alishea305

Hi!!!! This is for anyone who has taken their pet from the US to UK:

I've got almost everything I need to take my dog to the UK on the PETS travel scheme, but I just wanted to know, EXACTLY what paperwork do DEFRA check at the other end. The thing is, I have a small problem with getting proper proof of the date that she was micro-chipped. I have a receipt from the clinic but it does not contain the ID number, so I am worried that if they ask for proof of this, it will not suffice.
I have the rabies certificate, blood test results and am yet to get the 3rd country vet certificate once I know when we are travelling. Do you think the micro-chip document will be an issue??? Or will those main 3 documents be enough??? Please share any insight you have on this matter, thank you so much!

Alishea

audreyrose23

Hi there,
I am currently going through the PETS process from Canada. I was wondering if you could get a letter from the clinic that did the microchipping which states the microchip no. and the date, animals details etc? They should have a record on their files of the proceedure being done.

My cat was rescued so already microchipped when we adopted her, and I phoned the original vet (based in another part of the province). They were very helpful and sent it off to me. My vet wouldn't complete the section of the Third Country certificate where it asks about the microchipping without this proof, as they hadn't done it themselves.

If in any doubt phone the Defra helpline / email +44 (0)870 241 1710
[email protected] (usually respond within about 3 days)

My feeling with the PETS process is, if in doubt, dot all the i's and cross all the t's!

audreyrose23

Also, forgot to say. It is worth contacting the official body who will endorse the third country certificate to find out what paperwork they also require. In your case I believe it is the USDA. We have CFIA here and I phoned them, and they gave me a list of what supporting documents I need before they will endose the certificate. Hope this helps.

Fleaflyfloflum

Not sure about the US, but we bought our dog back from Australia. If things are not correct there the dog wont leave in the first place! We sent all our documents to the pet shipper prior to picking her up and was told to return to the vet as there was a descrepency in listing her colour on different documents. One said she was brown and white the other apricot and white
If they can be so finnicky about a small thing like that, i would imagine there could be problems with microchipping.

dingbat

No one will like this answer. My dog was a rescue dog, also microchipped by the pound. I had to get that chip de-activated, and a new one inserted to comply with the Third Country Certification, as that part of the Certificate has to be completed by the same vet who does the bloods. This came directly from DEFRA, as my vet was not sure what to do. I lost the email from DEFRA in a hard drive crash, but it essentially means that you may have to go back to square one, and start the process again.

audreyrose23

This is worrisome info, BUT I already emailed DEFRA and told them that my cat was microchipped by another vet, and asked whether I could use the letter from the original vet as evidence for my current vet when completing the certificate and they said YES.

I fear this is the norm for the PETS proceedure, as you get different answers from all the institutions involved, hence the complete neurosis suffered by the pet owner.

Am going to double check with DEFRA though.

alishea305

Thanks guys, I do believe that it is OK if you have not used the same vet who did the micro-chip as all other documents, as long as you can ultimately prove it to the USDA accredited vet who fills out the 3rd country vet certificate. I don't think my vet would have a problem filling it out with or without proof.
I think the suggestion of returning to the vet who micro-chipped her for a letter (which I'll get signed and stamped) is probably the best option for me. Surely they won't be that picky at Defra??? I'm hoping! Along with the receipt, I was given a certificate of the microchip which I filled out myself with the date and some other details, so if I get this stamped and signed too I hope it will be OK. My gosh tho, this is a huuuuuge pain and lots of stress if you ask me. I can't help but worrying all the time about what's going to happen when I reach the other end. I hope they don't take my doggy into quarantine

alipally

My understanding from the DEFRA website is that the chip needs to be scanned and the number put on the Rabies certificate of vaccination and blood test results

So long as the microchip number matches the dog's on arrival at UK airport then all should be well.

Certainly coming out of the UK we had our dog chipped at Dogs Trust, and nobody asked for any documentation to prove it had been done. (Scanning it was proof enough) My understanding was that if the microchip was readable and in the animal then it was acceptable... I've had another look on the DEFRA website and still can't find anything that says that you should have a record of when the animal was chipped.
Maybe it's a US thing?

dingbat

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...en00120017.pdf

Page 4 requires the Vet to complete the date of microchipping. My Vet would not complete the section as he could not get the right paperwork from the Pound, would not certify to something he had not done, and we needed to vaccinate PDQ.

I emailed DEFRA and they got back to me (three days later from memory) that as the Vet vaccinating could not certify the original microchipping, I had to de-activate the first chip (which it turned out was not one of the DEFRA approved ones anyway, it was not possible to deactivate it). This may be why the problem is a problem - some rescue organisations may not use DEFRA approved chips. Who knows until you get the paperwork, or try to read the microchip with the scanner thingy? It is very stressful!

alipally

Oh bloody hell.

... I know that her chip is an approved chip because it was done to get her to Aus. I hope the Export cert issued by DEFRA will be sufficient.
(Ali is off to dive into dog records to see if she can find the original documentation from Dogs Trust)

rebeccajo

Is there a rough figure how much all of this costs, including the pet flight?

alipally

I've read on here it's about $2500 for a medium dog from the USA...

But as I'm in Australia I don't know for sure. Sorry but I hope that the ball park figure is helpful.

rebeccajo

I read that also but I took that to mean just the cost of the flight?

But I usually read here very early in the morning so it could just have been the "blurry-ness"...........

alipally

The only other costs are the microchip Rabies jab and the blood test. Of course they have to be deflea'd and wormed... but you do that anyway.

If they're not included then that would be the only additional costs... DEFRA is really quite easy to please....
the australian list was endless........ Jabs for things you don't get in England, blood tests and then more blood tests and then an export cert from DEFRA and then 30 days quarantine... talk about overkill!

Ali x

dunroving

Yes, I wrote that post. My recollection is that the costs are for:

Microchip
Blood draw
Rabies titre test
Costs associated with final "approval" of the 3rd country cert (in US, I think this involved a USDA vet and in my case, the cost of sending it and getting it returned by UPS)
Deworming treatment prior to flying
Pre-flight health certificate (not for PETs, for airline)
Dog crate
Flight (this was about $1500 of the total cost, from memory).

The only parts of this that depend on the size of the dog are the flight and the crate ... everything else really is pretty standard whatever size dog you have.

This may not be a complete list (I'm trying to recall 3 years back - not an easy feat these days!), so please don't take this as an exhaustive list of everything you need to do for PETs - read the definitive sources to make sure you don't miss anything.