Pet Passport?

[gettingout]

Has anyone got any recent experience of taking a dog to france on holidays?
Was it a nightmare? Any experience gratefuly received.

Yes, we are in the process of doing this.

Our vet has advised us:

1. The new (relaxed) rules for rabies vaccinations are insufficient - you really do need to leave 6 months or so after vaccination for it to become fully effective despite the new rules stipulating less time than this.

2. The main threat to your dog's health is from parasites etc carried by Ticks and similar insects, our vet has recommended a special collar to protect against these.

3. Leishmaniasis (carried by sandflies) is a major threat. There is a new vaccine which is administered over 3 shots, each 3 weeks apart. Its expensive (£250) but we decided it was worth it to protect DDog. He had the blood test and first shot a couple of weeks ago and all seems to be well.

Tbh, the vet did advise us to carefully consider whether we really wanted to take him as the threats to his health are quite serious. Our dog is young, ans we plan to travel with him quite a lot, so we have gone ahead with it but I feel quite concerned for him.

Actually getting the passport seems very straightforward (the vet just issues it to us), its the vaccinations that have been a bit stressful to organise.

When are you planning to go?

It depends a lot where you are travelling to. I have many clients who travel to northern France where there is no sandfly/ leishmansis risk is absent. I have worked in the USA where rabies much more prevalent and on the basis of what I saw there I am happy that three weeks is sufficient time for the vaccine to be working. I do think ticks are the biggest problem in northern Europe and when I take my dog he wears a series to collar to repell the ticks.

Hmm, that's not quite true Lizcat, there is a risk from CanL in all of France and the 'high risk' zone is spreading northwards.

I found this very useful reading when researching...

www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1756-3305-3-31.pdf

At any rate, for the sake of £250, isn't it better to be safe than sorry? Its a horrible thing, with no cure and certain death within 5 years. Under Brazillian legislation, an antibody positive dog will be destroyed immediately, whether presenting with symptoms or not.

Would you really advice your patients (I believe you're a vet?) not to have the vaccination?

That should probably read your patients' owners , I doubt the patients themselves have much of an opinion

The actual advice is that the vaccine reduces risk of infection, but does not prevent it. By far and away the most effective prevention in endemic areas is advantix, serves to or scalibor and bringing your dog in half an hour before sunset.
I generally advise clients who have second homes in Normandy and the Loire and these areas are still considered leishmansis free.

If CanL were merely an annoyance, or an illness that could be easily shaken off by dogs then I might agree with you.

Given it's seriousnes, why wouldn't you use all available tools to prevent your dog becoming infected? I see vaccination and prevention as being complementary measures, not mutually exclusive ones.

Are you generally a vaccine nay-sayer lizcat? Why would you jot vaccinate and take sensible precautions? As far as I can tell, the only downside to the vaccine is the price, but if your clients s ha e second homes, that can't be an issue for them.

I'm probably coming across as having a go at you, but I'm genuinely interested to hear your view.

D

Sorry, rubbish spelling, stupid phone

gettingout We got a dog passport last year - all straightforward. We went to a village in Normandy and had found on the web that there was a vet in town, so on the first Monday of our holiday I went and made an appt for the Friday before we left on the Saturday. No problems at all at the vet, they knew exactly what I wanted as soon as I showed his passport.

If there had been any trouble, we knew there were lots of vets at the port towns who would be very experienced.

We went by Eurotunnel, and you just go over and show the dog and the passport before checking in. Again, no problems (just busy as we came home the last Saturday of the school holidays).

Ah more complicated than I first thought then!
We were toying with the idea of gong to France in next week or so and don't have a dog sitter. As we are planning to camp we thought just a rabies jab and a certificate would be enough.

Plan B then - Camping in UK.
Thanks for advice.
I'm off to dig out my wellies!

Aliportico
How did you get the passport this side and how long before travel?
Sorry I didn't see your message before I posted my last.

Ah yeah, you need some time beforehand for the rabies jab. And then you need tick and worm treatment 24-48 hours before you return. So if you did a day trip you'd have to get the dog treated before you left :o

Think the timescale has changed slightly since we got ours, so check the defra website, but just went to the vet and they do it all. Not cheap, but cheaper than 2 weeks of kennels!

Its not complicated. There will be some change from below depending on where you are travelling to but:-

You need to have a rabies vaccination at least 21 days before you can travel

You need to have your dog microchipped and then the vet can issue you with the passport.

It is sensible to check the area that you are travelling to for any specific risks. However advantix and scaliber have been recommended for most areas with the sand fly

You need to treat your dogs for tapeworms administered by a vet 24 hours before you leave the country to come home

The best person to speak to is your own vet who should be very used to issuing the passports and the best cover for the areas you are going to.

This link explains the process pet passport

If travelling across the channel you may prefer to go by the tunnel as you can stay with your dogs and it is very easy to check dogs on and off the tunnel.

Cake I feel this particular vaccine breeds a false of security as it has not been proven to prevent disease and people forget that preventing sandfly bites is actually still as important even if you have the vaccine.
Cue the current timescale for tapeworm treatment is between 1 and 5 days prior to re-entry.

it has not been proven to prevent disease

Do you mind if I ask what you're basing that opinion on?