How long does it take to get a pet passport?

Hi guys

I'm bringing my lad on holidays with me this summer (france) and I need a pet passport for him. I know since Jan 1st 2012, the legislation has changed etc. But how long does it take before you send off the form to having the passport back?

Cheers

Mountainsandh

It took 3 to 4 weeks to get my dog's passport back, about 1 1/2 months ago. But it could have been less than that, the vets were sending it and getting it back, and I think they forgot to ring straight after it had got in. You'd want 2/3 weeks at the very least, especially now that the department must be busier.

Also, to go to France you need the pet vaccinated against rabies, and a delay of 6 weeks after it has been vaccinated to be able to travel.
So if your pet is already vaccinated against rabies you're probably ok, but if it's not, you could be short of time !

Obviously pet has to be microchipped, other shots, etc... and I'm bringing my little fellow days before departure for a final worming (at the vets for proof) and same will have to be done in France before I come back to Ireland as we'll be staying around 3 weeks.

JustAThought

Mountainsandh is spot on. I had a big issue earlier this year that made me have to move & I decided to go to France and I went into the Department & spoke with them and they managed to turn it around in a few dAys but that was in early Feb; they might not be as receptive at this time
Of year when everyone is "panicking" & needing one. There was a chain of ownership issue for a bit when neither vet nor Department said they had it but his was a human error problem along the line ( safely put in a drawer & forgotten!) .all
My shots & rabies had been administered in advance thou so this helped speed my passport up enormously .
Hope this helps.

Cool lads, not going until Mid August so should be ok right?

Will pop down to vet for rabies shot this week, I'll get the form sent off this week.

Any other tips/advice welcome

Mountainsandh

You should be fine so, but yeah, you might want to get going with the shot, and sending off the stuff, just to be sure. That will give them plenty of weeks to process it and no excuse should the thing linger on because of seasonal demand. That's all really. It seems like the vets tend to file away in drawers nicely (that's what happened in my case too I'd say), what with having different people at reception, so maybe check and recheck with the vets after 2 weeks, so that if there is indeed a delay on the department side, you will know about it.

There's room as you must have seen on the forms to stick in a photograph. I gave one that's very small and not great, but I thought it would show the markings in case he ever got lost (God forbid !). But that's up to you whether you want one, and they accepted my crappy one, so that's no hassle.

That's it really. The vet will stick on labels from the shots etc... and you receive this little blue passport all ready to go.

I'm so excited about taking our new pup on holidays, we head off in the campervan to France every year with the kids, it will be great fun with the pup, even though it does involve some organisation and a bit of planning.
In our case he will be staying in the camper for the ferry trip, I'm a bit nervous about him spending some time on his own with strange noises etc... but I'm planning on visiting him several times during the night, and he's pretty good at sleeping the night through.

Are you taking the ferry too ?

Mountainsandh

Mountainsandh wrote: »

You should be fine so, but yeah, you might want to get going with the shot, and sending off the stuff, just to be sure. That will give them plenty of weeks to process it and no excuse should the thing linger on because of seasonal demand. That's all really. It seems like the vets tend to file away in drawers nicely (that's what happened in my case too I'd say), what with having different people at reception, so maybe check and recheck with the vets after 2 weeks, so that if there is indeed a delay on the department side, you will know about it.

There's room as you must have seen on the forms to stick in a photograph. I gave one that's very small and not great, but I thought it would show the markings in case he ever got lost (God forbid !). But that's up to you whether you want one, and they accepted my crappy one, so that's no hassle.

That's it really. The vet will stick on labels from the shots etc... and you receive this little blue passport all ready to go.

I'm so excited about taking our new pup on holidays, we head off in the campervan to France every year with the kids, it will be great fun with the pup, even though it does involve some organisation and a bit of planning.
In our case he will be staying in the camper for the ferry trip, I'm a bit nervous about him spending some time on his own with strange noises etc... but I'm planning on visiting him several times during the night, and he's pretty good at sleeping the night through.

Are you taking the ferry too ?

Thanks for the tips, really appreciate it.

What I'm planning on doing is getting the ferry to the UK and drive across to the eurotunnel , spend a night somewhere along the way and do it like that. I've worked it out and (last time i checked) it's cheaper and quicker than the Rosslare ferry for me but I guess it depends where you're going and what your preference is. I've not booked transport yet but will be this week.

When I picked my pup up from the UK, he had to stay in the car for duration of ferry and he was grand to be honest with you. He was 10 weeks old so no doubt your guy will absolutely be fine. On the ferry to France, can you walk him around the deck in a designated area?

Mountainsandh

Yes, they have kennels too, or you can choose to leave the pet in your vehicle. I don't think the walking area is anything glorious, I presume you can walk them around the car deck only.
My little fellow is a shih tzu cross, so he doesn't need space as much as a bigger dog, but he's like a hyper kid on a day like today for example, so we're planning on giving him a right good run on the beach before we get on the boat, tire him out. Also we're not leaving until 9.30pm at night, so we can make sure he gets plenty of running outside the same day.

We're planning on doing the Via UK route some day too, seems great and it is cheap, only for us we would be loosing a few days of holiday, and as I have to visit my family in Southern France every time we go, every day counts.

Mountainsandh

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Yes, they have kennels too, or you can choose to leave the pet in your vehicle. I don't think the walking area is anything glorious, I presume you can walk them around the car deck only.
My little fellow is a shih tzu cross, so he doesn't need space as much as a bigger dog, but he's like a hyper kid on a day like today for example, so we're planning on giving him a right good run on the beach before we get on the boat, tire him out. Also we're not leaving until 9.30pm at night, so we can make sure he gets plenty of running outside the same day.

We're planning on doing the Via UK route some day too, seems great and it is cheap, only for us we would be loosing a few days of holiday, and as I have to visit my family in Southern France every time we go, every day counts.

Yeah you're dead right, it's just myself and my girlfriend and the dog going but if we had kids etc, we'd just get the ferry for sure. I will take another look this week when booking transport, the Gite is reserved so that's the important bit, next up is pet passport and transport!

I'll let you know how it goes with the pet passport this week.