no” and was allowed to continue without problems.****

Hi Ian

If that's all that happens to us then we should be OK!

I think I am so concerned that everything is perfectly correct not only because I have heard of many near misses but also because the cats were checked and scanned very thoroughly when we came over earlier in the year to Roscoff from Plymouth so that has made me very wary. And, as you say, it is much stricter going from France to the UK.

I don't think I shall be completely calm until we have been and come back - hopefully without problem.

Sue

[Deimos]

I’m sure it will be OK. I tend to worry as I travel on the last ferry back before Christmas to visit family so if there are problems I miss Christmas (probably a daft thing to do).

It is actually very easily so I would not worry (particularly as you are being very thorough in your preparations.

Have a good visit back to the UK

Ian

[Robbie34]

I have been travelling with my dog twice a year since the scheme started, and twice this year with his new blue passport.  I have never had a problem, and a few years ago was checked at Portsmouth by a DEFRA official.  She was confused by my time of arrival - although everything was in order - because I'd travelled on the P&O Express.

The important thing is to check that all sections of the passport have been completed correctly.  There is no room for error.  Ensure that your animal's microchip number on the passport corresponds with its actual number, and the tick and tapeworm treatments are in order and given at the appropriate time interval.  If all of these checks are made, and everything is in order, then you will not have a problem.  You do not need any other documentation.  The new passport has simplified everything.

[suein56]

***You do not need any other documentation.  The new passport has simplified everything.

 

Thanks Robbie - that is what I am hoping!

Sue

[Deimos]

Contrary to what some may say, do take all your pets paperwork. True that in theory the Pet Passport is all that is needed. However, there may be errors or questions and that is when the rest of the paperwork can make the difference between travelling or not.

Travelling France to UK is stricter and more thorough than UK to France. It is really easy but, if this is the first time with your current passports France to UK I would take all the papers (e.g. blood test results, etc.) just in case.

(I know that I would not have travelled 1st time had I not taken all the paperwork). Generally on ferries with a car the additional papers are not a big deal and I cannot understand why people should suggest leaving them at home 1st time.

Ian

[suein56]

***Contrary to what some may say, do take all your pets paperwork.***

Thanks for that Ian

Whilst talking to our French vet about our proposed trip back to the UK - our first since coming here - he, like you, has stressed that we should take with us all the bits and pieces of paperwork we have accumulated in the few months we have been here. This I intend to do. The thought of all this preparation being jeopardised for want of a small scrap of paper is too horrible to think about - I am nervous enough as it is.

My thanks to all who have been so helpful in this matter.

Sue

[Liz]

We are just about to organise a passport for our cat to travel to England (he's never been there before) so I have found these posts really helpful and am now printing it all off to remind me to check that the vet has filled in everything correctly.  One thing that is not very clear to me is where the passport gets checked.  Is it on the departing side only, which means that once Pussy has passed through the ferry check-in there should be no problems in entering England?  It sounds that way from Ian's description of procedure but I have a nightmare scenario in my head where some official on the English side doesn't like our French passport/paperwork and poor old puss either gets bunged into quarantine or sent back to France.  Any clarification would be much appreciated.

Liz (29)

[Robbie34]

Your pet will be checked in at the port by the person who checks you in.  You will be handed a scanner to verify the microchip in your pet.

There is a possibility that you might be checked upon your arrival in the UK by a DEFRA official. Thus, you are not allowed to remove the car sticker, which shows there is a pet onboard, until you have cleared the port.

[Deimos]

When I have travelled Caen to Portsmouth, Brittany Ferries check everything at the Caen check-in and give you a “sticker” to display in your car windscreen. Normally you just drive straight out at the other end.

I did once lose the sticker (within minutes of being given it) so drove through the other end without sticker. I was stopped by customs who asked “do you have anything you should not have in your car” (with this dog sticking his nose out trying to say hello to the customs officer). I said “no” and was allowed to carry on unchecked.

Brittany Ferries (and I would assume all carriers) are pretty fussy and when I have seen people being stopped from travelling it has always been on the French side (France to UK).

It is not complex (not a “nightmare”) and you will almost certainly have no problems but there is no leeway with the paperwork. Last time my own French vet told me to take his 24hr emergency number so that if there were any problems a local Caen vet could confirm anything with him.

Ian

[Liz]

Thanks for the additional info.  My mind is at rest.  All I have to do now is to convince pussy that he is really going to love a trip to the vets, not to mention a trip on a boat in due course.

Liz (29)

 

[phandm]

Can someone please confirm for me that providing you vacinations are always up to date that you do not have to have a bood sample taken each year and checked by the AFSSA in France before you can travel back to the UK with a passport.

Thank you

[Robbie34]

Your pets will only need a repeat blood test if you fail to keep their vaccinations up to date.  In France that means an annual booster against rabies.

[phandm]

Thank you for confirming that information Robbie.

[Deimos]

[quote user="Deimos"]When you get your pet Tick & Wormed your French vet may also fill in/offer French PETS paperwork as well. If he/she does that accept it. What he is offering is the old format French PETS paperwork.[/quote]

This is no longer available.  I don’t know when but the old French PETS paperwork is now no

longer valid (or can no longer be issued by vets).  I don’t know if existing and still valid French PETS paperwork is

acceptable but certainly vets can no longer issue it and I would assume it is

not and that if you plan on travelling to UK use the blue Pet Passport (and

ignore what I wrote some time ago about getting the French PETS paperwork as

well).

Ian

[Robbie34]

The "old paperwork" officially finished in September last year when the new EU passport took over.

The new passport has simplified things enormously, and I have been amazed at some of the postings, here and elsewhere, about what was needed.  Incidentally, there is a review of the Pets' Passport system, including the need for the tick and tapeworm treatment before returning to the UK.  It's quite possible that this will be dispensed with.

[Deimos]

Until relatively recently French vets (at least those living

in my region and at least one other region) had been advised to issue both Pet

Passports AND old French PETS paperwork. 

This continued for a long time after the Pet Passport “took over” (i.e.

both Pet Passport and French PETS paperwork was effective).  However, I was pointing out that the older

French PETS paperwork is no longer issued by vets.

Ian

[Deimos]

[quote

user="Robbie34"]

… I have been amazed at some of the postings, here and elsewhere, about what

was needed.

[/quote]

I think what people post here (certainly in my case) is

based on their personal experiences – which may differ from your own.  This is a valuable aspect to these forums as

what happens in practice, e.g. with different carriers and different regions,

etc. is different. Thus there is often no “true definitive answer”.  For example, the time before last when I

travelled (some time after last year), the French PETS paperwork was accepted

where the Pet Passport was rejected (despite the scheme having been “finished”

as you say).  Hence the value of

different people’s experiences helping others.

Personally I am not amazed by postings here as different

people cross with different carriers, different crossings, etc. and they are bound

to have different experiences.

Ian