dollface

One day! my inlaws will still be in Canada and I have lots of great friends here too Thanx Home is a calling

MoshiMoshi

Hi everyone,

Another stressed pet owner here! I may be moving back to the UK (from California) at relatively short notice, so I'm trying to get things in order with our two cats now.

They already have EU passports and microchips (we brought them to CA from Germany). I recently realized they should've had rabies booster shots last year, and so have just had them re-vaccinated, so after 21 days they should technically be good to go. The vet put all the vaccine details on their passports, and also printed out a rabies certificate.

I'm still confused about paperwork, though! The Defra site says:

'When your pet is vaccinated, make sure that your vet has recorded the following details on its vaccination record and passport or third country official veterinary certificate:

its date of birth/age
the microchip number, date of insertion and location of the microchip on the animal
the date of vaccination
the vaccine product name
the batch number
the date its booster vaccination is due (calculated by reference to the vaccine manufacturer’s data sheet)'

I thought the passport IS the vaccination record, but the phrasing makes it sound like they're two separate things. Is this right? Obviously, my vet put all the vaccine details into the passport, and the microchip details were already there -- do they have to be repeated again on the 'vaccination record'? Is this the rabies certificate? (Rabies cert has all the above info except for the microchip's date of insertion and location; I'm sure the vet can add this.)

I'm also confused by some references here to getting a letter from the vet stating that the vaccine was given after the microchip was implanted. Our cats got chipped in 2009, as is recorded on their passports. Defra doesn't mention anything about a letter. Is it necessary?

Finally... unless I've missed it, Defra doesn't seem to give any info on fit-to-fly certificates, or particular customs forms. Is this something our airline will give us guidance/requirements on? And what's the deal with getting paperwork certified by the USDA? I've seen that mentioned on here, but, again, found no reference on the Defra site (which makes the whole process look so simple I can't believe it).

Thanks if you've read this far! I'd really appreciate any advice.

And one more final finally... why is it so insanely expensive to fly pets into the UK?? When we moved from Germany to CA, the cats flew in the cargo hold with Air Berlin for about 250E each. Now it looks like it's going to cost $2000+ to go from CA to England, without even using a pet travel company.

Poppy girl

My kitty did not have a passport but all in all a round trip cost me about $3,000 but I love him.....I do know the microchip has to be recorded in the pet passport or on a cert they are looking to make sure the micro-chip was inserted before the rabies injection, if your kittys were vacinated with a 3 years vaccine then no need to do again..............I would call Defra at LHR to put your mind at rest, when I collected my cat, for once in my life all paperwork was in order, I was the only one, some folk had been there for hours waiting to get thier pets back but the info was all wrong, so they had to call the relevant vets in different ountries to confirm details.

As for Defra and the airlines its a separate cert from the airline I flew Virgin Atlantic and he was in cargo, cheaper to fly on the same flight, with pussy cats...

Nicola1

Hi all,

Does anyone have any experience with shipping their dogs out of Johannesburg into London? Any recommended agencies please?

happyglow

Hi all. After much googling and planning I've settled on flying my dog into Amsterdam then taking the ferry back to the UK. That way he can fly with me as "excess baggage" - still in the cargo hold but for $200 flat rate rather than high cargo costs.

So far all good - the vet at the govt offices (Animal Health) here in Canada was very helpful when I called him, and I'm about to start the physical process this week with a new microchip, as pooch has an old style 9 digit chip which is not approved under the new regs. Rabies booster to follow but not on the same day, just so it's clear on the forms which was done first. I'd rather pay a bit more for two separate appointments than have everything go pear-shaped.

My only problem is time; we're travelling over easter weekend so Animal Health, who need to stamp the forms after the tapeworm treatment, are closed friday-monday. That stretches us out to almost the 120 hour limit by the time the ferry docks in the UK. If everything is on time we will make it, but if we hit significant delays it's a pain in the neck.

We already have a crate but it has those loose plastic fasteners around the edges, so I've upgraded it to bolts with locknuts for extra security. I like the tips for ziploc bags taped to the crate, apparently you're supposed to put food on there too in case there is a long delay and they need to be fed. This will drive my fella mad as he'll smell it even through the bag, and will probably spend the whole flight trying to gnaw a hole in the ceiling

Must admit this is the part of the whole move that's stressing me the most, he's a brave lad but I don't like having him out of my sight for that long.

:f ingerscrossed:

pennylessinindia

Reading your post reminds me so much of me this time last year. The 120 hours is quite a dilemma I had to travel from Frankfurt (having arrived from India the day before ) to Calais so was cutting my time close but did make it. You may need to factor in a possible overnight stay and have a vets name to give more treatment if you are delayed in leaving Holland.

I taped a zip lock with one meal and his collar and lead on top of the box.

Not sure what type of crate you have but I also but the plastic ties through the door to make sure it did not get opened, do need to make sure you pack some scissors in your checked in luggage to open them at the other end.


Sure it is more stressful for the owner than the dog!!!

pennylessinindia

This may be old hat but thought I would post it, it concerns some microchip failures
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pet...rs/microchips/

happyglow

Thanks pennyless, it's absolutely invaluable to hear from someone who has been through a similar scenario. I think the thing that might save me is that "120 hours" which, I'm hoping, is ACTUAL ELAPSED HOURS ignoring timezones. Can you shed any light on this? I'm hoping it's true since the reasoning behind it is the lifecycle of tapeworms, and I don't think they wear wristwatches

Plastic ties and scissors - brilliant idea. I was going with bungee cords but like that one better. It's just a standard plastic crate, we had it already and he's actually flown in it but just for an hour's hop. I need new "Live Animals" stickers though.

On my to-do list is to identify details of vets and emergency places to stay near the ferry port, I hope we don't need them

Going to leave his collar on - the risk of him running away if they do have do let him out for any reason far outweighs the risk of him getting caught up in it. He was a street dog so is a very slippery escape artist.

Definitely more stressful for us than them!

Poppy girl

I think you should call the POA in England where you are docking, most of the POA's can scan over 100 micro-chip codes and the old 9 digit ones are not a problem in the UK, I know this by calling Defra myself when I brought Puss into the UK.....in the the worst case senerio, this was told to me by an animal control officer at LHR Animal Center (where you collect you pets) that if the correct paperwork is not there then they call the relevant vet and fax paperwork back and forth or the pet goes into quarantine, the amount of time I forget but I believe max is now 21 days...............call the POA I advice everyone to do this

happyglow

Thanks Poppy girl, I think I will call them. We're docking in Harwich, I hope they're helpful! Faxing back and forth would be a real pain with the timezone difference, and quarantine - shudder, no thanks! Absolute last resort.

While I don't want to submit pooch to anything unnecessary, an extra microchip shouldn't be a big deal for him, it's not expensive in the general scheme of things and it means we're following the rules to the letter - the less chances of problems the better! I'm more concerned about him having an extra rabies shot with under a year since the last one, but it seems there's absolutely no way round that as he was immunised BEFORE he was chipped with the old chip

Hugely appreciate your input, thank you!

Poppy girl

There is no harm in your doggie having another rabies shot in under a year, my cat had 2 in less then 12 months because I was not sure if his rabies was a 1 year or a 3 years one, I was in England ( did not have documents with me) called the vet and kennels in the US to expedite the process because I needed to have him ready to go real fast, I had a 10 day turn around back into the US get kitty and fly back to the UK......the vet told me its totally fine 2 even 3 shots.

pennylessinindia

I took the time as 120 hours actual hours ! . The french authorities did the checks before we got on the train. Had there been a problem we would not have been allowed on the train. There was no other checks then at the other end when on the train - I liked that idea. So if there was a problem we would have stayed in France and not had to go into quarantine in the UK!!!!

happyglow

I'm hoping that's what happens with the Dutch ferry too - they've already been in touch asking for chip number to speed up the process, so hopefully it will be similar.

I'm glad you think it should be actual hours too - it's only logical!

Do you mean the authorities at the airport did checks, or at the railway station?

Massive karma to you!

pennylessinindia

Checks in India then in Germany on arrival.
Checks prior to boarding the eurotunnel train. Then sit back and enjoy life in the UK!!

happyglow

Thanks so much for your pm and all your help pennyless; I can't wait to wake up in the UK on that first morning (hopefully after a long sleep in) and have breakfast in the garden while pooch explores.