Hello
We are moving from Scotland to France can someone give me some advice on moving the dog and cats please…do they need passports injections chipped? Will I take them over by plane or in the car? I would love lots of advice from you guys…thank you
We always travelled on the Dover Calais crossing and every time the dogs stayed in the van its an hour and a quarter with exercise areas at Dover but as we haven't travelled for 5 years it may be different now having said that friends of ours are going back on Brittany ferries this year and they have to have a pet friendly cabin it appears or so they say no pet friendly cabin left you cant go with your pet on that crossing
We use the short ferry routes (Dover/Calais and Newhaven/Dieppe) all the time with our two cats. Your pets simply remain in the vehicle. We travel either by car or campervan a minimum of twice a year. Its only on the very long crossings that they are caged. £15 per animal although there is a P & O deal on at the moment. The only time we have had the slightest problem was on a very rough crossing when one of them was sea-sick.
We have only ever gone via the Euro Tunnel, it’s quick, you just have to visit the ‘pet control’ area in Calais Harbour (just before you queue up with you car) with your dog and pet passport, also very quick, you all stay in the car all of the c25-30min the trip takes,sooo easy.Returning to France is straight forward, as well, and no visit to any ‘pet areas’ is needed! 
We always used to travel by ferry (Brittany Ferries) and dogs were routinely left in cars, not in cages, even on the overnight service. We used the onboard kennel for our dog but he was unhappy with it (and we weren't happy with the service either, especially for pets) so we now use the Shuttle. Brittany Ferries now have pet friendly cabins, so pets can stay with their owners, and on the service to Spain, pets are in kennels, but owners have key cards so can visit and exercise their dogs whenever they want to, unlike on the French routes.
I am told, (rightly or wrongly ? I haven't tried my dog on a ferry so can't confirm which) that if travelling by ferry the animal has to be put in a cage somewhere on the ship but not left in the car, nor can the animal go with you. Whereas if you travel via the Eurotunnel; La Manche; your pets stay in the vehicle with you and the journey time is so much less. That I can confirm, so if you have any stress or worries then book ahead and go via the tunnel. Personally I find they charge £18 per pet in either direction, yet going to France no-one checks except to glance and see the pet is there. Travelling to the UK however is much more rigorous so leave extra time to allow for checks. Follow the rules and all is well.
Brought my dog from France to UK with no probs . As long as chipped, vaccinated and worm tabs within 5 days of entering UK then all fine. Leaving uk was piece of cake and just glanced at pet passport. This was via ferry.
They are now 13 years old.
Alaska, grey and white, has arthritis and thyroid problems but it is all controlled by medication and she is an absolute darling at taking it all. She behaves like the grand dame and loves getting the sunshine on her bones. When my husband lost his youngest daughter to cancer st the age of 14, Alaska was his bestest friend in all the world and he used to sit and talk to her for hours. She listened to everything and never once spoke out of turn to him! Alaska was Miss November 2004 in the Whskas calendar - she is beautiful and she knows it.
Bangor, classic black tabby, is six months younger and a complete wimpy boy and sticks to me like the proverbial to a blanket! He was supposed to be my husband’s cat but rarely goes near him. He is like having a toddler around - I can’t even go to the bathroom without my shadow.
They each cost me £300 and I don’t know what that would be in today’s terms but I wouldn’t be without them.
Fabulous, and they know it!
They are beautiful cats Fiona,I'm so jealous, I've always wanted a Main Coon,but I won't pay 1000euros for one.
The armchair picture is their first day in France. Staying very close together after their longest ever car journey, around 700 miles rather than the usual 7 miles to the vet’s surgery or the cattery!
That is true Valerie. I was prepared for and expecting the worse, similar to your experience. Quelle surprise.
Ah, but you know full well Don that had you not made that effort you would almost certainly have been checked! That seems to be the way the world works sometimes. When I brought my dog & 2 cats through CDG we waited 1.5 hours at the animal retrieval section with repeated "Oh yes, wait there" responses from the staff, only to find out they were over a mile away being held in a cargo warehouse and I had to pay a ransom for their release despite all paperwork / stamps / carriage fees etc having been paid ...
When I arrived in 2004, from the US, with a fat dossier of required documents, with statements from vets and and proofs of European chip and the dozen or so vaccinations, my caged dog and I were waved through customs with only a cursory look at my passport. My passport was stamped and we were welcomed to France. This was at CDG, Paris. The dog and her documentation were never looked at once, which made me a bit peevish as I had followed the numerous costly and troublesome requirements for her admittance to the letter. I could as well have brought a mutt with festering sores and foaming at the mouth.
I had more trouble getting her out of the states than I did coming to France. The TSA goons at LAX forced me to break the security seals on her cage and remove her from her crate so they could pat her down for weapons and explosives before she could be boarded.
Speak to your vet, as simple as that…he/she will give you all the information you’ll need…good luck!
btw from this April all UK dogs must be chipped anyway. Because we are neurotic we bought a cheap chip reader online and use that to check before going to the vet (sometime his chip reader is out with a colleague). As we are the only UK people in our village and have the only Airedale in the valley, the vet knows Flossie better than he does most dogs so would have no hesitation in completing the passport if he couldn't check her chip, but if it did move or stop working I'd rather know sooner so he could add a new chip and register it before we leave France.
The rules for rabies vaccinations have changed now and are not so strict. You used to have to have your pet vaccinated, then wait a month, then have blood sample sent away to check that vaccine had worked. Now, there is no blood sample after the vaccination (bad move in my view as sometimes the first jab doesn't "take") but you have to wait for 21 days after the vaccination before you can travel. The day of vaccination counts as day 0, not day 1. Checking Rio's passport, I see that the rabies vaccination is now valid for 3 years, not 2. Your pets must be micro-chipped before vaccination, by the way, and there are special rules if you are travelling with more than 5 pets, I think.
The new style passports have more pages in them (our last dog got through 4 of the old style ones!) and some pages are laminated to prevent tampering. In order to bring your pets back into the UK, dogs must be treated by a vet (and the passport stamped) for tapeworm. Much easier now because that can be 1 to 5 days before you want to enter the UK, so travel by road with overnight stops is possible.
We used to travel by ferry (Brittany Ferries) and put our dog in a kennel, but we weren't happy with the way pets were dealt with, so we now travel on the Shuttle. Only takes 35 minutes, and you're in the car with your pet(s), so they are much less likely to get distressed. We make stops on the motorways every 2-3 hours for our dog, and stay overnight in a hotel so that he doesn't have to travel non-stop.
We used to bring our 4 Old English Sheepdogs with us on holiday twice a year they were chipped , pet passport and all the necessary vaccinations not once did they get checked on the outward journey but always on the return .By the time we moved here permanently they were well travelled, we had inherited my dads budgerigar no one else in the family would have him/her we never knew so it was coming with us, we had to apply to DEFRA fill in a huge amount of paperwork take the bird to the vets for examination which was a laugh in itself.We duly received all the necessary documentation from DEFRA and were warned under no circumstances were we to loose the paperwork as it would have to be shown when we left the country.The big day dawned of we set the dogs in their cages, i had converted a transit van,woe betide any dog who in the excitement got into the wrong cage they all knew whose cage was whose the budgie on the front seat in its cage the dogs were exercised at Dover in the compound, the budgie was grounded, turning up at customs we offered said paperwork and told them 4 dogs and a budgerigar we were met by blank looks and waved through we were holding up traffic so all the form filling the vet bill was for nought. We still keep up the passport for the dogs though they have never been back to the UK the bird lasted 2 years. See your vet they will know what you need but chipping is essential anyway lost or stolen pets can be traced when you turn up at the port they will give you a sticker for your vehicle which will state pets on board i believe the longer overnight crossings now have kennels but the short crossings they remain in the vehicle, Tunnel you and the animals stay in the vehicle