PET PASSPORT, advise needed .....

[GucciGal]

Dear Ab'ers, has anyone ever bought a pet back from the EU to the UK? I live in Italy at the moment (South) due to move back to the UK in the Autumn. I'm so concerned that they just don't get it here, in terms of the stringency of UK laws and that the preparation has to be done in order. Our dog, (she was abandoned) means the world to us and we only get one chance to get it right, otherwise she faces 6 months in qurrantine. Would like to hear from anyone who has been in the same or a similar predicament ... TIA

[lankeela]

Go to the DEFRA website where the regulations are very clearly explained, including the order of doing things. I have brought dogs into the country from Finland, by plane into Heathrow and by ferry into Harwich from Hook of Holland.

Your vet should be able to advise you, make sure the dog is microchipped before any treatment, and make sure the wormers required are the correct type, and also rabies antibody tests are in time.

When coming back from Holland they check the dog's microchip and passport at the Hook of Holland, but we drove straight through the terminal at Harwich.

[lankeela]

A couple of useful links:

http://rome.usembassy.gov/agtrade/files/pets.a sp

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/

Several new routes/carriers have recently been added.

Start the process asap otherwise you will be pushing it for autumn.

[lankeela]

And in a nutshell (pay particular regard to clause 5 re tick and worm treatment):

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/fac tsheet/factsheet3-081016.htm.pdf

[GucciGal]

thank u so much!

[lankeela]

You are welcome, and well done for taking on a rescue. One other point, check, check and recheck the microchip every chance you get. I very nearly missed out on taking a dog to Finland because we could not find the chip, and fortunately we managed to get him to Holland without them checking at this end and the owners who collected him arrived very late at night at a small airport in Finland who just waved them through, as they consider anything coming from the uk to be safe.

[GucciGal]

wow lankeela, you really are on the ball! Thank you so much.

We try to do what we can and leave food and water around our local area for all the strays (we are in a rural area) luckily, there are a surprising amount of people who do the same.

I found Lucky when she was a pup, dumped, I think because she was a female and had a hernia, she wasn't at all scared of me which convinced me she had been living somewhere. We got her shipshape, that was a year ago and she is magic!!

Thank you so much for all the info, we are up to date on her jabs (incl rabies) and she has a microchip and has had a blood sample taken. The local town hall (they enter the details into her chip) The Vets (they inserted the chip) and myself will all need to liase on getting the procedure right.

Was just feeling daunted by the DEFRA website. but now feeling much better about it all. Surely I'm not the first person in this part of Italy to do this and I'm sure I won't be the last!

Many thanks, Annie.