A slightly long post, but I thought it might interest, and possibly even entertain...
Back in January 2020 I booked a ferry crossing to Santander for September, thinking that the epidemic might permit travel. Knowing that the freedom of movement Fido had enjoyed via his pet passport had ended, I asked my vet how much the new Animal Health Certificate [AHC] would be. A mere £150, came the reply. Sharp intake of breath, but plaintive cries of "its only filling in a form" brought no concession.
Fast forward to August. Mrs E had decided she couldn't face the Covid hassle of foreign travel, and so I postponed the Santander trip, exchanging it for a Scottish tour. On our return I remembered I had a refund voucher for a Calais crossing with DFDS that had yet to be used - a beer-buying break in Belgium beckoned. I rang my vet to see about an AHC - "that will be £250 sir". This time, it took me half the day to calm down and stop muttering "it's only a ****ing form" under my breath.
Figuring I couldn't be alone in finding this to be daylight robbery, I turned to the Fun forums. As usual, a wealth of useful info emerged, including the possibility of getting a passport for Fido whilst in the EU. I'd not considered this before, but it seemed logical - a dog has no nationality, after all. More research followed, including the cheapest way to get an AHC, and the practicalities of finding a sympathetic vet. In the end I chose to pay £98 to Abbeywell vets in Folkestone [http://www.animalhealthcertificate.online/] and booked an appointment with Caroline Peters [https://carolinepeeters.be/] in Ostend.
I had booked the break from Monday to Friday 1 - 5 November. Just to add to the complication, Fido's rabies jab expired on 13 October, and so I had to get a booster before then. My vet charged me a cool £64, and said she couldn't enter the details in his old pet passport, but had to enter it instead in his UK vaccination and health record. Would this cause problems? Who could tell!
Monday 1 November - I presented Fido at the Folkestone surgery and they gave me his AHC. Highly recommend them. They have seen a business opportunity and have gone for it in a very professional manner.
Tuesday 2 November - introduced Fido to Caroline. Passport filled out, then she said she couldn't bring forward his rabies booster on to it as she hadn't given it. Instead, I could show his other documentation at the port. Oops. Explained I couldn't see this working, and I was satisfied that giving him another booster would not cause him harm. She agreed, and gave him [another] three year booster. She also gave him the required worming tab - foreseeing problems I asked her to record this on the AHC as well. The cost for what took around 30 minutes of her time? Just £52 equivalent.
Friday 5 November - at the port. The woman at the gate appeared in a particularly bad mood. She took Fido's passport, and I swear her eyes lit up as she said "I'm sorry, he has only just had his rabies jab, you will have to stay for 21 days". Without a word, I passed her the AHC. Much rustling of paper, and then we were through.
So there we are - at least Fido has his freedom of movement back, and I just need to ensure that in three year's time I get his rabies booster sorted by an EU vet. Thanks go to all those who have contributed to the various threads on this subject, especially maz, as without this forum I would not have got this far.
Back in January 2020 I booked a ferry crossing to Santander for September, thinking that the epidemic might permit travel. Knowing that the freedom of movement Fido had enjoyed via his pet passport had ended, I asked my vet how much the new Animal Health Certificate [AHC] would be. A mere £150, came the reply. Sharp intake of breath, but plaintive cries of "its only filling in a form" brought no concession.
Fast forward to August. Mrs E had decided she couldn't face the Covid hassle of foreign travel, and so I postponed the Santander trip, exchanging it for a Scottish tour. On our return I remembered I had a refund voucher for a Calais crossing with DFDS that had yet to be used - a beer-buying break in Belgium beckoned. I rang my vet to see about an AHC - "that will be £250 sir". This time, it took me half the day to calm down and stop muttering "it's only a ****ing form" under my breath.
Figuring I couldn't be alone in finding this to be daylight robbery, I turned to the Fun forums. As usual, a wealth of useful info emerged, including the possibility of getting a passport for Fido whilst in the EU. I'd not considered this before, but it seemed logical - a dog has no nationality, after all. More research followed, including the cheapest way to get an AHC, and the practicalities of finding a sympathetic vet. In the end I chose to pay £98 to Abbeywell vets in Folkestone [http://www.animalhealthcertificate.online/] and booked an appointment with Caroline Peters [https://carolinepeeters.be/] in Ostend.
I had booked the break from Monday to Friday 1 - 5 November. Just to add to the complication, Fido's rabies jab expired on 13 October, and so I had to get a booster before then. My vet charged me a cool £64, and said she couldn't enter the details in his old pet passport, but had to enter it instead in his UK vaccination and health record. Would this cause problems? Who could tell!
Monday 1 November - I presented Fido at the Folkestone surgery and they gave me his AHC. Highly recommend them. They have seen a business opportunity and have gone for it in a very professional manner.
Tuesday 2 November - introduced Fido to Caroline. Passport filled out, then she said she couldn't bring forward his rabies booster on to it as she hadn't given it. Instead, I could show his other documentation at the port. Oops. Explained I couldn't see this working, and I was satisfied that giving him another booster would not cause him harm. She agreed, and gave him [another] three year booster. She also gave him the required worming tab - foreseeing problems I asked her to record this on the AHC as well. The cost for what took around 30 minutes of her time? Just £52 equivalent.
Friday 5 November - at the port. The woman at the gate appeared in a particularly bad mood. She took Fido's passport, and I swear her eyes lit up as she said "I'm sorry, he has only just had his rabies jab, you will have to stay for 21 days". Without a word, I passed her the AHC. Much rustling of paper, and then we were through.
So there we are - at least Fido has his freedom of movement back, and I just need to ensure that in three year's time I get his rabies booster sorted by an EU vet. Thanks go to all those who have contributed to the various threads on this subject, especially maz, as without this forum I would not have got this far.
