Some good news here for people who travel with their pets or have to return to the UK quickly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ts-Europe.html

This is excellent news for people travelling back and forth from the UK on a regular basis, plus anyone who has to return in a hurry. Also for the pet charities trying to send animals to the UK for adoption.

Typical, lol. My mum found a dog while here on holiday and has paid to have it geared for a move to the UK, he had his blood test yesterday and as my parents are here for 5 months from August just so they can take him back with them, he would not be travelling back till mid Jan, just their luck they change the rules 24hrs after the blood test. .

This will be great news for all those people who have had to make the choice to leave their pets behind and cite regulations or time as the reason for leaving them, now they have no excuse in leaving them other than disregarding them and hopefully those lucky dogs that are re-homed in the UK can go a lot quicker.

Maybe this will also encourage other dog owners to seek a passport as the cost of the blood test has been removed and to keep your rabies up to date is about 30-40e, the cost of a night out to keep your friend safe and sound.

Exactly Although there are a few who have a passport for their pet and still don't take it back with them

No they leave them with their mother!!!!!

This is great news. The DEFRA site has been updated and, while it probably needs clarification, it reads to me that either a passport or an up to date vaccination record is all that is required i.e. the passport is no longer mandatory.
No excuse for leaving them behind now.

Having a passport for your pet is still mandatory in Spain and probably the easiest way of keeping all the info together and at least you know where it is, we keep our pet passports with all our passports and documents, and if you have the passport at least there is no if's and's or but's when it comes to customs because there will always be a jobs worth and it is sods law you get them.

There is no excuse to leave your 4 legged friend, just because you move does not mean that they are likely to love you any less and if you can not keep them when you move back to the UK you can at least take them with you and find a good loving home there. the only reason you would have in abandoning them is you really could not care less or are to tight to spend the little bit of money it would cost to take them back

are you sure??

I thought you only needed one if you wanted to take your pet out of the country, & then only to another 'pet passport' country

for instance, you don't need a pet passport to take your pet to the US - they have different requirements I believe

Well our beast hasn't got a passport,, vet has never mentioned it and he did mention the worming in the vaccination record requirement, so I would say not required unless travelling as I trust our vet.

Oh that's good news - thanks for the link Jackietoo I've bookmarked it, we've 2 little dachshunds and were worried once we've moved about bringing them back on visits.

No, it is a mandatory requirement in Spain to have a pet passport. Passport is probably a bad name - the Spanish name is a "Carta Sanitaria".

This details the name and details of the pet and the owners details and the mandatory chip number.

It also details the various treatments that the animal has had such as the mandatory rabies jabs and worming treatments plus any others such as feline leukemia etc.

The only difference in the new rules is that the old blood test to establish that the rabies jab had "taken" is now abolished. It just means that you no longer have to wait 6 months before the animal can be tested and leave the country.

It's a very big step forward for the UK who have at last realised that rabies has now gone the way of smallpox - at least in the EU.

Hopefully we will no longer get the situations where UK citizens wishing to return home in a hurry have to leave their pets behind because of outdated UK rabies rules!

Overall - a huge improvement and well overdue.

The Rabies vaccination is still going to be mandatory [it lasts 3 years now] also thy must have the microchip. Information is still to come about the tapeworm treatment there is a possibility the window for this might be extended to 5 days not the 24 to 48 hours as it is at the moment. No need for the tick treatment. This is as I understand it. Having recently paid for 2 rabies jabs and 2 blood tests [the dog failed the first] I am a little miffed!

Not surprised you're miffed know how you feel, bought an expensive jacket 2 weeks ago now it's on sale half price! just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes... pleased somethings finally being done to end the lengthy quatantine laws good news for many.

If the restriction on having to make a crossing within 24 to 48 hours is extended or lifted it will take some tension out of travel arrangements. Bad news for French vets. They are/were doing quite nicely out of the Pet Passport. 30 to 50 Euros per dog just to administer Frontline and Drontil and sign the passport!

The rabies jab has to be done annually a little the parvo jab in the UK, I believe the blood test certificate was valid for 3 yrs. We have had all our dogs done and they can travel freely, to be honest would rather knowI can take them with no problems than get to the border and find out that I forgot to get something done and have choices to make.

Cats and ferrets should also be pass ported, micro chipped and vaccinated against rabies annually, as I have lost several cats this year I have not had the micro chipped done on the others.