Travelling abroad with your exotic pet.
There are no pet passports for birds, reptiles and small mammals (apart from ferrets to the EU which share similar requirements to cats and dogs). If you want to travel with such pets, even to the EU, this is usually on an individual export and import basis for each trip.
The first step when planning your trip is whether the destination country requires an export form completed by a ‘government approved’ vet. In the UK this is an Official Veterinarian (or OV for short) completing an Export Health Certificate (EHC). At CJ Hall Vets, Matthew Fiddes is an OV for this purpose. Available EHCs can be found here. If the EHC matching your type of pet and destination country (and transit countries if travelling over land) is listed, you must use this form for export. These forms are issued by the UK government/APHA (not CJ Hall Vets nor any other veterinary practice) and you should apply via the APHA website. You can nominate CJ Hall Vets as the certifying vet, where the EHC is sent to us for completion. Various testing, home visits or consultations may be required depending on the destination country. You must contact us in sufficient time to plan and make bookings for the form undertakings - we cannot guarantee availability at short notice. Note that the requirements of each country and health attestations are subject to change, such that CJ Hall Vets cannot advise on requirements for each country - you are best to refer to the current EHC for each travel occasion.
We are often asked to ‘just provide a private health certificate’ as owners view this as more simple and convenient. Please be aware that if an EHC is available, then such a private health certificate will not be sufficient to meet the country’s entry requirements and you run the risk of being denied entry or having your animal confiscated.
If the type of pet or destination country is not listed on the APHA EHC directory, you should make inquiries to APHA Exports Carlisle and / or relevant authorities in the destination country as to their requirements. This will usually result in two outcomes:
Destination country requires a health certificate signed by a ‘private veterinarian’ i.e. not necessarily a UK Official Veterinarian. In this case an appointment for a health check consultation is required, where CJ Hall Vets can issue you with a private health certificate. You should check whether there is any timescale specified before the date of travel. If not we would suggest an appointment no later than 1 week before travel. Such forms are also often required by airlines for travel.
Destination country requires a health certificate signed by a government approved veterinarian (this is an Official Veterinarian in the UK). If there is no current EHC available, then a form will need to be agreed between the UK government (APHA Exports Carlisle) and the destination country. This is a lengthy process. A vet acting as a UK Official Veterinarian can only complete and certify a form issued by the UK government. NO UK VET ACTING AS AN OFFICIAL VETERINARIAN CAN COMPLETE AN EXPORT FORM ISSUED BY ANOTHER COUNTRY i.e. you cannot print out a form from a foreign government website and get us to complete it.
We understand that exporting or travelling with your exotic pet can be complicated. Whilst we are happy to act as the certifying vet, it is a conflict of interest for us to apply for export documentation on your behalf. You may wish to consider the services of a pet export company who offer this service at an additional charge. In some cases you can still use CJ Hall Vets as the OV or otherwise the export company may use their own OV.