Do I need a Pet Passport?
You need a pet passport for your dog if they are travelling
- to the UK from an EU country, or another country the UK accepts pet passports from
- from the UK to a listed or unlisted country and then returning to the UK – you can’t do this after your pet’s rabies vaccination has expired
You must always travel with the originals of all your pet’s documents and not photocopies.
What is a Pet Passport?
A pet passport includes a record of all of the treatments your pet has had. They are available from your vets and are free (from our vets) as long as your vet has administered all the injections and checks.
What’s included?
Your pet passport is basically a health record of your dog with a little photo of your dude! Inside the passport shows
- Details of ownership
- Description of your dude
- Vaccination against rabies
- Canine tapeworm treatment
- Any other injections
These are the steps we took to get Mac n Tosh ready for Travel.
We chose to take Mac n Tosh to our local vets that we have used for many years. Vetcare not only offer a great service but we trust their professional assessment and guidance when travelling with pets.
Microchip & first jab
Chad the Vet gives us treats.
When we collected Mac n Tosh from the breeders they’d already had their first injection and microchipped. Even so, we wanted our vet to check everything was OK. We arranged to take the pups to the vets for a general health check two days after we collected them.
Second Injection
At 10 weeks, we booked them in for their second injection to protect against – cost £27.70 per dog. These jabs are not mandatory for travel but recommended as part of your dog’s annual health check.
- Canine Parvovirus normally known as Parvo
- Infectious Canine Hepatitis
- Distemper
- Leptospirosis
- Kennel Cough
Worm & Tick Treatment
At 14 weeks old we took Mac n Tosh back to the vets for their worm and tick treatment. Their first worm and tick treatment cost £29 per dog.
Then we discussed our travel plans and the places we intended to visit, so the vet could outline the best options for protecting them against worms and ticks in those countries. We chose Virpac Milpro worming tablets, which we need to administer every month. As we were planning to travel to Europe, we chose to use Bravecto tick treatment as opposed to the spot on liquid application. The Bravecto is a tablet, which again needs to be administered every 3 months. The vet placed an order for 12 months supply, which we can collect in a few weeks.
Initial Pet Passport Assessment
At 15 weeks, we took Mac n Tosh to the nurse. The nurse checked their weight, their condition and as well as provide loads of useful information on raising a healthy puppy. The nurse club and appointment was free. We also talked through the pet passport scheme and current regulations for travelling to the EU with pets, see DEFRA. https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad
Rabies Injection
At 16 weeks, Mac n Tosh returned to the vets for their rabies injection. This is mandatory for travel. Before issuing the jab our vet checked their heart, eyes, ears and general condition. The rabies jab was a quick injection in to their neck and they didn’t feel a thing. Later that evening, Mac was his usual self but Tosh was a little quiet but a good nights kip and he was back to normal.
Collection of Pet Passport
A few weeks before travel we collected their pet passport, which showed details for the following
- Microchip and 1st jab
- Health check & 2nd jab
- Worm & Tick treatment
- Rabies injection
In addition, we collected 12 months supply of Virpac Milpro worming tablets and Bravecto tic is a tablet, so we could keep them healthy on our travels.
Travelling Outside Europe can be much more complication as we discovered when planning our route to Turkey. Details of which we will write about in due course.
Hi, I’m excited to hear that you will be travelling to Turkey with your dogs this year.
We had an apartment in Turkey for 20 years, and visited extensively, but sold it a little over 2 years ago and bought a motorhome. Our dogs are now seasoned travellers throughout Europe, and we intend to visit Turkey next year in our motorhome.
I’ve been trying to find out up to date information on requirements to enter and leave Turkey, our dogs have UK Pet Passports and rabies vaccinations are up to date, we will organise a titer test. Would you be able to help me please with the finer details? I have been told that a 3 year Rabies vaccine is unacceptable for Turkey, so would a 2 year vaccine be ok?
I’m sorry for all the questions
Happy travelling
Best wishes
Wendy
Hi Wendy, it is extremely difficult to find the right information. Especially if you are travelling from UK, through EU to a high risk rabies area and then returning. We telephoned several government agencies (UK, EU and Turkish) and spoke to several vets all of which were very unsure on the requirements, so we never managed to locate one person with the right information…it was all pieced together.
You’re right about the 3 year vaccine but the legalities on whether a 2 year vaccine is acceptable remains unclear. As I said, we read a number of articles and spoke to various people and in this area, all the information obtained was conflicting. Some said 2 years ok and others said 1 year. In the end we decided to have our dogs vaccinated, so we knew for sure they were legal, it ticked all the boxes to get back in to the EU/UK and ticked the unsure Turkish laws. At £26 for the jab, we decided it was not worth debating and would not do the dogs any harm.
Once the dogs had their rabies vaccination we had to wait at least 30 days for the blood tests.
I am not sure it answers your question but hopefully helps how we made our informed decision.
Thank you very much for your reply, which answers my questions perfectly. I thought much the same as you , all the information I could find had conflicting advice. Our dogs are due a booster next August anyway, under normal circumstances this would have covered them for our Turkey trip but as this is a very grey area I agree it is sensible to have the 12 month vaccine and titer test 30 days or so later. So if we have their passports with 12 month rabies vac entered, and the titer test certificate will we be ok? Do you know if any other paperwork is required?
Not that we are aware of Wendy. Our check lists includes
1. A valid and up to date health certificate, covered in our EU pet passport
2. Rabies vaccination – again, covered in EU passport
3. Titer test – The titer test must be performed by one of the approved agencies and it is rather expensive at £250 per dog. The test results and certificate took around 2 weeks to arrive.
We are due to enter Turkey in the next week or so…so guess I will find out for sure if everything is correct or not!
Thank you so ,such for answering my questions so quickly, I am very grateful. Turkey is a lovely country, you will have a wonderful time.
I was just going to write and ask about the passport. Thank you for your help
Glad we could help and do shout if you have any more questions Carole