In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I agree completely with Noble. Play safe and do it all. The UK border control (or whatever they call themselves these days) will be quite happy to give you a hard time - usually a fairly ill-informed hard time as well - as will the French police should they stop you en route. Give Switzerland a miss as well, as they can add their own list of problems to your own. One you are here, it is fine though - just remember to get the Advantix drops dropped 24 hours before getting here. Good Luck!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=Torchiarolan;101190]
Does anyone definitively know the answer re the blood tests.[/quote]
The best I can do is to point you to the [URL="http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/pets/regulation/eu_reg.htm"]DEFRA website[/URL] for the EU rules and regs on what they call the [URL="http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/annex2c_reg998_03_en.pdf"]non-commercial movement of animals[/URL].
If you poke about on the EU website, you should be able to find it in French, Italian, German and any other language you might fancy - sorry, but dinner is calling me, so... :winki:
Also... [url=http://www.caninebehaviour.co.uk/public/europe.htm]Europe[/url]
:smile:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Sorry torch can only do the cat thing, and after 3 years here have forgotten, but we have no intetion of returning with our animals, but at the time they were my main concern (tho in retrospect wish we had left phoebe behind...any advice on demented 18yr old cats is welcome, she is having a lovely time we are sleepless)
Dot the is and cross the tees, having said that when we arrived speechless and exhausted at Bologna after all that effort we were not checked, just lots of Italians and their children wanting to pet our "english cats""
Welcome to Italy
A
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I can't help on the blood test thing, why don't you just ring up your local office of the Min of Ag or whatever it is called and speak to a real person, rather than just confusing yourself by trying to find it 'online'?
One thing you should be aware of (though no doubt your car is already equipped) is that in Italy you cannot carry more than one dog in a car unless they are in a compartment separated from the driver. (Means one of those wire grilles in most interpretations). One dog is alright 'loose' in the car, but even if they are two chihuauas they have to be fenced in!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
We travelled in March with our dog to Le Havre and when we handed in our passports together with the dogs', the official said he wasn;t interested in the dog's papers but only ours. Not once were we asked for the dog's passport and vaccination documents.
Travelling back into the UK was a different matter. We could have had a dozen illegal immigrants in the back of the car but they checked all the dog's papers with a fine tooth comb.
This must be a real worry for you, taking a chance getting your three dogs into France OK. I wish you luck.
Maralyn
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Torchy, we had similar conflicting advice but in the end we had our dogs vaccinated, chipped and got the passport – no blood test as we were not returning to the UK.
We offered the pet passports at each frontier and NO ONE bothered to look at them.
Now in Italy our vet here says that if we wanted to go back (whatever for?!) to the UK with the dogs we (sorry they) would have to have the blood test.
Stop worrying, you have done it all OK. Bon voyage and, in a weeks time, Benvenuti in Italia
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Torchy - never, ever press any button - don't select any of the options offered - pretend you don't have a touch tone phone and you will get through much faster.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=Torchiarolan;101232]I would vote for a psychotic dictator if his pre-election manifesto included a promise to abolish automated call centres and torture their operatives.[/quote]
Errm, would that be McCain or Obama? :winki:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
To my mind all of those experiences will really and truly prepare you for dealing with day to day life in Italy....you'll be a master at it now!!! Buon Viaggio.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi, we brought our 2 Labs over in March from the UK, before they had their Rabies confirmation Blood test. The LAw is the you have to wiat min 21 days after Rabies Jab to leave UK, and travel through the EU. But and this is a big BUT you cannot return to the UK for 6 months with the Dogs and you have to have the Vaccine confirmed with a blood test aftre min 1 month. Our have failed the Blood test so the vet here in Italy says you have 2 options either forget about it and as long as they remain in Italy it will be OK, but if you wish to take them back to the UK at some time you will have to have them revaccinated and tested as positive after. Also if you plan to return you have to have the flea and tick vaccine not less than24 hrs but no more than 48 hrs before returning.
Basciclly if you do not have to take the dogs back with you then forget about the Passport. As long as you have their boosters done then you could leave them in Kennels here for a while. French Passport control by the way are not interested in Dogs.
Hope this helps.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Torchiarolan,
can you just get the confirmation blood test done before you leave, even if you don't get the results in time? I know you say it is a one way move, but it is really difficult to find kennels/dog sitters here and if you had to return for any emergency reason, at least you would be covered for the future if you had to go back with them.
My experience was also the same, coming from the UK no-one was interested in the dog's papers but i would agree with everyone else and avoid Switzerland!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Hi Torchiarolan
Brought our two dogs down to Italy this summer. Nobody - just nobody was interested in any papers for them and we came through Switzerland. It was the same going back. The only time there was any interest was at Calais when we took their passports into the booth, scanned the dogs ourselves, they gave us a card to put on the dash and that was that. So coming out nothing - nobody anywhere was bothered. I would just say get everything else in order so that 'they' do not have any reason to start digging.
Good luck[/FONT]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
We are heading to the UK today (6 weeks of wine promotions!). Unfortunately we will be leaving our two (Italian) dogs behind. We tried and failed to get them to a point where thay could travel legally, fortunatelly we have some workers who are moving into the house to dog-sit, proving conclusively that dogs are more expensive than children (and we have experience of both!).
We did find a kennel that would take the dogs (Euro 5 per dog per day) but in the end we decided that they would be too traumatised by the experience (old dogs who are now used to living in retirement luxury in our bedroom).....
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Our UK vet was wonderful last year before we travelled the first time with our dog. The vaccinations were done and he phoned DEFRA about the blood test part. Their advice was simply that it wasn't necessary to have it done to leave the UK, but if for any reason we had to turn back - it would be in our best interests to have had it done and cleared. As others have stated, the French weren't remotely interested in the large GSD sat in the boot. She's since done the journey twice more. Entering the UK is reasonably stringent; leaving the UK and entering France is hassle-free.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi Torchiarolan, I missed your thread while I was in Italy, but I am glad that you got the right advice and that the dogs are now happily living in Puglia. My own advice would have been to contact DEFRA and that in the continent nobody wants to look at the pet passports. We have been travelling many times with our dog throughout Spain, France and Italy and nobody cares....
I can only tell you from those i know and all I have read, that it seems best to do it all, even though you may find that no official is in the slightest bit interested in your dogs once you cross over to Europe. You know like buying a spare "one" to ensure the original "one" never breaks!! All you need is a jobsworth this side, for it to end in tears. Oh and don't drive through Switzerland either.