Can anyone tell me the steps I need to take to get our dog back to UK. He has his injections every year and has a passport book but I understand he needs a blood test?!

Once he has the blood test and we get the results does anyone know the timeframe we have to work in to get him back to the UK, I presume the blood test results don´t last forever!

Thanks x

You must wait six months from the date of the blood test before he can enter the UK.

So long as the subsequent rabies boosters are administered on time another blood test is not needed.

More info at http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pet...res/owners.htm

Thats great, thank you. But.... another question, does anyone know what paperwork I would have to say he is ready to go??
He has a passport, with all his Rabies vaccinations up to date and he has a certificate to say he is microchipped, but I don´t know if when he came to live with us (he was a rescue dog) he had the blood test! It may be that we are free to travel with him now but I just don´t know for sure, so thought I would ask on here instead of taking a trip to the vets!

Thanks again

You would need the piece of paper from the vet/clinic dated and stamped showing when he had the blood test and also the results. Don't take any chances, get ALL the paperwork. When we were crossing through the tunnel we were behind a guy who transported dogs for pet owners and he had 6 dogs...one of them hadn't the correct paperwork - just a case of the date not being on one of the papers and he was turned away.

I'm pretty sure that just before you leave you should get flea and worm treatment and get it stated so in the passport, you may have to let the vet do it to be sure he will sign the passport.

Does this animal have an official PETS Passport?
if so and its up to date with the shots recorded there is no reason for a blood test. Just look on the DEFRA website to check its all in order and work out when and where you will get flea and tick treatment.

Good point If they have already had the blood test and you have kept it (Rabies) up to date you should be ok.

It seems that he has an official passport, its blue with Pet Passport on the front and other info. his rabies jabs have been in there for past 3 years but where is says something about serological test for rabies this is blank, I presume this is the blood test that needs to be verified as ok by a vet?!

I will visit the vets with the passport in the next few days and find out more info.

Thanks for all comments so far though, very helpful as always.

I just looked at my dogs passport and that page is signed dated and stamped by our vet.

I also carry the original laboratory test results as well just in case.

Think I definitely need to get that done then. Think that is the part that normally takes about 6 months isn´t it!!

Best get the ball rolling. Thanks x

Check first with the vet if original test was done or not.

My vet was hopeless but with help from members on another forum and reading and re-reading the DEFRA website I realised that the vet hadnt completed that page so had to get her to do it.

Your vet has to stamp and sign the serological test page to say he/she has seen a certificate of a positive blood test result from the lab.
If the passport was issued by another vet this should have been filled in at the time. I would think that your vet will have to take a further blood sample and send it to the lab.
One other point to note is that it can take up to three months for the result to come back, and in our case the certificate was stamped on the date the lab did the test. NOT the date that the actual sample was taken. Meaning that the vet had to put this date in the passport, causing us to wait 8mths from the sample date. NOT 6mths before our dog could enter the UK.

Sorry to appear dim, but how comes you had to wait 8 months. The vet did the test, sent it to lab, lab tested it put this date on certificate and sends this to the vets again, the vet then signs the passport - do you then have to wait until you can travel??

This process only has to be done once though in a dogs lifetime, right??!!

I am hoping maybe the test was done back in 2007 and the vets never got in touch with us to sign the passport, am going to speak to them tomorrow!

You can not travel until you have waited 6 months from the date on the result papers, you will need to wait for the blood to be sent and for the results to come back too, they could actually get lost and have to be re done.

I can understand why there are so many abandoned dogs around then when people have to head home, most people can´t plan 8-9 months in advance , luckily we have time and no real rush so will just have to get the process started and see how long it takes, theres no way we would leave him behind!

thanks for all the very informative help xx