woodywoodside

I have just come off the phone to DEFRA, regarding my pet documents and what is needed to take 2 dogs and 1 cat to Canada. I have been told that to enter Canada they now need Export Health Certificates from the vet along with rabies and certificate of fitness to fly, she is sending me all the details in the post today. Has anyone else heard of this, She was very helpful but said that Canada was one of the most difficult places to deal with as they constantly change the rules on what they will allow.

Thanks Sandra

StCharlesGirl

Hi

Yes our vet has done the rabies vaccinations and told us to come back in 30 days to get a blood test then he will do their passports/certificates.

Apparently if you don't want to bring them back into the UK and they are staying in Canada permanently then all this should be unnecessary and all you will need is a fitness to fly certificate.

Hopefully your vet will do all the paper work for you.

Regards

Sarah.

AlexInBC

We got the export health certificate before we came over, as I thought it was already compulsary then (Nov '05) but we didn't have to have the Rabies vaccination done before she travelled. When we applied for the export health certificate we stated that she'd been in a Rabies free country for 6 months prior to the date of travel. Maybe, if there's been another rabies scare in the UK since then, it's now necessary to have them vaccinated...but if not, I'd definitely wait until you arrive as it's FAR cheaper here!

woodywoodside

really how much for the vacination I have been quoted £40.00 plus between 65-88 for blood tests.

AlexInBC

I've dug out the invoice and it cost us a total of $52.43 to have DA2PPCV (whatever that combination is!) & Rabies vaccination, on 02/02/06, as she was due the lot soon after we arrived. There was no blood test done, though. I think they just assume that the vaccine works. It needed to be repeated one year later, and from now on it's a booster every 3 years, I think.

Hope that helps,
Alex

woodywoodside

Thanks Alex that really helpful.

Sandra

Moose Mug

My 2 cats arrived last week from England. You need to take your pets to the vet. They will give you a form that you send to your local Defra office. Before they travel, you let Defra know and they send a certificate to your vet. Just before you travel (my mum took them on Friday and they flew out on Sunday) you have to take them back to the vet so they be examined and checked they are fit enough to fly. The vet will then stamp the certificate and this will need to be given to the airline when they are checked in. They have to be up to date with vaccinations and you need to prove this.

We didn't bother with rabies as we had our cats from kittens and had the breeders certificate as proof but we had them vaccinated a few days after they arrived. Mine flew out with Air Canada and seemed a bit shell shocked when they arrived but were fine and have since settled in very well. We have also had them internationally microchipped, which you need to have if you want to take them out of Canada. If you want to take them back to the UK at some point, they would need a pet passport which involves having a blood test done, I think 6 months after the rabies jab.

Generally, it all sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Good luck!

blueRussell

We are taking our two dogs and two cats to Ottawa next Thursday (14th June). We have used Ladyhaye to make all the arrangements. We were going to get all the DEFRA forms to our vets and do them ourselves. But as they need to be done within 10 days of travel and the removal men have just emptied our house we decided to let Ladyhaye do it. It costs a bit extra but at least it's one thing we haven't got to remember.

We had the vet give the dogs & cats rabies injections. They aren't needed for entry into Canada but are required within a certain number of days after entry. And we found in cheaper to have them done here than wait until we get to Canada.

Cheers

Russ...

woodywoodside

Thanks for that info, were ladyhaye expensive. I took mine for their rabies yesterday and the vet told me I had to have a pet passport I told her that I had already spoken to defra and they said its only valid for europe she also said that I need flea injection done by her I said I already use front line told me it wasn't valid unless done by the vet.
She also mentioned another type of injection but I can't remember the name.

The TWs

I'm confused - I thought DEFRA only handled pets coming into the UK. I checked the Canada site (can't remember the site off hand) but they just said they needed up to date shots, including rabies...

Pet passports are only if you're coming back to the UK...

Moose Mug

Maybe your vet hasn't handled sending pets abroad before, but I definitely didn't have flea injections for my cats and our new vet here in Toronto didn't tell us to have one done either. They something here like Frontline here (can't rmember the name now) but she even said they don't need that if they are going to be house cats.

It is the UK which requires pet passports. You don't need one to send them to Canada. You also don't need to use any agencies to send them over. If you phone Defra they will run everthing through with you but all Canadian customs seem to be concerned with is that you pets are fully vaccinated for the basics. It is the UK which is more picky because of rabies.

toaster

This might be useful: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/...rt/petse.shtml

I drove my 2 cats up from New York last year and only needed proof of rabies vaccination.

Best of luck!

peterb

We have just done the necessary. We have an annual vaccine certificate (for the usual jabs). Our dog got the rabies vaccine from the vet (£35), we then sent off the docs to Defra.

They have sent the certificate to our vet and this arrived yesterday. Our dog goes to the vet on Saturday for a fitness to fly check, and we fly on Tuesday.

Both Defra and the vet told me that is all that is needed.

Hope that helps

Peter:

jempee

I called DEFRA and was told if they are having the rabies vac then you dont need to fill in the forms/certificate from DEFRA. So we had the rabies vac and then the day before we flew out the vet done a fit to fly check and gave me a signed letter stating cat was fit.

At Gatwick all they were interested in seeing was the fit to fly certificate/letter from vet. At Vancouver all they wanted to see was the proof that cat had had rabies vac. that was it. No DEFRA forms asked for.

thundercat600

so i'm a bit confused now!

some are saying you need to get rabies vac before leaving uk as canada poe needed to see it and others are saying they got the rabies vac done after they landed!

does it depend on which poe you're going to??