# Yet again its Pets Passport



## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

I have just queried the 'valid till' dates entered in the Vaccination against Rabies section of BM's passport.He was boostered yesterday.

The vet informs me that the validity of Nobivac vaccine is now 3 years.Previously 2 years.

He told me it was in a circular issued by DEFRA a while ago.

It makes little real difference to me as i have him revaccinated every year.Other braver souls,i know, do not. But it worries me i can find nothing on the DEFRA web site.

It shows my age i suppose......I just like everything to be right (or as right as i can make it)

Anybody had a recent revaccination and can have a look in their passport to see what validity period was given?

Flippin' dog is more trouble than...................

Nick


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## 99459 (May 29, 2006)

I had our dogs jabs for rabbies on saturday, although it was her first jab & her passport won"t be issued until the bloodtest has been sent off, the vet assured me that re-vaccination would not be needed for 2 years.
he said defra had just authorised it from 1 year to 2 years
sorry can"t help you more than that, will find out more in 3 weeks, when she goes for her bloodtest. will post you then if it is of any more use to you

russ


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Pet Passport*

Hi

This is fast becoming a pain in the proverbial.

I have Oscar's passport and understood the Rabies vaccines were valid for two years.

I have since learned that in certain countries the vaccine is valid only for one year.

I dare not take the chance of losing Oscar to quarantine and so will boost him in January. I do not like the idea of giving him more medication than he needs but if I got to Dover and they took him from me I would never, ever forgive myself.

Rapide561

PS Zulurita - where are you - we need your advice and input!


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## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

Rapido

Two schools of thought.the first would be backed by my vet.
1)
I as a fully qualified UK Veterinary inspector say the vaccine has a validity of 2 (perhaps 3 ) years. My word is as good as any French Vet's.
2)
I as a fully qualified French Veterinary inspector say the vaccine has a validity of 1 year.My word is as good as any UK Vet's.

There are cases apart from toing and froing that your Oscar might come under the control of a French Vet and require hospitalisation.If the French vet thought your dog was not fully vaccinated against Rabies......Who knows  
I have tried to seek clarification from Christiane Petry , the vet i use in Calais for froing.She is quite adamant Annual vaccinations.

So i play safe and have the old boy vaccinated each year.

Its a mess and Defra are about as much help as one of those chocolate thingys.

Hope this settles your mind if not your purse.I only know about France.I have not yet plucked up the courage to move beyond the civilized world. :lol: 

Nick


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Passport*

Hi

I will boost him in January. As I said I could not risk the two of us being parted!

Rapide561


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## RobMD (May 9, 2005)

Evening!

The validity on Dylans Passport is for 2 years. I have recently queried it with our vet, and he confirms it is correct and says he has been asked about it on a number of occasions.
As far as I am aware, the EU regulation covering it states the validity is that determined by the manufacturer not the vet, and as long as the countries concerned abide by the rules, there shouldn't be a problem.

The DEFRA site gives info on this as well.

I don't object to the cost if it is needed it is done, but I don't like the idea of overvaccination. If the vaccine is valid for a year (and maybe the one used in some countries is), then vaccinate yearly, if it is for 2 years the vaccinate bi-annually.


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## tramp (May 25, 2005)

*vacinations*

hi all,
yes we too had our dogs done back in april and is now for 3 years,
we asked madam christian in calais about this on our return in mid june this year and she said that while uk vets inoculate for 3 years the french insist on their pets beeing done every year BUT their vaccine is not as strong as the uk hence the 1/3 year delema.
It is also worth mentioning that unless your stay in france excedes 3 months then there laws have NO baring on the subject. So i asked how they would know if you had been in France for 3 months or longer and yes we got the famous "french shoulder shrug"  so we will continue to follow uk protocol and have a booster every 3 years she also said that as the vets at the tunnel are English and we are leaving the country the french aint interested.

hope Bite Me is getting better moondog and are web site will have the latest trip update very soon.

tramp


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Passport*

Hi

Just a quick thouight for Oscar - we only have a single ferry crossing booked so it might not matter!

Rapide561


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## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

Rob & Tramp 

I am sure you are right to follow the procedure laid down by our own vets and their advisors.

My attitude is badly coloured by events in France shortly after the PP scheme started.

Nick

Tramp

We are off to Bedford next week to have a rear view camera fitted.We will spend a few nights out before the 'little treasures' break up for their holiday. The success or not of this trip will have to be the decider for France in September.

N


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

Hi Everyone,
Just been reading this on going saga of the Rabies injection validity! When we first had Jabulile's passport done the paperwork stated the anti rabies was valid for 2 years and we travelled abroad on that understanding. We had NO trouble coming back into the UK (this is the 1st pp using paperwork and not the new blue pp)
We then heard that France etc only accepts anti rabies done on a yearly basis and checked with our vets and DEFRA and it seemed we needed the yearly one for France etc although the vet did state that the 2 year validity was ok for UK. We did encounter at one French campsite in the early days a ? when producing our papers and we just showed them the validity date of the ant rabies and all was ok.
If as mentioned it is only required YEARLY if you stay over 3 months in France then it would seem our vaccinations are ok and if as suggested the 2 yr one or now ? 3yrs is ok and they are stronger vaccines I would be concerned about overdosing Jabulile.
Jabulile is due again in August (or ? not as it is valid for 2 yrs) so we will double check with the Vet again!
It seems we do not need to worry about returning to the UK so long as the dogs vaccination is within the validity period. It is only if queried by other countries. So long as the pp shows validity and is in the new blue pp we should be covered as that was the whole idea of the new blue pp.
It will be interesting to see what our vet says but it does seem to me that as usual UK does everything different to other EU countries! and Defra is not a lot of help.
Our only other option as far as we can see is to have Jabulile vaccinated each year in France!! This won't be a problem as we are over there frequently.


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## Sharnor (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi all
I show dogs both here in the UK and abroad. Our vets in this country say that the rabies vaccines are valid for two years, but more and more exhibitors have been caught out when trying to return home. I know that it is a pain, but I would highly recommend that your dogs get vaccinated yearly.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Passport*

Hi all

Again, to reiterate my previous post, I do not want to fill Oscar with chemicals but I could not face being parted from him at Customs. I will re boost him before our long trip.

Rapide561

PS - Nice to hear from you Rita and Jabulile


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

I'm a bit confused sharnor,
Why is it that people attending dog shows have had problems returning if the rabies vaccine was valid for 2 yrs and they were within the validity period as stated in the PP especially if they were returning to the UK?


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## Sharnor (Jul 24, 2006)

Rita
As far as the UK vets are concerned the vaccines are valid for 2 years and in some cases even 3 years. The people who had the problem had been going out to France and Germany etc. to show their dogs through the year and into the next year. That was when they had a problem. They were then told by this particular country's vet that their dogs vaccination were not up to date. These people argued with the authorities that the vaccinations were valid for 2 years, and they were told that it was the rule of the country that dogs have to vaccinated against rabies yearly. I am not sure which country it was, :? It could have been Spain.


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## RobMD (May 9, 2005)

Hi!

When I queried it, I was told that the validity is not up to the vet, or any individual country, but the rule that applies is an EU ruling that the validity of the vaccine used is determined by the manufacturer (it is after all An EU Pet Passport!!)

When we returned this time, Dylans vaccination was over a year old but It wasn't queried either by the French vet or at the ferry terminal so I am going to play it by the rules - and go for 2 years.


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

Thanks Sharnor, Rob

As our anti rabies vaccine was given by manufacture of vaccine as lasting 2 years I'm sure we will have NO trouble getting back into the UK. Our dilemma is whether there will be any problems getting in France in Sept. I have emailed DEFRA to try and clarify things but email came back that I could wait up to 15 days for a reply.!
I think I will email Eurotunnel next as we are travelling out with them and see what their response will be. If these vaccines vary in strength and the new ones are stronger and for 3 years and Rest of EU want yearly vaccination then I think we will go down the line of vaccinating Jabulile in France every year at least then she won't be given unnecessary stronger vaccines.


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## AlanVal (Aug 17, 2005)

We have just had Sulas our corgi vaccinated yesterday first time, 3 weeks till blood test .Has anyone had to revaccinate vet said he had only had one failure so far ,hope ours is ok.We are going off in march hopefully for 2-3 months so though we had better get it done now.Vet also said it was 2 years till booster needed.
val


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

Just seen this latest post, thought I had put a post somewhere with the reply from DEFRA that I received via email where they stated that as from Oct 2004 we need only follow the valid dates for the anti rabies booster unless staying for longer than 3 months. If in a European country for longer than 3 months then the 1 year re-vaccination (booster) would apply.
I did print off their, DEFRA's reply so that I have it to hand when we are due to return end Oct as we are in France at the moment. We did not have Jabulile re vaccinated in Aug as we have done up until now. Her Validity is until Aug 2007. I was definitely concerned that if our vets were giving stronger anti rabies boosters that lasted 3 years Jabulile would be overdosed so that was why I wrote to DEFRA and had their reply stating it was not required every year unless staying for longer than 3 months.


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## AlanVal (Aug 17, 2005)

Hi just had the blood tests back everything ok (thank goodness) we are booking for march to go to france booking for 3 months so ours will be ok ? need list of vets for the way home havnt got dog ins but think we might get it before we go ...

Val


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Passport*

Hi

Your pet can return to the UK 180 days after his blood test.

Have a look at www.dogsaway.co.uk and www.pagesjaune.fr for vets details

Rapide561


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## AlanVal (Aug 17, 2005)

Just received vet bill to-day £102 thought it would ahve been at least £150 when we asked how much it was likely to be they said about £150 so we are well pleased with that ,makes a change ...lol

Val


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## Jani (Oct 14, 2006)

Hi all,

My partner is a veterinary surgeon and we have two dogs which will be accompanying us on our trips abroad ( we have as yet not undertaken any).

Both dogs have their passports and both were given their rabies jabs within the last year. Guidelines are that the rabies vaccines should be given 3 yearly, however we intend to continue to vaccinate on a two yearly basis.

With regards to countries on the continent, they already have rabies and the requirements they lay down are based on advise rather than on law. Here in the UK it is legal requirement that all animals entering the country should have an up to date certificate of vaccination and blood test results to prove that the vaccination was effective.

Most people tend to be caught out with problems associated with not having the dogs treated for ticks and worms within the right time frame before returning to the UK, or possible problems with reading the microchip - rather than problems associated with rabies vaccines.

Make sure that the european vet that treats your pet for worms, ticks etc puts on the time and date of such treatment as there are reports of numerous problems at passport control when this hasn't been done., meaning an additional stay whilst it is repeated.

So, in a nutshell 3 years for the rabies. Having said that, we are chosing to do ours more frequently as we are more concerned about our dogs getting rabies than the return to the UK.

Paranoia is a good thing at times ? :lol:

Jani


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## xgx (Oct 14, 2005)

AlanVal said:


> ....Has anyone had to revaccinate


Yes! ... another £70 for another blood test :roll:

No matter, she's worth it, as Jani said "...we are more concerned about our dogs getting rabies than the return to the UK."


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## 101384 (Oct 14, 2006)

If you think going to Europe is confusing with pets then whatever you do dont go to Australia its a nightmare of paperwork , vaccines & blood tests!!! :lol:


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*australia*

Hello

My mummy and daddy went to Australia and had to leave me behind. I now live with daddy Russell who is taking me to Italy. I have a passport and am going to have a booster before I go.

Oscar


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## houseboatdream (Apr 21, 2006)

Thomas and Dewi are currently going through the process of getting their pet passports.

Our vets procedure is to give the rabies jab twice as they have found that this reduces the risk of the innoculations "not taking" and the animal failing the blood test. So the boys had a jab two weeks ago and are back for the needle again on wednesday - blood test three weeks later.

If I was cynical I would say it was a good way of getting another £65 off us, but as with most pet owners i don't count the pennies when it comes to my boys...................

Liz


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Rabies*

Hi

Oscar too was vaccinated twice for Rabies - again it lessens the chance of the blood test coming back as a "no no".

Oscar was treated at Abbey Vets in Hoyland, Barnsley and I think they have been excellent.

Rapide561


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## houseboatdream (Apr 21, 2006)

Thanks Rapide thats good to know. I was a bit concerned because there is no mention of the double jab on the DEFRA site but I usually go along with what our vets recommend as they are excellent. (Highcliff, Ipswich).

Have you done any research on other jabs or precautions for Oscar? I presume the boys will still need their annual boosters for parvo/distemper or whatever it is? I will get them done just before we go but was wondering about this as we may be away more than 12 months. Do they have these jabs in Europe? Also i have heard about heartworm or something and tablets or collars?

Researching the dogs stuff is next on my list but if anyone has any info would be grateful.

thanks

Liz


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Pet Passport*

Hi

Oscar has just been boosted in August for the usual things.

His anniversary of his first rabies vaccine will be Jan 07, but I am having him topped up before I go. I have no wish to fill him with chemicals but there are some grey areas about whether the vaccine is valid for one year, two or three.

As for heartworm and others, he has not been treated yet, but the vet's practice is very clued up and I shall be discussing these in due course. A lot depends on where you are going.

I shall treat him for ticks etc whilst away - this is what I do now anyway.

Rapide561


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## kennyo (Mar 22, 2006)

Hello there

I received my pets passport from westways in Newcastle last month. I have been with them for six and a half years since we got our dog so was surprised when my name was spelled wrong even after they had confirmed over the phone so i sent it back they crossed through the name and returned it, then i noticed the renewal date it was only valid for one year. 
i have been on sites and checked how long the vaccination lasts and the least is 2 years and it is up to the owner if they want to revaccination. 

I was at the vets last week and queried the date they said its to do with where i was going so i asked them where i was going NO REPLY then i said if the dog does not go away till next november i still have to get him vaccinated as the date would have run out reply ahh. Then i said the vacination lasts for 2 years so why was that not the revaccination date was told to return with passport. I have one line through my name and then replaced on the passport so what are the chances that the dates will be crossed out and replaced, do i return it are not we will have to wait and see


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## Walmer (Mar 4, 2006)

Sounds like a terrible mess - not good enough - hope you get it sorted.


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## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

Firstly..houseboatdream

BM's vaccinations (and other care) are undertaken by Highcliffe.I can only advise you to check the passport and then check it again.
Medical care might be impressive but the passport certainly wasn't.

kennyo

I would not accept a passport with any deletions or crossing out.I know from experience (see above) that there is a mechanism for cancelling an improperly completed passport and the issue of a new one.

Whilst here i was surprised that Jani( the blue, vet's partner) knowing the validity of the vaccination is three years, chooses to have vaccinations administered every other year.Think this simply muddies the water. Either the vaccine her partner administers has a validity of three years or two.

Nick


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## Jani (Oct 14, 2006)

Hi again,

The vaccine has a validity date of 3 years. What this means is that the dogs are allowed to return legally into the UK within that time period without risking having to go into quarantine.

Some countries prefer that the dogs are vaccinated more frequently but it is not a legal requirement ~ it is a preference, which means that the dogs will get into those countries okay.

Our choice to re-vaccinate on a 2 yearly basis is not because of the above, but because of a personal preference primarily because we want to be absolutely sure that these vaccines are fully covering our pets.

They were once stated as being required annually, then 2 yearly, now 3 yearly, we are happy to go with the medium but wouldn't like to risk taking our dogs into a country that has rabies with a vaccine that - in my words - may be coming to the end of its useful life.

The guidelines sent to the practice say 3 years - although I am not the vet, I'd like to have some good explanation as to why now, suddenly, that vaccine lasts two years longer ? I'll speak with my partner later and try to accertain whether it is because the amount of active ingredient has increased or not.

Whatever the answer is, we shall be re-vaccinating on a 2 yearly basis until we are convinced that they are adequately covered. Happy in the knowledge that if we return into the country 2 years 1 week and 4 days later than the previous vaccine we will not be caught out and end up with our dogs in quarantine.

I do apologise if it causes confusion for anyone else, that wasn't our intention ~

Jani


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## Jani (Oct 14, 2006)

Hi again,

Right, I've questioned more on this subject now and was told this ~

*the vaccine probably always lasted 3 years, but the company just didn't have the licence to sell it for such*

'so why are you so insistant on jabbing our dogs more often'

*Because I am paranoid about Rabies., and wouldn't have been fazed if advised to jab them 6 monthly.*

Regarding other routine vaccinations, such as annual boosters, yes they are available on the continent and I was told that

'they just need to take the vaccination records with them and they'll probably be registered as a visitor whilst the booster is given - that's what we do here'

There are tablets called Drontal that can be taken away for heartworm and other worm use. We use Advantix on our dogs for ticks.

Hope this helps 

Jani


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*passport*

Hi

The thought of Oscar in quarantine - they would have to keep me there too!

Rapide561


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## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

Thanks for amplifying that Jani.I now understand.
I even vaccinated BM annually when the given validity was two years.

The old boy is so old and tired now  i don't think i would bother again.Europe looks unlikely for a while.But good to know for the future.

Interesting that Drontal is a deterrent to Heartworm. 

Perhaps Nuke will let you stay free of charge on the forum in exchange for your 'inside' veterinary information.We need a resident vet.

Thanks again.

Nick


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## Jani (Oct 14, 2006)

Hi and

ACK - I wrote this: 
There are tablets called Drontal that can be taken away for heartworm and other worm use. We use Advantix on our dogs for ticks.

and meant THIS:

There are tablets called Milbemax and Drontal that can be take for heartworm and other worm use. We use Advantix on our dogs for ticks.

Sorry - I should type slower and read again before I hit submit !

Hold old is your old boy now Moondog ? and what breed ?

Re the free forum membership I succumbed to the subscription page yesterday after realising that this was going to be a very valuable place to lodge myself and my confusion :roll: ps Grobble is my partner and has joined the forum but not subscribed - is there a limit to the amount of postings non subscribers can do ?

Jani


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Pet passport*

Hi

I am considering a short visit to Gibralter whilst on our travels and have received this e mail regarding the validity of the rabies vaccines.

I am certainly re-boosting Oscar-pops!

Rapide561


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