Taking your own dog abroad

Re: Taking your own dog abroad

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 13:52:56 GMT

Predating or presigning the passport would be false certification, and, if discovered, would result in (deservedly) harsh sanctions by the RCVS DC.

Just get a foreign vet to do their job, and pay your bill. We've all got to pay the mortgage eh?

The only way to avoid it is if you are going for less than 5 days- in which case someone could do it for you before you go.

Re: Taking your own dog abroad

Claudia Niehoegen — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 09:13:49 GMT

We have not dared to predate/ stamp the passport just in case there was a check on the way out (or an accident where a local vet might want to see the foreign dog's passport). I didn't want to take the stamp away from the surgery either but I suppose you could have a spare one made up. They do check thoroughly, especially the time and date. So, if you stamped it from a UK practice but dated it when you were abroad there could be a problem.

Issuing the passport, signing vaccinations and wormers as the vet and owner should not be a problem as such, eg if you worm here but return in < 72 hours.

We have been fortunate to visit vet friends who signed and stamped for us abroad while we gave our wormers. Even a vet unknown to us was happy to do that and didn't even charge for her time. That was in Germany though, not France. If you go back and forth it might be worth seeing a local French vet and come to an arrangement?

A German vet friend told me a client of his was stopped in Austria. When she couldn't produce the dog's passport (it was in the hotel) she was fined and after her return the issuing vet had to fax over a confirmation that all was in order. Those controllers would certainly have picked up on a predated entry!

Re: Taking your own dog abroad

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:27:35 GMT

We've taken our dogs to France for the last few years. I have always had a different vet in the practice sign the passport, and a French vet dispense the tablet ( they usually let us give the tablet) and sign the passport. It is usually around 40 euros.

Re: Taking your own dog abroad

karen jones — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 23:15:22 GMT

The vets I've used allowed me to give my dog my milbemax and noted the batch numbers on their practice management system. We used vets away from Calais and were charged around 35 euros for two dogs and their passports apparently can be a lot more near Calais

Re: Taking your own dog abroad

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 22:41:17 GMT

You can do the work, but you cannot sign the passport - you need to get a colleague to do it. It's the third of the 12 principals of certification:

3. Veterinarians should not issue a certificate which might raise questions of a possible conflict of interest eg in relation to their own animals.

http://www.rcvs.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/code-of-professional-conduct-for-veterinary-surgeons/supporting-guidance/certification/