Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

The rabies certificate does not need to be stamped by a vet.

The 3rd Country Certificate and the Annexe II need to be stamped by a USDA accredited vet but in a colour other than black. They must also fill out and sign the paperwork in blue.

THEN it has to be stamped by the APHIS office (USDA State office). Their stamp is a raised/watermark stamp.

This is from an email from DEFRA.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Stamp doesn't have to be in another colour from your USDA vet Britwhore just the writing on the form.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Since Britwhore's info comes straight from DEFRA, and she's clearly not confusing the USDA-accredited vet and USDA state office stamps, surely it would be safest to follow this new guidance on the stamp colour.

Requirements do change, and it doesn't seem worth risking further hassles over a relatively small issue.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Requirements have changed. The stamp does indeed need to be another colour. Feel free to speak to someone at DEFRA. I've spoken and emailed 3 different people. All 3 have agreed.

Or feel free to use a black stamp and see what happens when you get to the UK.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Just looked at my paperwork and the state vet stamp is actually a seal and doesn't have a colour to it. The address stamp was blue. Before running all over town you might want to check with your state vet first as to what colour their stamp is. If it's an official seal which they may or may not all be then colour of your vet stamp won't matter and you'll save yourself some time and headaches.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Just to let everyone know the Annexe II is no longer valid. You must now have your USDA accredited vet fill out Annexe IV. Found this out this morning. Very stressful as we were already at the USDA offices in LAX and had to drive back to vets in Pasadena, then back to LAX all before 11am. anyone who knows LA knows that's pretty crazy!
And yes, red or blue stamp from vet was required by USDA.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Just had a quote from Boomerang to fly my smallish poochie from Calgary to Gatwick for almost $2,400 and was wondering if this is a fair price. Kennel and flight is included in that but vaccinations from the vet are not. They seem pretty good and after talking to our vet who has no idea what paper work is needed, we are not sure how to go about getting all paper work filled out properly. Just not too keen on that price. Thanks everyone. This forum is a god send.:nod:

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Hi Chi Tea, you might want to start a new thread for this, since this is a sticky about DEFRA regs and isn't very visible. That does seem very expensive, but using an agent is always going to cost more.

If vaccinations aren't included, does that mean you're still going to have to sort all that out yourself? Will the agent provide any guidance? It sounds like that's the part you're concerned about, so IMO it's not worth paying extra if they're not even going to assist. (But if you need help with the flight logistics -- collection, kennelling, getting the pet to the airport -- that's one plus of using an agent.)

A lot of vets don't have direct experience preparing pets for UK-bound travel, but if you do the research yourself and explain exactly what you need, and the vet is aware that it's vital to get it right (we switched vets midway through, since our first were waaay too laid-back, and kept messing up things like vaccine numbers), then that can definitely work.

Or you could always shop around for a vet who's done it before, although regulations do change quite often so you'd want to check they're up-to-date.

Either way, the actual veterinary procedures aren't anything exotic (microchip, rabies vacc, fit-to-fly cert, tapeworm treatment for dogs) -- it's just making sure it's all done at the right time, and being really painstaking about the paperwork, that's the issue.

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Thanks for your reply Moshi Moshi, very helpful.
Looked into it a little more, and it doesn't seem to make much difference how I go about it our fur baby is gonna be expensive to ship:sneaky:

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

Here in the DFW AREA of North Texas, we have UDSA vet who handles the paperwork and vaccinations or titers. I have been taking dogs to Belfast off and on since 1995. He gets the paperwork organized for a small fee. I make the reservation and take the dogs to the airport. I think if you call your USDA in your state they may give you names of vets who handle shipping of dogs abroad. Failing this, your vet most likely can recommend.

changes in Defra regulations in the past few years
 

We took our dog back to the UK via QM2 in 2011 and we had do the whole 6 month ahead blood test, vaccines, etc. I saw an article stating that since 2012 Defra have changed rules and it is less stringent and you don't have to do the blood test anymore and they are satisfied with a rabies shot 21 days before travel - is this correct?

Re: changes in Defra regulations in the past few years
 

Very broadly speaking: yes. If you're coming from an EU or listed country, e.g. the US.

Are you re-entering the UK with pets again, or were you just interested to know?

If you are travelling, do a search for some recent pet-shipping posts, or read the DEFRA sticky thread. It's basically just microchip, rabies vaccine and (for dogs) tapeworm treatment, but it has to be done according to particular regulations -- you can't just rock up and travel with a rabies certificate, for example. Although I'm sure you wouldn't do that, especially having gone through the pre-2012 procedures! It's probably never going to be an entirely simple process.

Re: changes in Defra regulations in the past few years
 

to add to post 2

https://www.gov.uk/bringing-food-animals-plants-into-uk

https://www.gov.uk/pet-travel-inform...for-pet-owners

Re: changes in Defra regulations in the past few years
 

I'll merge this with the sticky thread to keep it up to date :)

Re: New DEFRA Regs from January 2012
 

M vet is presently continuing with the paperwork we started last summer because my trip home was delayed until next month. He told me today USDA requirements are changing all the time. He has a call in to them to find out what has changed since last year. However, what stamp are we talking about here? Is it the stamp of approval that will be applied by the USDA? Surely the USDA knows what color to use for the stamp.

I'd like to know so I can double check that everything is being done correctly according to today's rules.

We will be traveling from the USA to the UK.