I am absolutely furious about the Pet Passport (1 Viewer)

[Littlewheels]

My Pepe as some may know was found by us after being abandoned at about 3/4 months old and we decided to keep him,therefore, we took him to a Vet for all the nessasary procedures, it went downhill from there.
The Vet created the most appalling experience a young dog should not have to go through on its first visit to a Vet and it’s scarred him for life.

I won’t go into the experience here, but let’s fast forward to his continued Vet visits, he’s scared to death. We are Spain based generally and the Rabies/ protection vaccination that Dogs must have every two year are needed annually here, he just had it and me my wife and Pepe came out absolutely traumatized after our visit, he’s perfectly healthy but in a couple of weeks or so we are returning to the UK and that’s another Vet visit for a “Health Check” and a Bl@@dy Worming Tablet which the Vet deals with on his Annual Check.

So, we have to take Pepe back again and put him through it all again, “ FOR WHAT” .

I have two questions to my fellow Pet owning Motorhomers.

1) Has anyone actually gone to a Vet outside the UK for the 5Day Timeline Pet Passport Check to meet Defra requirements for the Pets fitness etc to return to the UK ands it’s “FAILED” to pass and not being allowed to return. On health reasons only not missing chip etc.

2) Has anyone attempted any way to Tranquilize/ Subdue through medication their Pet.

We’ll see from the responses the effect of the requirement to question 1) , but my guess is an absolute minimum which would indicate the whole process is not nessasary and a complete inconvenience to the Pet and the owner.

Finally, I do believe the Pet Passport is necessary but the Annual/Spain - Bi Annual/UK etc etc should be adaquate and if there are a extremely low number of refusals that re-enter the UK that would show the system not fit for purpose I may well take it up with Defra in an attempt to get it quashed.

Thanks,
Brian and Pepe.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Can you advise where you are based in Spain, someone may be able to recommend a vet to you. Our dog is UK based but had no issues with the vet we used in Benidorm for our return to the UK.
It may be worth considering to re passport your dog as a uk based dog.so basically all rabies treatment is ex uk

 

[Theonlysue]

Firstly i would find an official body to complain to.

My chihuahua had a worming injection so no tummy after effects rather than shoving that tablet down her throat.

If you dont follow procedures you risk your dog going into quarantine on arrival into uk.

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[Yorick]

I'm a bit worried now. Our mutt was given rabies in uk but expires in 2 months.
He's now Spanish registered so will a rabies jab here be ok to take him to UK in summer?

 

[Reallyretired]

Nice dog but sounds like a crap vet. Plenty of good ones about. If yours was that bad complain to his professional body.

 

[gus-lopez]

I'm a bit worried now. Our mutt was given rabies in uk but expires in 2 months.
He's now Spanish registered so will a rabies jab here be ok to take him to UK in summer?

yes as long as the passport is filled in correctly.needs to be done before the other expires.

To the op,I'd find another vet.

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[Burgo]

Our oldest was similarly scared of the vets, so every time we were out in town we started just walking her in then straight out of the vets. Then started just sitting there for a few minutes, then leaving. Now she's much happier about going in and is less stressed when actually going into the treatment room. Took a while, but she's worth it.

 

[mitzimad]

i think ours has worked out that its worth it to get the cheese in which we wrap the worming tablet

 

[Xabia]

If you are anywhere near Javea I can recommend a sympathetic vet.

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[Tykatem]

First of all, how lovely of you to adopt and give an abandoned puppy a home, as a dog lover I do admire you. I do understand your frustration and anger, and so sorry that Pepe and your wife are upset about your vet visit. We have 2 dogs the younger one is quite relaxed at the vets, but our elder dog who is only 4 years hates any examination. She loves the waiting room and the animals, but beyond that is really traumatised by strange people trying to touch her.

Before travelling to UK all our dogs have to be seen by a vet, the worming tablets should be given no more than 5 Days and no less than 24 hours before entry into the UK, witnessed by the vet (I administer the worming tablets to our dogs) and entered, date and timed into the passport. They are also supposed to have a vet check but most vets just visually have a look and say ok they are fit to travel, neither have mine have had anyone lay hands on them. I don't know about Spain, but I have heard similar from people who have brought their dogs back from there, even going so far as to ask what date and time you would like entered (!!?)


Best wishes
Wendy

 

[Littlewheels]

He’s 6 years old now, we never went back to the first Vet, they are the ones that traumatized him in the first place, it doesn’t matter how nice/Good any NEW Vet is he’s already scarred by the first experience and it doesn’t get any better.

 

[Tykatem]

Sorry, I misunderstood your post and didn't realise you had done this journey with Pepe before so I have edited my reply. The current system is better than the previous where any dogs re-entering the UK had to be quarantined for 6 months. So I doubt if DEFRA will change the ruling but it might be worth asking.

Best wishes
Wendy

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[Langtoftlad]

Is it the "Scheme" you are furious at, or the bureaucracy, or the ineptitude of your vet ?

 

[TerryL]

No criticism intended, but remember owners anxiety is quickly transferred to their pet so try to remain calm and positive yourself. Most vets are very good with animals (they wouldn't last long if they were not) so it seems you were unlucky. The "conditioning" mentioned above sounds a good idea.

Ours loves going to the vet, our own or any other one we've used on our travels. Daft mutt!

 

[Tykatem]

I'm sorry I misread your post and so didn't realise that you have done this journey before, I have therefore edited my original comment. I can understand your concerns but the current practice is much better than previously where you couldn't re-enter the UK without your pets going into quarantine. If you are not happy with the current procedure it may be worth contacting DEFRA but it seems that they do amend rules when necessary, ie you can now worm dogs up to 5 Days before travel.

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[treetops1]

In Calais .We have seen our vet check a dog over outside in the garden to avoid a dog stress minus her whitecoat

 

[treetops1]

Not sure what happened to the above post. We are lucky our two are only interested in the corned beef rapped round the tablet lol.I cannot understand why a dog should get stressed from an examination which is not a painful procedure . you must explain to the vet the problem and they should help all they can.

 

[Hollyberry]

If your dog had a 3 year rabies jab in the UK, wouldn't that be sufficient ?
The only times my pet passports were examined was coming into Britain, and although I lived in France, I always had their jabs done by our last UK vet.
At least then your dog would see a get less often.
At the pre-entry to the UK visit, you can give Pepe the worming tablet as long as the vet witnesses it.

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[eddie]

Last August, we phone the Vet, he came to our camper, he looked at the paperwork, checked Shadow (our dog over) checked his microchip, gave him a worming tablet and that was that.

In January, we walked to a local Parisen Vet, same process, no drama and no stress, Shadow just thought it was part of the walk

It’s now just about as easy as it could be to be honest

 

[Southdowners]

1) Has anyone actually gone to a Vet outside the UK for the 5Day Timeline Pet Passport Check to meet Defra requirements for the Pets fitness etc to return to the UK ands it’s “FAILED” to pass and not being allowed to return. On health reasons only not missing chip etc.

Whenever we’ve visited the pre-return to UK procedure the vet has just given the required wormer -never checked chip or certified health.

 

[The Wino]

Just think what it was like before months of quarantine!

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[Dogeared]

We have only had one vet when abroad give a worming injection, this way (it was not nice), of worming dogs is generally not used these days, we always take a spare worming tablet given to us by our UK vet, so we get the eu vet to use this. 're the rabies injection, the needle is so small that whilst making a fuss of our dog, the vet gives it without flinching.

I suggest before going to a eu vet you check that they don't inject for worms.
Hope you and your dog get over it

 

[Littlewheels]

I'm a bit worried now. Our mutt was given rabies in uk but expires in 2 months.
He's now Spanish registered so will a rabies jab here be ok to take him to UK in summer?

Now he’s on a Spanish Passport as we are he will need the Rabies jab every year as opposed to once every two years in the UK.

 

[Southdowners]

Sorry, just re-read your post.

Are you saying that because he's in Spain and originated from Spain that he has to undergo a health check to be able to come to the UK and that the vet failed him? If this is the case and the Spanish vet 'failed' him did he list specific reasons for him doing so?

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[Littlewheels]

He’s with a brilliant Vet here and they are extremely kind and patient with him, he’s also been to numerous Vets as he crosses the Channel frequently, we take him into the Vets on occasions so he’s well used to going to the Vet without receiving treatment and just being welcomed by all the staff,he’s a calm social dog,playful.energetic, however, as soon as you put him on the treatment table all hell breaks loose.

We deal with it and will continue to do so, but it would be so much easier for all concerned but especially Pepe if remove his fear.

At our own Vets they just glance at him because they know him and know he’s healthy, however, if we don’t want to dash to the Channel within the 5 days we have to take him to another Vet in France and they don’t know hi so it’s a full health check and he doesn’t like it so we have to avoid this option if we can.

 

[Southdowners]

At our own Vets they just glance at him because they know him and know he’s healthy, however, if we don’t want to dash to the Channel within the 5 days we have to take him to another Vet in France and they don’t know hi so it’s a full health check and he doesn’t like it so we have to avoid this option if we can.

Why do they give him a full health check?

Whenever we've been to a vet in France (always different ones so they've obviously never seen him before) they just give a wormer.

 

[Littlewheels]

Why do they give him a full health check?

Whenever we've been to a vet in France (always different ones so they've obviously never seen him before) they just give a wormer.

This is what Defra require through the Pet Passport Scheme, They are, if doing the check correctly supposed to give the Dog a Health Check, Heart,Ears,Teeth,Lungs,etc and then witness the taking of the Worming Tablet.

I have also been to the odd Vet who simply goes through the motions and though convieniant they are actually lax.

I’ve previously posted this event but let me tell you about Defra and the Tablet issue.
My previous MH broke down on the way to the Bilbao Ferry though we allowed good time for the journey we were delayed by 24hours and missed the Ferry by 20 minutes, gutted.We didn’t want to drive to Northern France because of our mistrust of the MH’s reliability.

So we decided to wait the 3 days for the Ferry to return,as a consequence the 5 Day Pet Passport timeline ran out,you might think no problem find a Vet and go through the process again!!
We sourced a Vet in Bilbao and he was actually very old school and did the complete health check,however,when it came to Pepe taking the Worming Tablet he said I cannot give him a Tablet there has to be a 10/14 day period in between the last Tablet taken this meant he couldn’t sign/stamp the Pet Passport authorizing the Pet fit to travel.

Because he was old school he followed the line, I had to beg him to accept the previous Tablet would still be effective and eventually he gave way and completed the Pet Passport.

This is were Defra are not upto speed,they cannot or don’t take account that between visiting the Vet for the Tablet procedure that someone might not Travel wit in the said 5 day period for circumstances beyond their control.

They advise getting the check again which if followed could seriously hurt or kill your Pet.

The annual check should be enough.

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[Tykatem]

This is what Defra require through the Pet Passport Scheme, They are, if doing the check correctly supposed to give the Dog a Health Check, Heart,Ears,Teeth,Lungs,etc and then witness the taking of the Worming Tablet.

I have also been to the odd Vet who simply goes through the motions and though convieniant they are actually lax.

If you look carefully in your Pet Passport section x Clinical Examination, it says:-
"The animal shows no signs of diseases and is fit to be transported for the intended journey"

That is all the vet is signing for!

Any vet can tell the condition and health of your pet by simply looking at it, if there are any signs that may indicate otherwise they would then perform a more detailed examination and can still conclude that the animal is fit to travel.

Pete

 

[Geo]

I'd suggest a highly strung Dog picking up on a highly strung owner
you need a good few visits to a vets surgery where nothing/no treatment is going to happen
just take him/her into the waiting room for 10 mins give him/her a few favorite treats then leave
once the dog is de stressed you will become de stressed, and the circle should be broken
Geo

 

[Southdowners]

So are you saying that your dog was not allowed to travel because the vet 'failed' him? If so, why?

I can't see why a vet would be required to check Heart,Ears,Teeth,Lungs,etc - its just infectious diseases that are the issue.

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