Moving to Ireland - Pet passport?

oatsareclass

Hi,

I will be bringing my beloved irish setter to Ireland next year when i move home from Switzerland. I have read about a pet passport, however my vet here says a vet certificate should suffice. Has anybody gone through this? I want to make sure to do the right thing, as i really dont want 'Pepper' to have to go into quarantine!

Any advice appreciated
Caroline

Alun

oatsareclass wrote: »

I will be bringing my beloved irish setter to Ireland next year when i move home from Switzerland. I have read about a pet passport, however my vet here says a vet certificate should suffice. Has anybody gone through this? I want to make sure to do the right thing, as i really dont want 'Pepper' to have to go into quarantine!

Your vet is wrong! That might be sufficient for travel between Switzerland and some other EU countries, but for the UK and Ireland you definitely need the Pet Passport.

See http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/pets/ and http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/index.htm (site is for the UK but the rules are exactly the same and the information there is better explained). Anyway if you're travelling by car you'll probably be transiting through the UK, and it's the UK authorities you'll be dealing with on arrival. Once you're in Britain, there is free travel for pets onward to Ireland.

Paul91

recently took a dog over from Ireland to the UK - no papers required for the dog - but like Alun said to come into the UK (if that's how you are trevelling) check out that site

WIZE

We brought our westie from Germany and used a Pet passport .

ashlingm

Hey,

You definately need a pet passport and make sure you rabies and titre test are done properly. You also need a tape worm treatment 24 hours before you are due to travel (I think its tapeworm...I could confirm that for you!) and this must be logged in your passport too.

Are you planning to fly? Having looked into this myself I would strongly discourage it, once you hit dublin airport the dog will have to be transported to Lissenhall Veterinary Surgery in swords (the only quarentine unit in southern Ireland) to confirm his passport is up to date and everything is in order. The price for this is about 450euro....on top of your already expensive flights! Might be worth your while interrailing and then getting someone to hop over in the car on the ferry and collect you in france. You cant travel a dog on the ferry without having a car...

If you need any more information do let me know...Best of luck with it too!!

Alun

ashlingm wrote: »

You also need a tape worm treatment 24 hours before you are due to travel (I think its tapeworm...I could confirm that for you!) and this must be logged in your passport too.

It's both a tick and a tapeworm treatment you need, yes, and it has to be done between 24 and 48 hours before you check in for your onward journey to the UK, and entered on the passport complete with stamp and signature from the vet.

This can be a problem, logistics wise, if you have a long overland journey to get to (say) Calais and/or it's near a weekend, and you can't get to your own vet for whatever reason to get it done within the allowed time frame. I understand there are vets in the vicinity of the Calais ferry port who will do this for you, but this means hanging around in the area for longer than is necessary (it's not exactly a nice area, in common with most ferry ports).

ashlingm

yep your right about the ticks too...thanks

oatsareclass

thanks for the info guys, we are not flying, from what ive read it sounds too risky and stressful to put our fella through. so we will drive to france, get the eurotunnel to uk and the quick ferry across...will probably cost a fortune but our baby is worth it!!!!

manofmoynalty

Get approval from dept of agriculture prior to departure and you can avoid lissenhall when flying them in.
Weather you fly or drive you are still obligated to have all the essentianl docs in order.
Pet passport , rabies vacc. Its the dept of agriculte you have to satisfy. Bear in mind because you are coming from Switzerland your dog will have to be cleared customs so make sure all is in order. Bringing any animal to Ireland is akward because we are a rabies free country. Free movement within uk and ireland only so if you drive via switzerland you will have the same requirements as flying
Hope this helps and one piece of advice. Get your requirements from department of agriculture in ireland and then you will instruct your vet on what do provide. In my experience vets have created alot of problems for people transporting pets due to lack of knowlegde of local requirements.
Also dept of agr. will most likely want to put the dog in lessenhall if they travelled through france as they can assume something could be picked up. If flying most likely will have to go with Lufthansa . LX maybe an option if the dog box is small enough