Rabies

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

I've been asked to post this by a vet friend of mine:
epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18102

"This closes on the 28th and only 1,500 odd signatures. Need need need more! This new ruling will have disastrous consequences - it will bring in a lot of other endemic diseases, not just rabies! All cats & dogs will be at risk. Please, please sign this, its massively important. 100 years of rabies free status potentially down the pan."

I wont sign the petition at the moment jareth as I have only recently (past day) heard of this. I am going to read up a lot more on this before I decide what to do. I was under the impression that it was only the injection time that was changing

I understood that everything would be the same except you don't have to wait so long before re entering the country. As I understand it, high risk countries such as India will retain stricter rules.

Everywhere I've read it's been hailed as a good thing ie it will mean it's much easier to take pets abroad with you, something I was excited about as we like to take our dogs with us - they've never been in kennels. This is the first I've read that it might be a danger. I have read, though, that some vets want to keep the old rules as they can charge up to £££ for the blood test.

Sorry to any vets if I have that all wrong (quite possible). What I'm basically saying is that like JaxTeller, I need to do some more reading before I sign.

I am afraid the horse bolted on this one when the PET passport scheme was introduced in 2000. Prior to this we only saw diseases like heartworm, erilicha babesia and borrelia in quarantine. They are now seen fairly regularly in Southern England and are no longer restricted to dogs who have travelled.
The Changes from January 2012 have been in the EU machine for the last 5 years and petitions now will I am afraid make not a jot of difference.
If you are travelling you should take advice from your vet as to what other important diseases you should protect your dog againist whilst you are travelling. Most are tick borne diseases so using a repellant like Advantix or scalibor is really really important.
As for making ££££ on the blood test the vast majority of the cost was the fees charged by the goverments lab for this test. By the time I had taken the blood, filled in paperwork, paid to post the sample, dealt with the paperwork when it came in, and all the copies I had to keep of everything I was probably losing money.

Agree with Lizcat that the petition won't make a difference. This ship has sailed. It also doesn't help that the person organising the petition is a well known proprietor of quarantine kennels/organiser of dog imports/exports so will be affected in their business by the proposals.

I am not generally a fan of DEFRA, but through the work I've been doing on dog breeding/chipping in Wales, have attended several meetings with Defra civil servants and looked at disease outbreaks as a factor to consider - they are at least trying to prepare/plan/consider options.

Can someone explain to me about the incubation period. The petition states about the incubation period being greater than the 21 days as per the new legislation.

If humans are bitten by a rabid animal they can be given the inoculation and that will prevent the rabies from developing. Is this not the case with dogs?

The incubation period is very variable and can be up to 6months - hence the previous 6 months to wait after the blood test as positive blood test result can be due to infection.
We have no rabies antisera avaliable for dogs. It is very expensive and difficult to make. As a previous rabies antisera donor I don't think many dogs would tolerate the 4 hours I would be attached to a dialysis machine. There are also ethical issues as it can make you really quite anaemic hence why I had to give up.
The majority of public pressure is for animal movements across borders to be easier and DEFRA fought the PETS scheme, it has fought this in Europe for 10 years. I think they feel that the majority of the public are for this scheme.