Animal Health Certificate / Pet Passport
My dog’s Pet Passport is no longer valid, following Brexit. So my vet has said they will charge me £125 for an animal health certificate which we’ll need for our trip to France in early September. The vet needs to see the dog a full 10 days before travel - she needs this amount of time to complete the 9-12 pages of documentation which makes up the AHC. The AHC is only valid for 4 months, so the rigmarole needs to be completed for each trip from the UK to Europe (assuming the AHC expires between trips). My vet has suggested that the dog could obtain a Pet Passport in France issued by a French vet. Apparently the cost would be in the region of 15 Euros. As we’re visiting a friend with a holiday home in France we’re going to give this a try using their address. The dog will then travel on future trips as though it’s French.
Has anyone else tried this approach?
Comments
-
With an address in France you should have no problem, without an address it might be harder. If you can report back I am sure others will be grateful to you.
1 -
I am very interested in the outcome of this discussion as my dog is now the owner of a Spainish passport due to theft of his and our original UK passport. We would love to resume travels to France and Spain in the future.
0 -
Based on the discussion with my vet, I’m fairly sure that if you have a Pet Passport which was issued in an EU country, then it continues to be valid and an AHC would not be required (although I guess that it might need to show an EU address).
Either way, UK vets are not allowed to write in EU passports, so the rabies booster would need to be done by an EU vet in an EU country.
The exception is Northern Ireland - I believe that under current regs, you will need an AHC for a pet to travel from GB to NI …. however, if you live in NI, you can get an EU pet passport which is valid throughout the EU and the UKComplicated, isn’t it? If my cunning plan works and I manage to get French dogizenship for Ted the labradoodle, I’ll post here first 🇫🇷
My next challenge is to source a stock of food for Ted - I normally take enough for the whole trip, but that’s now outlawed 🐾😢🐾0 -
I spoke directly to the government pet passport dept. Yes there is one.
They have confirmed that an EU pet passport will be acceptable for travel to Europe.
We tried to get one but it’s not possible without a European postal address.
They also confirmed that whilst a Uk pet passport is no longer accepted in Europe it would be ok to return to the Uk.
we are in France now the irony of the whole pet health certificate is the vet asked us to bring the dog’s passport as proof of vaccine.the whole thing is a mess. Add the cost of COVID tests and going abroad is an expensive prospect this year.
1 -
We've just been trying to get an AHC for our dog, and if you need one be warned, it may be difficult and expensive.
Our own vets have decided not to issue them, at least during August - don't know what will happen after that. We contacted several other local vets, and most said either they don't do them at all or they only do them for existing customers.
We did eventually find one who would do it, but they were going to charge £280. As we're only going for a week that seemed excessive, so we've reluctantly resorted to leaving the dog with friends.
This is probably an issue because, as a previous poster mentioned, doing the AHC means a ton of paperwork for the vet. And with all the people getting pets during lockdown, no doubt they're under pressure anyway.
We used to travel to Europe with the dog several times a year, but it doesn't seem like that's going to be viable any longer. Unless things improve, she'll only get to come if we're going for a longer visit.
Wildwoods, if you manage to work it with an EU pet passport we'd love to know - our daughter lives in France so we do have an address we could use!
And about dog food - if I've understood the rules properly, meat based products can't be taken to France but fish based ones can. There's a salmon based dry food that our dog loves, so that's what will go with us if and when we can take her.
1 -
People using the ferries from Portsmouth might like to contact a company called Passpets at Havant nearby.They are offering Animal Health Certificates for £99 - details on line under Passpets name. It seems you send dog details to them in advance and you then have an appointment with them on your way to the ferry.
I am only the messenger - I know nothing about them.
0 -
Having been charged £180 for the health certificate in England we are going to have our dog “seen” in Spain. The vet in Empuria Brava charges 100€ for the passport plus the rabies jab - he was quite happy to put a uk address on the documentation and said that residency in Spain wasn’t required. As we make 2 trips to Spain annually it looks as if our vet will loose a customer (except for emergencies).
2 -
NB It may not be so easy. French vets have been issued with instructions not to issue pet passports to any pet which hasn't been in France for at least three months. Some vets are still issuing them, but many are not, so 'shop around' would be my advice. If you run into difficulties you may be able to get around it, by saying 'This time we are on holiday but going back and applying for a visa so that we can stay up to six months in the future' (but don't say I mentioned it!)!
Once you've got the passport you need to ensure that ALL future rabies boosters are done in the EU, as a UK vet can no longer update the pet passport rabies section. Other annual boosters should be recorded on a vaccination card, rather than in the passport as previously.0 -
fwiw ...
Comment from Caravan Talk on the AHC subject.
Was posted that the AHC 'form' has space for up to 5 pets recording on the same single form - confirmed verbally by myself on RVC tele-helpline that it does. i.e. no need for 2 AHC's for say two dogs.
If your needy Vet will do extra pets on the same form / cost or discount the cost - suggest ask very nicely.
As I understand the AHC is maybe the form that was used pre-Br**** for Pet Travel Internationally. Think therefore its new ground for some Vets.
M
0 -
SUCCESS! My dog Ted is now the proud owner of a French Pet Passport!
The first vet I contacted in France was extremely happy to issue one - the most difficult part was to convince him that the UK passport is no longer valid.
I contacted a vet near where we’re camping by email (thanks to Google translate), to explain what I needed. We were told it would be no problem and offered an appointment the following day. The consultation was €40, Passport €9 and Rabies jab €5. The vet said that the rabies jab was not necessary as I had proof of the earlier vaccination - however as the ‘proof’ is an invalid UK passport and soon-to-be-out-of-date AHC, we thought better safe than sorry (€5 for peace of mind).The booster vaccinations will need to be done in an EU country, but otherwise I think we’re good to go.
The vet said it was ok to use my UK address on the passport. My understanding is that passports issued in any EU country continue to be valid - irrespective of where you live.
0 -
We've also recently succeeded in getting our dog a French passport. Her rabies jab was due for a booster soon anyway, and we used our daughter's French address - with that there was no problem. Some information seems to say you'll have to get the dog's chip registered on the French database, but that wasn't mentioned. I think it cost 125 euro in total, but 85 of that was for the rabies jab. That bears no relation to the price Wildwoods paid, but French vet's prices seem to be all over the place generally - in the past we've paid anything from 15 to 55 euro for the worm treatment you need before returning to the UK.
0 -
Yes, I thought €5 was incredibly cheap for a rabies jab. However, Ted’s jab is only valid for 1 year. So I need to get it done again in Sept. Apparently, there is another type of rabies jab available in France which lasts for 3 years, but not all vets have it. It’s called RABISIN from the Merial laboratory. I don’t know how it compares cost-wise, but you can contact the vet in advance to see if they have it available.
A friend with a house in France has agreed we can use his address, so Ted’s passport now shows a UK and French address.0 -
Just got back from our return trip with our Spanish pet passport - absolutely no problems. Well worth the effort of finding a vet and a friend with a home in Spain or France, although there was no check on whether the address was valid. I understand some vets are happy to put the campsite as your “home” although officially they should be checking on residency.
0 -
Hi - has anyone used this service?
https://animalhealthcertificate.online/
On the face of it it seems quite good.
Cheers
0 -
It’s actually a vet practice in Folkestone called Abbeywell vets - you will find favourable reviews under that name.
0 -
Very happy with service & lower cost.
Very experienced provider as are some others.
Many Yokel Vets seem to be struggling & costly.
Most of details done on line & approved prior.We just scheduled our routing ex Leeds to do an overnight in Folkstone and made a 5 pm appointment with Abbeywell for the chip check and AHC’s collection.
NB Cheaper fee on return use.M
0 -
Our vet, not a million miles from Leeds (LS21 postcode), charged us the same price as Abbeywell for the first AHC last year but less for the second this year. They will only take registered pets, but are a very good local practice, with good prices and sympathetic and helpful staff, and well recommended locally.
1 -
We had planned our first post-Covid trips to Ireland and then continental Europe for this year. Our dog, Dotty, had had an EU UK Pet Passport pre-Brexit for several years. Post Brexit, we knew from the UK Government website that she would require an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) for each trip to continental Europe.
We researched extensively the various government websites and motorhome magazine articles and came up with this plan of action:
1. Go through the expense of getting the Animal Health Certificate for Dotty – 2 visits to a specialist vet (not all vets are qualified to fill out these forms) at a cost of £200.
2. Visit Ireland in June as planned and source a vet to supply an Irish EU Pet passport. This was surprisingly easy - we called at a supermarket in Co. Galway and there happened to be a veterinary practice next door. While Sue was shopping, I popped into the vet and asked if we could get an EU Pet Passport there and then. Yes - no problem! We were visiting a friend of mine and I gave her address for the passport. The vet copied information from the original UK EU Pet passport and the AHC and charged us 30€. Dotty now has an Irish EU Pet Passport.
(If we not already booked the Irish Ferry (some years ago - postponed due to Covid regs and medical issues) we would have crossed Stranraer to Larne. No AHC required and then drive into the Irish Republic.)
3. Drive to Europe in August via Eurotunnel. We presented the Irish EU Pet passport at the Pet check-in and received the helpful comment from the (French) official that the date of Dotty’s rabies vaccination was before the date the Irish vet had scanned and recorded Dotty’s microchip - not an issue for this official. We realised this might be a problem in the future as we could be asked to prove that Dotty’s microchip insertion was prior to the rabies jab. As we didn’t want to take any chances on an over-officious border guard, we found a vet in the Netherlands and Dotty had a rabies jab (she still had 2 years left on her previous one). It was recorded on her Irish EU Pet passport at a cost of 47€. With hindsight, we would have asked the Irish vet to administer the rabies jab.
4. Then, as in days of yore, 3 days before returning to the UK we found a vet in France to administer a worming tablet (which we supplied). This was recorded on Dotty’s Irish Pet passport and cost 38€.
5. We went through pet control in Calais on our return – no problems!!
So, for much less than the cost of a 1-trip AHC @ £200, Dotty now has the documentation that can be used for all Euro trips ad infinitum. We will still have to go through the worming tablet routine each time we return to the UK and keep the rabies vaccinations up-to-date - administered in an EU country as UK vets are no longer able to update EU Pet Passports.
BTW – at no point leaving or re-entering the UK to go to Ireland (Holyhead-Dublin-Holyhead) at the start of this master-plan were we asked for any pet documentation!
0 -
Sounds like a similar experience to mine when I got a French Pet passport for my dog. But the vet picked up that he would need a new rabies jab and this would need to appear to be his first ever rabies jab. Just got the rabies booster done on my recent visit to France. On this occasion, the vet asked if lm my ‘French address’ was a fixed address (as opposed to being a campsite). It’s the house of a friend so the answer was yes.
Talking to other UK dog owners when I was in Europe, there seemed to be a 50/50 split between those who’d got European Pet Passports, and those who were using AHCs. Of the Pet Passport group, the feeling seemed to be ‘why wouldn’t you’.0
,
