Today I wanted to talk to you about dog passports and how you get one.
We are taking a driving trip later on this year to France and really wanted to take our pooch with us. We tend to go on one small holiday a year with her, up until now it has always been to a location in the UK, however this time we are going to brave it and take la chien to la France!
What is involved I hear you ask? Well, thankfully the rules changed about a year ago and got a little less complicated and a little easier to follow! All the information can be found on the Government website but I thought I would lay it out here.
For your pet to travel in Europe they must have:-
- A pet passport
- A microchip
- A rabies vaccination
- A tapeworm treatment (for dogs only)
My dog already had a microchip, so I needed to tick the other three boxes. I made an appointment with my pooches vets and took her in to get her paperwork. They simply scan her microchip to check it is working, check she has a good bill of health, administer the rabies vaccination which consists of a single injection (poor girl) and fill out the passport paperwork. Most of the time is in the paperwork. This cost be approximately £90 for the passport and rabies vaccination but I am told if you keep the passport up to date it lasts forever and she will just need rabies boosters every 3 years at a greatly reduced price.
The tapeworn treatment is the last thing I need to sort and is the one bit that scares me. This needs to be administered to her by a vet in France no less than 24 hours before we are returning to the UK but no earlier than 5 days before we are returning to the UK. So I must find a vets practice in France that is licenced to do pet passports as they will need to administer the tapeworm treatment and stamp her passport to show she has had it.
I am freaking out about this step a little bit but I think if I am organised and book the appointment at a licenced pet passport vet before we have even gone then nothing should go wrong. The last thing I want in this world is to get my precious girl stuck in France for 3 months for the sake of a week holiday. Wish me luck!
I hope this answered any little questions for someone that might be considering doing this at the moment. That is the way the rules stand. We are travelling via Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) and there is a pet passport checking office that you need to go to before you check in at the terminal to leave France. I am told it is all very well sign posted and not a problem at all. ARGH, scared now thinking about it...breathe!
Have you taken your pet to France or abroad? How did you find it? Let me know in the comments below.
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