PETS Program

Has anyone heard of updates on the PETS program?  The last I heard was that they may include the continental US in the pilot program to let us bring our dogs and cats with us to the UK by the end of 2002.  I had bookmarked a few sites but for whatever reason I can't access them now.  Any news??? [smiley=worried2.gif]

Our doggie Rosebud is in a quarantine kennel right now (1 month down, 5 to go  :'( ).  They kennel staff is quite knowledgeable about the PETS program and they told us that to their knowledge, the soonest that North America would be included in the program would be summer 2003.  Bummer, I know.  And, even if North America was included right now, you would have still had to have your pets microchipped, had a rabies vaccine, plus a certified blood test (meaning the UK will accept the results) 6 months before entering the UK.  Otherwise, the animal still has to wait out the remainder of the 6 month period in a quarantine facility.  Example:  IF the US was included in PETS, and we had Rosie chipped, jabbed, and blood-tested in July, we still would have to either a) put her in a quarantine facility here until January; or b) leave her in the US until January, then ship her over.  

Bottom line, it sucks BIG TIME, but we were not willing to give Rosie up, so she is "doing time", we visit her at least once a week, and April can't come soon enough for me!

Good luck -- if you want a good kennel/cattery in the Surrey area I highly recommend Wey Farm in Ottershaw.  I think the address is www.weyfarm.com, or www.weyfarm.co.uk.  They were very helpful w/ the paperwork for her entry to the UK, picked her up from Gatwick and transported her to the kennel, are very caring and helpful on the phone, and very caring in person.  You can tell that the staff really loves the animals.  For an overall bad situation, I feel that they are helping us make the best of it, and I know Rosie is well cared for and loved.

Stephanie

Yes, the PETS program....oy, vay....(What is up with these Brits?)  

Our pup just got 'chipped and tested in preparation for our move to the UK....Because she was nearly due for her rabies booster [even though they have none in France] she had to get 'chipped, then two weeks of waiting for the proper level of anti-bodies, then the blood test (this morning). Even though she's coming from France, she will still have to stay behind for several months before she can join us.

I wish we would have had her microchipped when we first got her last year.

I feel horrible for putting her though this whole ordeal, but its better than the whole quarantine thing.

siiigh.    I hate this quarantine stuff.    My poor cat hasn't seen me in 2 years and is living (albeit happily) with my family (apparently there new house had mice...Bob was overjoyed).  I didn't know you could visit them while they were on quarantine tho!  :O  I was told they'd have to be quarantined 6 months...and no visits...and no way would I do that to my cat!  It's a shame it PETS won't be going until the summer of next year tho, as I'll be over in Feb and it would be lovely to bring my cat back with me...tho I suppose by now it'd just upset him more than leaving him with my family.   :-/
wench

For info:

"Pet Quarantine eased"
Elliot Morley, Minister for Fisheries, Water and Nature Protection, has announced today (21/11/02) that the Pet Travel Scheme will be extended to the USA and Canada from Wednesday 11 December 2002.

From this date, dogs and cats in the USA and Canada will be able to enter the UK under PETS provided they meet the rules.

According to the web site there is "a fact sheet for the US and Canadian public which explains the procedures for preparing an animal in these countries to meet the PETS rules (including microchipping, then vaccination against rabies, then a blood test with a sample taken at least 6 months before entry). There is a different fact sheet for vets in these countries."

See
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/ [nofollow]

I read about this impending announcement the other day in the UK papers....I am SOOO glad that it happened already. Now our little pup can go stay with my parents in the usa.

I checked on the cost of microchipping my dog (cost in Texas) was $48.  They said they use a local anesthetic and implant the microchip just under the skin between their shoulder blades.  The chip is about the size of a grain of rice.  When scanned with a special scanner, it shows a registration number.  An 800 number can be called and it will have your pets info. in a database.  They said it takes about 3 days to get the results on the rabies titer blood test (checks for antibodies to rabies).  The cost in TX for this is $137.  My vet said they have to send the blood off to a lab to test for this.  

They said it takes about 3 days to get the results on the rabies titer blood test (checks for antibodies to rabies).

Careful here; the blood test must be performed by a laboratory that has been specifically approved by the British government. There's exactly one such laboratory in the United States. (OK, actually, there are two, but one's military and doesn't do business with the general public.)

It doesn't really matter how quickly your results come back, as the PETS rules mandate that the animal can't enter the UK until six months after the blood is drawn for the test. My results (from a lab in Belgium) took over a month. No problem. All told, it takes over seven months to fully comply with the PETS requirements. If you get your pet microchipped today, you might be able to fly her to England next June.

Yes, this all [seems] exactly correct, from our experience.

We JUST finished all this in France (chip is 58 euros, blood work is 90 euros) and got an official looking letter back from the lab in French / English confirming the level of rabies-something-or-others in our little black dog's blood.

The only thing that is not 100% clear in my mind is when the six month clock starts? The day of the blood test? The date of the letter from the lab? The date that we got the letter? The date of the chip? Je ne sais pas!

The only thing that is not 100% clear in my mind is when the six month clock starts? The day of the blood test?

The day the blood is drawn.

I spent half of this year living in Holland just to get my pets eligible to enter Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme. Been there, done that. As there seems to be a fair bit of confusion about the whole thing here's a brief summary of what you must do.

* Microchip. Different types of chips are generally used in the United States and Europe. It is best to get an ISO standard chip as used in Europe, but this may be difficult or impossible in the States; I don't know. If your pet does not have an ISO standard microchip, the British authorities will expect you to provide your own microchip reader when the pet enters the country. Expect this to set you back a few hundred dollars.
* Rabies vaccination. This can be done at the same time as the microchip. Make sure your veterinarian uses a type of rabies vaccine approved by the UK government.
* Blood sample. 30 days after the vaccination, your veterinarian must draw a blood sample and ship it to a testing lab which has been approved by the UK government for this purpose. There is one such laboratory in the United States. Assuming the blood titre test results are favourable, your pet will be eligible to enter the UK six months after this blood sample is taken.
* Blood test. Sometime in the subsequent weeks or months you'll get results back from the testing laboratory. Once you get the successful test results, you can get the necessary PETS certificate. The certificate has to be issued by a veterinarian certified by the national government; the exact form this certification takes varies from country to country. In the States the vet must be certified by the USDA.
* Parasite treatment. Between 24 and 48 hours before departure, your pet must be treated for tapeworms and ticks. You should get an official certificate certifying that this was done.

Once all this is done, you can take your pet from America to England without putting them into quarantine when you get there.

Except, you can't. Because the final requirement is that the animal must travel into the UK on an approved carrier (airline) and an approved route, and at the moment there aren't any approved carriers or routes from the United States! It is hoped they'll get some certified in the next few months, but as things currently stand, if you being your PETS-certified animal from America to England, the animal will have to spend at least 2-3 days in quarantine under the "early release" procedure.

Does anyone find it ironic that they've just had their first case of rabies here in 100 years? From a bat bite, in Dundee, Scotland, a couple of weeks ago. The victim died, because they didn't catch it in time, they didn't know what the symptoms of the disease were, because they hadn't dealt with it before. I only share this because to those in the US, they might not have heard the recent news of this. It makes you wonder if the quarantine efforts were in vain after all. If one bat has had it now, who knows how it might spread.

Does anyone find it ironic that they've just had their first case of rabies here in 100 years? From a bat bite, in Dundee, Scotland, a couple of weeks ago. The victim died, because they didn't catch it in time, they didn't know what the symptoms of the disease were, because they hadn't dealt with it before. I only share this because to those in the US, they might not have heard the recent news of this. It makes you wonder if the quarantine efforts were in vain after all. If one bat has had it now, who knows how it might spread.

I find it just scary and sad really. After all the effort to keep rabies out. It's sad if it was brought in by someone smuggling a pet in who has rabies. Or..... can bats fly from the Continent? I liked living in a rabies-free land.
and I think the government, though slow and red tapey, has done the right thing. And I speak as one whose daughter had to leave a kitty cat behind as the scheme came in just a little too late for them...
susan

I for one am happy that rabies has been kept out of Britain for so long.  But I don't believe it can be put down solely to the length of the quarentine period that the importation of animals to the UK requires; I think these measures are antiquated.  They have taken a blanket figure six months and have kept to it for so many years because it seems to have worked.  In the same way I you could say that your computer is a tiger repellant!  Well are there tigers sitting around it now?  No?  Well it works then;)

I have a problem with the six months blanket figure, because there are easier ways.  They could put the quarentine down to one month with the same effect, they could inplant micro chips, they could have complete health history of the animal and its whereabout for a six month period before coming to Britain.

I have a personal reason for my dislike of the quarentine restrictions, Elle (my wife to those who didn't know) had a cat called Whiskers when she was living in Illinois/Iowa and she had her cat for a very long time.  He lived with her when she was in Germany, he quite old and may not have survived the quarentine.  Basically we didn't feel the need to subject him to the quarentine and not being around anyone that he knew, so we thought it would be better for him if he stayed in the States.

Fortunately we managed to find someone Karla who agreed to have Whiskers live with her before we moved to England.

It's sad that you can move any animal (within reason, in the right circumstances) to the states but can't move them into the UK, even when the animal has never really gone outside, has a complete medical history and hasn't been in contact with other animals except humans.

Hopefully things will change in the future.

Well, it has changed now, hasn't it - for the States...
on the 6 month thing though...... it probably was too long but Hawaii's quarantine period is also 6 months so maybe there is actually a reason.....
susan