Amandabee

Hi does anyone know of a vet in the houston area that deals with taking pets to the UK????

Thanks amanda

TruBrit

they all should however ours out in the country of little ol' Katy knew very little but are a lot wiser now thanks to me and my two pets

your local vet must be an 'accredited' vet.

what stage of the export process are you up to? the USDA export office for your area (where the PETS paperwork has to be sent for endorsement) is in Austin. a lovely helpful lady there is called Joan>email [email protected]

so... you are moving back so soon?

Amandabee

Thanks for that. We're at the begining oh my god what needs to be done quickly stage!!!!

My husband got a new job, so new location for us! But the horrible thing is this stupid 6 month rule. From what I understand you have to wait 6 months in country AFTER the rabies test is performed, or you can go into quarrantiene in the UK. Even Australia isnt that stringent.

I am waiting for a call from my vets. They have done exports to the UK before, but the sooner I get them in for the rabies check the better.

Do you know if the vet that draws the blood has to be accredited?

Tracym

Here's a bunch of info on it. Sounds like any vet can draw the blood, but it has to be sent to a certain lab.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quar.../vets_proc.htm

Apparently only certain rabies vaccines are accepted also.

TruBrit

yes the vet that draws the blood has to be accredited. the rabies rule isn't stupid btw, it keeps rabies out of the UK.

Tracym

By accredited, what do we mean here?

Can any licensed vet do it, or are you saying they have some special designation?

The thing about the six months is - it doesn't make any medical sense. If the dog is vaccinated, and has an adequate titre... it really doesn't have rabies. And the US has a zero or practically zero incidence of rabies in dogs.

So personally, the vaccination and testing requirements make sense to me - the 6 months doesn't.

TruBrit

tracy, check out the usda website for explanations re accredited vets and official vets and titre testing.

Tracym

It sounds like any licensed vet in the US...

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quar...info/certi.htm

"For entry into the UK this certificate can be issued by any vet in a non-EU listed country"

Do you know something I don't, that contradicts this?

Tracym

Oops, sorry, we posted at the same time. I was looking at defra.

Amandabee

I didnt say the rabies rule is stupid. I agree with keeping rabies OUT of any country. what is stupid is the 6 month rule. We have kept our dogs ready to move back to Australia, which has the most stringent importing conditions, and thats not good enough for the UK! that is what I think is stupid. A titre taken 21 days after vaccination is enough to tell if a dog has rabies, or not. 6 months wont make a bind bit of difference!

Giantaxe

Scientific opinion seems divided on that. The titre test doesn't show whether the pet has rabies or not, but whether it has rabies antibodies. If the pet has rabies at the time the test is taken, many believe it will likely show the prescence of antibodies as well. So the waiting period is to allow for this possibility and the possible development of visible symptoms. The UK is certainly erring on the side of caution on this, but given it's almost the only country in the world that's rabies-free, I think it's a prudent approach. NZ and somewhere else I forget have a six month waiting period as well, iirc.

TruBrit

DEFRA disagrees. it's a tough call i know. my pets have been covered for the 8 yrs they've been here but the same applies.

yep, you are correct.