Quarantine

I know this has probably been asked and answered a million times before already so I apologize. I spoke to my vet the other day and he was telling me that even after microchipping, rabies shots, blood tests, 6 month wait, vet visit right before travel...that once you arrive in UK your dog still has to go into quarantine for another 6 months!  For Real?! I imagine its probably really expensive and it can't be good for your dog to be in doggie prison for 6 months (my lil guy is only 4.2 pounds)...anybody have any comments about the facilities available...thumbs up or down?...any other ways around the 6 month quarantine? ie going through another country? thanks!

I'm afraid your vet is unfortunately misinformed. The first six months you go through (after getting your pet microchipped, vaccinated, and blood tested for rabies antibodies*) is the ONLY six month wait you have to go through. I'm sure someone will step up with more info, but you should look through the rest of the pets thread because it is incredibly helpful. :-) Good luck!!!!


*Specifically, you get your pet microchipped, vaccinated and then wait a month to get blood drawn - when the results come back, if they are acceptable, you have a six month wait *from the day the blood was drawn* (so it may take weeks to get results back, but you don't lose that time). I believe it is also possible to draw blood the same day as the vaccine (or a day later, or a week later, etc.), the thing that really matters is that your titers come back above a certain level.

Reinadeluz is right. There is no need for any quarantine in the UK. The six-month waiting period in the US takes the place of the quarantine.

It might not be a bad idea to go to the Defra website and print out some of the information about PETS for your vet. Back when I moved over the whole PETS program had just started, so my vet didn't know much about it - she and I sort of worked through it together using all the Defra information.

thanks so much for your replies...this is good news! yeah! : D And yes I will definitely be searching through these threads on the topic now.
I did print off some of the literature on PETS. I had read through it once or twice about 6 months ago and even brought it in with me to the vets office when I spoke with him. After he told me about this extra 6 month in UK quarantine stuff, I didn't believe him but then i started quickly reviewing the literature and started questioning myself. Thanks for clearing this up...Will reread more carefully.

i would honestly consider finding a new vet.....if your vet is that misinformed i dont think i could trust him/her to follow the proper procedures......there are some great ppl on here that will surely help you

i would honestly consider finding a new vet.....if your vet is that misinformed i dont think i could trust him/her to follow the proper procedures......there are some great ppl on here that will surely help you

Just so you know, vets aren't taught the in's and out's of international pet travel. Not only would it be an impractical waste of time (what countries would we learn? how often do these rules change?) it should be (and is really) the burden of the person who owns the pet to figure out. We are there to diagnose and treat sick animals, and provide preventative care for healthy animals. That's pretty much it. It is a shame that the OP's vet decided to provide an opinion on something they obviously didn't quite know - but that doesn't mean they are a bad vet.

Just my two p, as someone who is a pet owner going through the PETS passport process AND a very soon-to-be vet.

Also, it's not like the vet has that much to do, really. Give 2 shots (1 microchip, 1 rabies), pull some blood, fill out 2 forms (FAVN + EC 998), and charge money.

So even if a vet isn't familiar with the process (as Reinadeluz pointed out, there's no reason why they would be), as long as they're willing to pay attention to the details of the process (date format, timing, etc), it should be fine.

Shopping around for another vet seems pretty extreme, assuming you like your current vet and they're familiar with your animal(s).

you know the word bad vet is clearly not stated on my post.......so please dont put it there.....when someone is in a professional position they should have a very slight degree of knowledge of specifics before stating information to a client.....after all we do pay quite a bit of money for that professional opinion.....it too was suggested that i find another vet as mine did not seem so informed....but she took a few days to read over all material and is now right on top of it....but if my vet had clearly given me such incorrect information i would have sought out one a bit more familiar with the process and that is not saying my vet is bad-she is wonderful.....but after phoning the usda office to clarify that my vet was approved, i made copies of everything which she completely thanked me for and i am a extremely comfortable with her

you know the word bad vet is clearly not stated on my post.......so please dont put it there.....when someone is in a professional position they should have a very slight degree of knowledge of specifics before stating information to a client.....after all we do pay quite a bit of money for that professional opinion.....it too was suggested that i find another vet as mine did not seem so informed....but she took a few days to read over all material and is now right on top of it....but if my vet had clearly given me such incorrect information i would have sought out one a bit more familiar with the process and that is not saying my vet is bad-she is wonderful.....but after phoning the usda office to clarify that my vet was approved, i made copies of everything which she completely thanked me for and i am a extremely comfortable with her

Oh, I know you didn't say bad vet - but I felt it was implied, apologies if you didn't *mean* to imply that, that's just what I got out of it - maybe "incompetent" makes more sense.

I do know how stressful the whole PETS process is - and I agree that if someone does not actually know something they shouldn't be giving information out, but as I mentioned - the burden is not on the vet to know these things, it's on the pet owner.

I guess I tend to see the vets side of things - telling someone to shop around for a new one because they don't know what the PETS passport thing is all about just seems wrong to me since it *really* isn't something that we should be expected to know.

I made it quite clear to my vet at the beginning of the process that I would prefer he would just do the things I asked him to do rather than expecting him to know all about it himself.  This only worked some of the time and was VERY frustrating.  He would continually use American date format and question why I said one thing or another was important.  I dont think its crucial for your vet to be familiar with the process, but if they arent you have to make sure you can be stern with them if needed and not trust everything they say just because they are the vet.  This is one rare instance when you may actually know more than the "professional", and it is in the end up to you to make sure its done correctly.  I am fairly sure my vet hated me after this was all said and done, but lucky for him - he doenst need to deal with me ever again!

I made it quite clear to my vet at the beginning of the process that I would prefer he would just do the things I asked him to do rather than expecting him to know all about it himself.  This only worked some of the time and was VERY frustrating.  He would continually use American date format and question why I said one thing or another was important.  I dont think its crucial for your vet to be familiar with the process, but if they arent you have to make sure you can be stern with them if needed and not trust everything they say just because they are the vet.  This is one rare instance when you may actually know more than the "professional", and it is in the end up to you to make sure its done correctly.  I am fairly sure my vet hated me after this was all said and done, but lucky for him - he doenst need to deal with me ever again!

makes me giggle as i had to rewrite the forms.....my vet scratched out.....didnt do the date format correctly......i told her not to worry as i would do all the writing and i had extra copies of the forms if needed.......she doesnt hate me yet but the end isnt here yet....lol