Moving Pets Across

Countries

Paula Boyden BVetMed MRCVS

Dogs Trust

Pet Travel Scheme 2000-2011

• Microchip/Transponder

• Vaccinate

• Blood test after 30d

• Issue Passport

• Entry to the UK 6mths after date of

successful blood test

• Tick and tapeworm 24-48h before entry

Pet Travel Scheme 2012

• Microchip

• Vaccinate

• Issue Passport

• Travel 3 weeks after vaccination

• Tapeworm treatment 1-5 days before

entry to the UK

• No tick treatment

So what does this mean?

• Blood test no longer required

– ‘Failures’?

• 3 week wait

• Age of entry into the UK

• Extended period for tapeworm treatment

No Rabies Blood Test

• 2000 – 2011 almost 12 years of rabies

serology data

• Large breeds of dog

• 1-7 years > Over 7 years > less than 1

year

• Some may never pass

3 Week Wait

• Incubation period of rabies typically 1-3 months but can be much longer

• Incubation period depends on: – Age of bitten individual

– Distance from bite site to spinal cord or brain

– Variant of the virus

– Amount of virus introduced

Age of Entry

• Cannot vaccinate against rabies until 3

months of age

• 2000 – 2011

– 3 months + 30 days + 6 month wait

– Min age 10 months

• 2012

– 3 months + 3 week wait

– Min age 15 weeks

Numbers of Pets Travelling

2011 2012 %

increase

Cats 8,712 14,587 67%

Dogs 88,661 142,665 61%

Ferrets 77 95 23%

97,450 157,347 61%

8

Number of pets entering GB taken from the PETS database

(courtesy of Defra)

Dog Profile

• Puppies for sale

– Some moving commercially

– Many puppies bought in markets in small

numbers and brought to the UK for sale

– The carrying vehicle may declare some, but

not all dogs

• Adult dogs for rescue / rehoming

Does Age Matter?

• near 400% increase* in the number of

‘illegals’ in 2012 – changes to rules 01/01/12

– profit to be made

– Unknown quantities

– Lack of intel management

*City of London Corporation

Non Compliance

• 417 pets identified as illegal landings were seized

by Trading Standards in Jan-Nov 2012, compared

with 127 for the same period in 2011

• Non-compliant pets must stay in quarantine until

they meet EU animal health requirements

12

Rabies in the EU

Around 200 rabies cases in the EU in 2011

compared with 5,000 in 2001

and around 13,000 in 1991

1998 2008

What Checks are Made?

• 100% checks at ports

– Embarkation at seaports

– Arrival at airports

• Subsequent 5-10% quality control checks

by AHVLA (Government Agency)

IF THEY ARE DECLARED

How do we know if an animal

has entered the country

legally?

• Permanent identification and registration

– Central reunification number

– Register at local and European level

(Euoropetnet)

– Backtrack

• Focus for lobbying in the EU

Should we be concerned?

…of the eleven puppies we had here five

of them were Bulldogs; two of them were

paid for by the person who imported them.

He took them home on Tuesday (one of

them had a bad cherry eye) within three

hours he had them both up on the internet

for sale

Tapeworm:

Echinococcus multilocularis

Echinococcus multilocularis

Diseases associated with

Travelling Pets • Babesia (Tick)

• Ehrlichia (Tick)

• Dirofilaria (Mosquito)

• Leishmania (Sandfly)

Babesia

• A protozoon

• Lives inside the red blood

cells

• AKA piroplasmosis

Ehrlichia

• Affects the platelets (important in blood

clotting

• Can lead to bleeding e.g. nose bleeds,

during surgery

Dirofilaria: Heartworm

• Transmitted by mosquitos

• Microscopic form, microfilariae injected

into blood stream

• Mature adult worms locate in the heart

• Topical medication that will kill

microfilariae can be used to prevent

disease

Leishmaniasis

• Caused by the protozoan parasite

Leishmania infantum

• Transmitted by Phlebotomus spp

sandflies

• Potentially zoonotic

Leishmaniasis: distribution

Other Diseases Reported via

DACTARI

Diagnosed by Acarus

Babesia 19 165

(2 untravelled)

Ehrlichia 21

172

(3 untravelled)

Leishmania 66 357

(2 untravelled)

(3 unknown travel

history)

TOTAL 106 694

Moving Animals for Adoption

• Which dogs?

– Will a street dog really fit in with a domestic

home environment?

• Do it legally

– Commercial movement vs PETS

• Do it responsibly

– Disease status, especially if non-endemic in

country of destination (?test / treat)

Disease Considerations

• What infectious diseases are prevalent in the country of origin? www.cvbd.org

• Are there appropriate tests available?

• Are these diseases endemic in the destination country? • Naïve population

• Should we risk introducing the disease into this?

• Or do we test and then put preventive measures in place?

Leishmaniasis

• Sandfly transmitted

• Prevalent around the Med basin

• PCR test available

– Before travel

– 6 months later

• Can manage but not cure

• Zoonotic

Other Diseases

• Dirofilaria (Heartworm) – Regular treatment required to prevent clinical

disease

• Babesia – Tick prevention

• Ehrlichia – Tick prevention

Source Country

• The dogs that are relocated/rehomed will

benefit greatly

• What is left?

– Improve the resources for those that are left?

– Will they reproduce further to fill the void?

– Population control

– Education

– Lobbying - locally / EU (Eurogroup)

In Summary

• Changes to PETS has made it much

easier to move animals across borders

– Traceability

• Welfare implications

– Breeding

– Transport

– Wellbeing

• It may not be just the animals that are

being moved