[edc123]

Hello,

I am planning to travel from the UK (England) to Italy by car, through France and Switzerland with my 6 month old puppy. I think I have most things covered but two points I would ask for help clarifying:

- Rabies vaccination - my puppy will be having first jab 24th May (next week), and I understand it is a course of 2 jabs that need to be two weeks apart. I then need to wait 21 days to travel - but is it from the first jab or does it need to be after the second jab? Are there any single jab rabies vaccinations available?
(This is not ideal as I need to travel ASAP)

- Also my vet has quoted around £200 for the rabies vaccination + health certificate - is this a normal price?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DaySleepers]

According to this UK government website the 21 days is from initial vaccination, assuming your puppy was microchipped before or at the same time as the rabies vaccine was given. I've honestly never heard of rabies being given as a course of two vaccines close together, so I can't speak to that. Same thing with the prices - veterinary pricing changes so much based on region even within a country I can't begin to guess what a 'normal' price would be for you, sorry about that!

It is worth double-checking to make sure your pup's microchip follows international standards (15 digits) and will be able to be read by the border agent doing your inspection - otherwise you'll want a compliant microchip put in when you get the rabies vaccine done or will need to bring your own microchip reader that's compatible with your microchip. You're probably fine because the UK was part of the EU until recently and, as far as I know, follows those standards pretty well, but it's an issue I ran into moving my older dog from the USA to Europe so I thought I'd bring it up.

You also may need to give the border control point into the EU a heads up that you'll be coming through with a dog. When I brought my dog into Norway (which I know isn't EU, and was also through an airport), I had to arrange with them to have a veterinarian present for his inspection, since they don't have high enough volume of animals coming through to have a vet on-site at all times. This might be different with a land checkpoint, but it's worth looking into.

 

[edc123]

According to this UK government website the 21 days is from initial vaccination, assuming your puppy was microchipped before or at the same time as the rabies vaccine was given. I've honestly never heard of rabies being given as a course of two vaccines close together, so I can't speak to that. Same thing with the prices - veterinary pricing changes so much based on region even within a country I can't begin to guess what a 'normal' price would be for you, sorry about that!

It is worth double-checking to make sure your pup's microchip follows international standards (15 digits) and will be able to be read by the border agent doing your inspection - otherwise you'll want a compliant microchip put in when you get the rabies vaccine done or will need to bring your own microchip reader that's compatible with your microchip. You're probably fine because the UK was part of the EU until recently and, as far as I know, follows those standards pretty well, but it's an issue I ran into moving my older dog from the USA to Europe so I thought I'd bring it up.

You also may need to give the border control point into the EU a heads up that you'll be coming through with a dog. When I brought my dog into Norway (which I know isn't EU, and was also through an airport), I had to arrange with them to have a veterinarian present for his inspection, since they don't have high enough volume of animals coming through to have a vet on-site at all times. This might be different with a land checkpoint, but it's worth looking into.

That is good information to know - thank you for this!

There are apparently single dose rabies vaccinations available (which I of course didn't know about), so trying to source that locally.

Thanks again