| Pet Passports |
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| Written by Stephen Champion |
| Thursday, 25 September 2008 13:29 |
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Q. What is the difference between the Pet Travel Scheme and Pet Export? Q. What is a Pet Passport and the Pets Travel Scheme? Q. Is the Pet travel Scheme easy to negotiate in order to travel with my pet abroad? Q. What are the basic requirements to prepare my pet for the Pets Travel Scheme?
The Pet Travel Scheme is designed to facilitate the travel abroad with your pet and the return with your pet to the UK without him having to spend 6 months in quarantine. Pets are exported when the owner takes the dog with them to live abroad permanently or sends the dog to a new owner in another country. These animals do not need to join the PETS scheme but must have the relevant Export Certificates and Travel Documentation completed, together with any animal health requirements completed before departure, such as vaccinations. These requirements differ for each country. Again, your vet at Championvet.com will be happy to guide you through this in association with DEFRA. Q. What is a Pet Passport and the Pets Travel Scheme? The Pets Travel Scheme has been running for about five years now and has successfully prevented many traveling pets from having to spend 6 months in quarantine when arriving back in the UK. Until recently, a number of forms had to be completed and carried with the pet’s owner abroad. Since October 2004, the Pet Passport has been introduced, greatly simplifying the procedure for animals traveling within Europe. Q. Is the Pet travel Scheme easy to negotiate in order to travel with my pet abroad? The introduction of the Pet Passport has simplified the procedure but there are still a number of steps to take in the right order before your pet can be brought back into the UK. Most people find the first trip a bit daunting but subsequent trips are usually a doddle! We recommend that if you are contemplating using the Pet Travel Scheme you talk to one of the vets at Championvet.com, who will guide you through the process. All our vets are certified to issue Pet Passports. Q. What are the basic requirements to prepare my pet for the Pets Travel Scheme? The following steps represent a general orientation only to the requirements of PETS. We strongly advice you to speak to your vet at Championvet.com before embarking on PETS. 1. Have your pet identichipped with an ISO recognised chip. If it is not an ISO chip then you must provide your own scanner to the authorities to check the chip. 2. Have your pet vaccinated against rabies. 3. 30 days after the vaccination, a blood sample is taken to test that your pet is immune to Rabies. If the titre is adequate, your pet has passed and a pet passport can be issued. 4. Once you have been sent the results, return to the vets with the certificate with results. Your pet will then be examined to ensure it has no signs of rabies, the identichip checked to make sure its working and the Pet Passport issued. It will be valid from six months after the date of the blood test until the rabies booster is due, which is two years after the last vaccination. 5. You will need to ensure your pet is wormed with Drontal and Frontline 24-48 hours prior to re-entry into the UK. It cannot be done at the time of embarkation and therefore you are required to link up with a vet in the country you are visiting. 6. If going to Southern Europe there are diseases which can be prevented, but we don't get them here. These are all parasite-borne and include Heartworm, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis and Leishmaniasis. Please ask for advice before leaving about prophylactic treatment. None of these conditions are trivial, but can be prevented to a large extent, mainly with the use of Frontline and Stronghold. For more comprehensive information, please speak to one of our vets or see the DEFRA website, given on our Links Page. |
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