Moving Pets Across Countries Paula Boyden BVetMed MRCVS Dogs Trust
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