Turned away at Pet Control - anyone else experienced this?

[Southdowners]

Well... after more than 4 months away we hoped to be back at home now... but no.

We had our hound tapewormed in good time on the 28 November. I took him into Pet Control this morning and the woman I gave the passport to started shaking her head. 'What's the problem' I asked and she said you haven't had the necessary tapeworm treatment. I showed her the entry in the passport and the invoice from the vet. She said it wasn't correct. The supervisor came over and again lots of head shaking. She got really stroppy with me, saying that we travel quite a lot and should know the procedure. She was accusing us of trying to get our dog into the UK without the treatment.

Eventually we were told there was no way we could get on the crossing so had to find a vet to see if he could shed light on the entry in the passport. Still convinced all would come right and the vet would know what the scrawl in the passport meant but, no, it wasn't to be. He had absolutely no idea what the vet had given him, despite us having the invoice.

So... €115 Euros later we're in Citi Europe waiting the 24 hours. We can cross tomorrow at 10.00 so that's not too bad but we had a couple of Monday morning appointments which we've had to reschedule.

Bloody vet! I've emailed her asking for an explanation of what exactly she gave to our dog and a refund of the fee.

It was interesting that there were four other people in reception at the vet's for pretty much the same thing. Expensive lesson learned... study the entry in the passport.

 

[Silver-Fox]

Wouldn’t it be easy if a little sticker was provided with any given treatment and stuck in the passport

 

[TerryL]

Wouldn’t it be easy if a little sticker was provided with any given treatment and stuck in the passport

Our local vet does that, but I don't recall ever seeing a French vet doing it.

 

[Nirvanauk]

So what was the issue?

 

[canopus]

UK Vets normally take the label off any meds administered intravenously, and then stick it in the passport - a worming tablet just comes out of a blister pack. We usually take our own worming tablets with us, plus its saves bob or two at the French Vets.

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[Mikeco]

Had a similar problem at the tunnel in Calais when they did not like the look of the passport and refused it, we went straight down to the ferry and paid for a crossing and they accepted the same passport.

 

[Southdowners]

So what was the issue?

I thought I'd explained the issue...

but, for clarity... the vet entered an unknown product on our dog's passport. Neither the Pet Control staff or a local vet knows what she administered. Whatever it was it wasn't what we asked for, which was tapeworm treatment to enable us to go through the tunnel to get home. As a result we are unable to travel.

 

[Silver-Fox]

I’ve just thought of the irony of all this dog passport stuff.

We check any animals for disease and treatments.

Yet we let all and sundry humans into the Country who could be carrying all sorts of nasties.

Ain’t life strange ?

 

[Manic]

What Vet has you used.

 

[Southdowners]

A vet in Germany. I don't want to name her until I hear her response to my email.

I will report the matter to the relevant authority if she doesn't come back with an explanation. Apart from the embarrassment and disruption to our travel plans I would like to know exactly what she gave to our dog.

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[TerryL]

The entry in the passport might well, then, have been in German, which threw the passport control staff.

 

[DBK]

I've seen folk turned away but fortunately it hasn't happened to us yet.

For anyone new to this the vet has to state the drug given plus other details including the manufacturer.



The vet also has to confirm the dog is fit to travel on another page of the passport.

 

[Littlewheels]

I thought I'd explained the issue...

but, for clarity... the vet entered an unknown product on our dog's passport. Neither the Pet Control staff or a local vet knows what she administered. Whatever it was it wasn't what we asked for, which was tapeworm treatment to enable us to go through the tunnel to get home. As a result we are unable to travel.

Actually,this is a “Heads Up” so thank you for advising us of this incident, other than those that provide their own tablet I presume we all check that the Passport is completed correctly but upto this point it never occurred to us that a unauthorized tablet might be administered,therefore, it’s something that we and I’m sure many others will look out for,thanks again.

As an aside,we accept the Vets tablet, they are in business and providing the tablet is like going in to a restaurant with your own food and asking the Chef to cook it

 

[Willhamburger]

We take our UK purchased Milibax with us, never had a problem

 

[gus-lopez]

Wouldn’t it be easy if a little sticker was provided with any given treatment and stuck in the passport

It is & has to be for both rabies & the yearly vaccinations ,plus they have to be encapsulated, but the worming is just a tablet . Not hard to fill it in mine is always done in capitals.
This is why I stick to my vet .

The vet also has to confirm the dog is fit to travel on another page of the passport.

That is only for return from non -EU . I was informed.

To be honest for the OP I doubt whether it would have even been noticed using a ferry.

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[mitzimad]

i think most of us wouldn't know what the vet had administered even if it was written in the passport we pay our money to a professional to do the thinking for us

 

[klaatu]

Our French vet always puts the sticker in the passport for vaccinations, but as gus-lopez says, the worming tablet doesn’t have a sticker. Just looked again at our dog’s passport, and it’s clearly written that Drontal was administered. Having had a mistake once by a UK vet over a rabies vaccination, I always check what the vet has entered.

 

[Phill D]

we always ask for a specific worming tablet " Milbemax" so we know what we are getting. BUT.... I only ever check the signature; stamp and time in the Petpassport, never looked at whats been administered.

I will from now on..

 

[Southdowners]

It was in German but even when translated it meant nothing to the vet or the staff at pet control. As I said, I’ve emailed the vet for an explanation.

The writing on the passport was so bad you could hardly make out the date. We had hoped that when we went to the vet he would recognise what she had given him but he had no idea.

 

[138go]

We always give our dog her regular worming medication, prescribed by our vet. I always check thoroughly that the passport is filled out correctly. I made Mr Sponge go back last year because the vet had put the wrong date! You can't be too careful.

I'm always very nervous going through the checks. It must have been difficult for you Southdowners. You have my sympathy.

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[dulvil]

Our pet passport had been altered by our vet after his mistake. For 2 years it was o.k.but later in the year we were told the dog couldn’t come home and had to be quarantined. We found a french vet who made up a passport and his name went from chance to Le chance. And he was home in a couple of hours

 

[gus-lopez]

It was in German but even when translated it meant nothing to the vet or the staff at pet control. As I said, I’ve emailed the vet for an explanation.

The writing on the passport was so bad you could hardly make out the date. We had hoped that when we went to the vet he would recognise what she had given him but he had no idea.

There shouldn't have been anything in German.The only thing the vet has to write is the product name. i.e. DRONTAL,ZIPYRAN, MILBEMAX In capitals preferably so it is legible . Nothing else is required although some choose to add the size of tablet given. The date needs to be legible , signature can be there usual scrawl along with there veterinary registration number & stamp.

I'm always very nervous going through the checks. It must have been difficult for you

I'm paranoid. His has to be perfect mine it doesn't matter.

 

[Southdowners]

Yes it shouldn’t matter what language but we translated the invoice in the hope it might shed some light on what she had given him.

We’ve been through the tunnel many times and never had any problems.

 

[Reallyretired]

We always use the same vet. We don't provide our own tablets as they are generally much cheaper in France.

 

[ctc]

A French vet found a second chip in our rescue dog. This had caused us many minor problems at the tunnel with the detector recording the wrong chip. Every time we have used the tunnel people have had problems with the dog passport, never had to wait with the ferries.

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[jockaneezer]

Think I'll ask Santa for a "John Bull printing set" and make up my own veterinarian stamp.

 

[Southdowners]

We got through this morning and are now in the UK...!

The staff at the pet control are obviously not trained to deal with customers. They are confrontational and rude before any anything is said.

Yesterday I was met with real hostility. Instead of saying politely that’s they could see we had visited a vet and that the problem was caused as a result of the vet not filling in the passport with the correct details they accused me of not following ‘the procedure’. One in particular kept jabbing her finger at the passport and saying madam you travel often, you know the procedure.

This morning my husband went to the friendlier of the two staff. He wanted to ask if it was ok to travel a bit earlier as we would get to the UK after the 24 hour time limit. The aggressive one was dealing with other people but she butted in and said ‘you know the procedure’. My husband told her that she was not only incorrect but incredibly rude.

We were allowed through as we were indeed right about the timing of the worm treatment.

 

[Potty]

Does anybody else find it worrying that checks on ferries seem to be less rigorous than for the tunnel? Only once used a ferry and at ordinary check in the all that was checked was that the chip number tied up with the passport and that the worm treatment was entered. Don’t think the woman would have had any idea whether the correct treatment had been given.

Do agree that some of the staff can be very officious and rude. Never experienced it ourselves but have seen it with others.

 

[bellabee]

I'm sorry to hear about your problems at Pet Control. I always worry in case anything goes wrong when we go through. However, when we last came through Eurotunnel Pet Control in September, I'm grateful to say that we had exceptionally good service ? .
Our dog is large, elderly and only has three legs. He finds it difficult to walk on shiny floors such as they have at Pet Control. As my husband was struggling in with the dog, one of the Pet Control employees was also entering the building. She saw the difficulties which my husband was having and told him to wait at the door while she went to get a scanner. She scanned the dog at the door, took the passport, and sent my husband back to the van with the dog, while she completed her paperwork - all this before taking off her coat on arrival at work.
We were very grateful, as the reception was busy, and because of the difficulties our dog experiences, we always try to avoid taking him on shiny floors.
I think that either we were very fortunate in being dealt with by an exceptionally good employee, or you were unfortunate in encountering a bad one.
This, in no way, excuses the bad customer service which you feel you received, but just to say that our own experience of customer service was completely different.

 

[emjaiuk]

To the best of my belief, the 'Fitness to Travel' section is only required for unaccompanied pets, e.g. air transport in a crate. Eurotunnel have acknowledged this verbally, although I've never managed to get them to put it in writing. I looked into it because that section in our dogs passports is full, and the adjacent inside cover is nearly full as well!

FWIW we've never had anything other than polite helpful service at the Calais ET pet control.

Malcolm

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