Pet passport: regular vaccinations required ? (1 Viewer)

Ridgeway

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OK can't find any info on the gov.uk website saying that regular dog vaccinations are required when entering the UK. It's clear about, rabies and tapeworm but I don't see anything about the likes of parvo, distemper etc.

Are the latter required as we've let one slip and will need a booster to have a fully up to date stamp etc.
 
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It's pretty straightforward.

The dog needs to be microchipped.

The dog needs a rabies vaccination. This should last three years but some vets are still using other types that last less time or need a booster.

Both of the above are done by your vet who will issue the pet passport.

You don't need the blood test unless you are travelling outside the EU.

You can't travel until 21 days after the rabies vaccination and it can't be administered to a dog younger than 12 weeks.

There are no checks leaving the UK and no checks crossing any other EU borders.

To travel back to the UK you need to have a tapeworm treatment administered by a vet, who will fill in and stamp the passport, between 24 - 120 hours before you travel back to the UK. Those timings are important. They will check it down to the minute so make sure the vet fills in the passport properly.

That is it. Nothing else is required.

The annual booster vaccinations are not directly relevant. You should obviously keep them up to date for the benefit of your dog but they aren't recorded in the pet passport. I guess your vet might not be willing to give the rabies one if the others aren't up to date but that would be the only thing.
 
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The annoying thing about it all is that the tapeworm treatment is not a requirement of the EU as part of the pet passport scheme and never has been. It's a UK only thing that DEFRA insisted be added only for animals travelling back to the UK.

I've yet to meet anyone who has a sensible explanation as to why.

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There is a very nasty tapeworm on the continent which as yet is not in the UK.
There was a thread on here a while back with details. Bad in dogs but can be passed to humans.
 
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There is a very nasty tapeworm on the continent which as yet is not in the UK.
There was a thread on here a while back with details. Bad in dogs but can be passed to humans.

If that's the reason then fine but why won't Defra just say so?

They won't even tell vets what their official reason is.
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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It's pretty straightforward.

The dog needs to be microchipped.

The dog needs a rabies vaccination. This should last three years but some vets are still using other types that last less time or need a booster.

Both of the above are done by your vet who will issue the pet passport.

You don't need the blood test unless you are travelling outside the EU.

You can't travel until 21 days after the rabies vaccination and it can't be administered to a dog younger than 12 weeks.

There are no checks leaving the UK and no checks crossing any other EU borders.

To travel back to the UK you need to have a tapeworm treatment administered by a vet, who will fill in and stamp the passport, between 24 - 120 hours before you travel back to the UK. Those timings are important. They will check it down to the minute so make sure the vet fills in the passport properly.

That is it. Nothing else is required.

The annual booster vaccinations are not directly relevant. You should obviously keep them up to date for the benefit of your dog but they aren't recorded in the pet passport. I guess your vet might not be willing to give the rabies one if the others aren't up to date but that would be the only thing.

OK I'd disagree that it's simple as it doesn't actually state that parvo/distemper are not required and these are on the pet passport hence the confusion.
 
D

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OK I'd disagree that it's simple as it doesn't actually state that parvo/distemper are not required and these are on the pet passport hence the confusion.

Fair enough. I never actually looked at the website before getting my two sorted. I just asked the vet.

I do have to correct you though: I've just been right through each page of my pet passports just to be sure and Parvo and Distemper are not mentioned in it anywhere. You have sections for Rabies, Echinococcus treatment (tapeworm), Tick treatment (no longer required), and a section entitled "Other Vaccinations" which isn't used. I remember asking my vet at the time and he told me the same: The annual parvo and distemper boosters are not required in any way shape or form by the Pet Passport scheme.

One tip though: I always take their vaccination cards as well as the pet passports with me just in case any overly keen French vet ever asks. To date none have.
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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OK here we don't have any vaccinations cards, only a passport and hence all vaccinations are in there, all of ours have been like this for 15yrs even when we lived in the UK you can ask the vet in the UK to put the vaccine stickers in the passport rather than a separate card, just more convenient.

Also from my experience some UK vets can give poor advice on this topic and even the gov.uk website isn't 100% clear. I trusted a vet on this some years back and we had to delay a house move by 1 month due to their incorrect advice..... Out vets here are clueless on the topic and the one today just gave us the tapeworm tablets and pre-stamped the passport, highly incorrect but he does it all the time, fortunately we would always follow the rules and dose it as required.

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D

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OK here we don't have any vaccinations cards, only a passport and hence all vaccinations are in there, all of ours have been like this for 15yrs even when we lived in the UK you can ask the vet in the UK to put the vaccine stickers in the passport rather than a separate card, just more convenient.

Also from my experience some UK vets can give poor advice on this topic and even the gov.uk website isn't 100% clear. I trusted a vet on this some years back and we had to delay a house move by 1 month due to their incorrect advice..... Out vets here are clueless on the topic and the one today just gave us the tapeworm tablets and pre-stamped the passport, highly incorrect but he does it all the time, fortunately we would always follow the rules and dose it as required.

Sorry, I didn't see that you were in France (Edit: or even Switzerland :whistle:). There may well be different requirements there, I was going by the UK ones. I trust my vet implicitly and have never had an issue when travelling with the dogs.

You need to be very careful with letting the vet pre stamp the passport. I've been in the Pet Check in at Calais tunnel terminal and watched someone in front of me in the queue not be allowed to travel because the vet had not filled the passport in correctly. They had the date but not the time if I remember correctly and were either one day or five days from when it was done. Because the staff couldn't verify the time the treatment was given they were sent away to find another vet and wait 24 hours.
 
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DBK

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There is no requirement for extra vaccinations because there is no legal requirement for annual vaccinations of any sort here in the UK for distemper etc. Bringing a dog into the UK the main risks are seen as rabies and the echinococcus tapeworm, both of which can be harmful to humans.

The only thing they will look at at the ports of exit and entry are the pet passport not a vaccination record, other than the vaccination for rabies. So assuming you get the pet passport in France just comply with whatever it says. The dog will have to be certified by a vet as fit to travel but I can't see it being refused this just because it isn't up to date with routine annual vaccinations.

Bringing a dog in from outside the EU or certain listed countries is a different matter and blood tests may be required.
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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OK thanks guys, this clears it up. So no need for the parvo/distemper etc vaccines, this is good news.

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Just make sure that you have the rabies boosters done before the previous one runs out.

My Vet told me that if you overrun the due date, even by a couple of days, the process must be started again as though the animal had never had the previous treatment.

I have tried to check this on-line but haven't found any info either way. It's probably better to be on time.
 
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Why did it take so many years to come up with the pet transport passeport for so many years dogs had months of quarantine if you believed the government hype you would have thought there were no dogs left in europe and hundreds of deaths from rabies a year!!!.
 
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If that's the reason then fine but why won't Defra just say so?

They won't even tell vets what their official reason is.

Here worming is required by law every 3 months. & it must be entered in the vet book.
With the passport here the rabies is entered in it timed, dated & stamped ,then sealed by plastic encapsulation. The worming should also be on the page "anti echinococcus treatment " same date, timed , stamped but doesn't need encapsuation.
On the page " other anti-parisite treatment" should be the ticks& fleas treatment & same with time ,date ,etc. & not encapsulated. The page " Other Vaccinations" should always show the DHPPl vaccinations complete with time ,date, stamp & encapsulation. Especially if you are coming here.




Something slightly off topic but worth knowing when in Spain is that, as unbelievable as it seems considering the amount of strays etc; is that when out with the dog he must be on a lead at all times & ,like everything here, you must be in possession of all his paperwork whilst out.


Just make sure that you have the rabies boosters done before the previous one runs out.

My Vet told me that if you overrun the due date, even by a couple of days, the process must be started again as though the animal had never had the previous treatment.

I have tried to check this on-line but haven't found any info either way. It's probably better to be on time.

Yes it must be before date of last one.Even 1 day invalidates it.

Just checked nearly all of europe is classed as rabies free by public health england https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rabies-in-france-may-2015 so why do they still require a passeport at all?

There was a case of rabies here in Castilla-La Mancha ,( I think ) about 3 years back. Brought back from Morocco by someone who falsified paperwork. Fortunately it didn't get out of hand due to those bitten being treated immediately.

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2013/06/17/rabies-returns-to-spain/
 
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It's also probably worth knowing that although Norway is not in the EU an even more severe tapeworm routine is required than for UK entry. Dogs require tapeworm treatment within the five days prior to entry and a further treatment within seven days of entering the country. Our pet passport got a really close scrutiny when we went.
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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OK so passed through on Friday and I checked with the people there about the regular vaccinations, it was fine and they are not required for UK entry.

We did however get rejected as the date of the microchiping was hard to read on one of the passports and so they refused entry for that dog..... oh the joy of travelling.

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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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And to close the loop on this we have since had to replace that particular passport in order that we could get through next time. Now our 15yr old Border Terrier has a nice new shiny pet passport that easy to read.
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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Not really because it doesn't mention the stated vaccines I asked about in this thread. Not mentioning them could mean they are not required or that the text about them is hidden and you can't find it....

In the end that part was fine and the fact they said they couldn't read a date on one of the passports was enough that they wouldn't allow us through

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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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Well if in doubt I guess it shouldn't be an issue to ask, right ?

Our vets don't have a clue about those regulations here so we rely solely on this info to get it right, even our last UK vet got it completely wrong the first time we traveled the dogs through the tunnel and it cost us a lot of money an inconvenience that could have been avoided.

I think the process is simpler now but it still seems there's room for Interpretation as we found out in the last crossing.
 

Geejay

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Ridgeway, have you checked that the date of the microchipping on the new passport is prior to the date for Rabies Vaccination?

I see you have a Border, ours is 8 so your little fellow is doing well at 15.:)

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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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Yeah that was this issue a few weeks ago. The date of the chip certainly was prior to the rabies by 10yrs, so no issue there but.... the date was hard to read as it was so old and the people at the tunnel rejected it even though we have been through over 10 times with the same passport, admittedly it has perhaps become less legible over time. In any case we got our vet on the phone at 1am back in Lausanne and he testified in writing that this was the case and the kind lady let us through, they were all very helpful I have to say. Since then we replace the passport for a new one and now all is clearly written and easy to read.
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

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And yes he's still going strong and keeping up with the youngers fellas even if he is a senior citizen that been run over twice....
 

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