Taking The Dog to France
A quick guide
Hello! I have been asked so many times if it was easy taking Molly with us to France so I thought I’d write a super quick post - in short it was very easy.
If you are hoping to take your cat, dog or….. wait for it, your ferret to the EU, you will need an Animal Health Certificate
Firstly…If your pet hasn't had a rabies vaccination before, or if the most recent one has expired, you'll need to book them in for a rabies vaccination at your vets. This needs to be done at least 21 days before your Animal Health Certificate appointment
What is an Animal Health Certificate (AHC)?
An Animal Health Certificate is a document that is required to take a dog, cat or ferret from the UK to the EU. The AHC needs to be issued by an Official Veterinarian (OV) within 10 days of your departure date, and it is valid for one trip to the EU only. ​Up to 5 pets can go on the same AHC, and the pets must not be travelling for commercial reasons.
Our local vets were going to charge upwards of £300 because they said it was not something they do very often so it would take a whole day of checking everything 87637862389 times to make sure they did it right and they recommended that instead we go to Pass Pets - which we did. It cost £99 and the appointment was very easy. They scanned her for her chip and filled in the form. You will need to fill out an online form before hand.
They have appointments available in 3 locations - New Malden, Bristol and Havant
We left for France from Folkstone and the whole thing was very easy - Molly had a great time in Duty Free
When it is time to come home your dog will need a tapeworm tablet, administered by a vet no less than 24 hours before travel and no more than 5 days before.
We chose this one and it cost 50 Euros. Job done.
When you arrive at Calais follow the signs to the Pet Reception. Your dog will be scanned for their chip, pass over the papers to be checked and that is pretty much it!
And then you can go to check out duty free again because it is all dog friendly
Hope that helps! Bon voyage!
Love Sally ….and Molly xx