Protecting Your Pet Whilst Abroad

One common misunderstanding about the PET scheme is that it exists to protect your pet. This is not true. The scheme is designed to protect the human UK population from diseases spread by pets. It is nothing whatsoever to do with the welfare of your pet.

There are two significant things you should consider before taking your pet abroad:

There are several potentially fatal exotic diseases your pet can contract.
The standard of veterinary care should your pet fall sick may not be what you've come to expect from us.

Serious Disease Risks Whilst Abroad

All of the really nasty pet diseases abroad share two things in common - they are all spread by biting insects and they all have the potential to be fatal - even if treated quickly.

The diseases are:

Leishmaniasis - A disease spread by sandflies, prevalent around the Mediterranean. It causes serious damage to the immune system, kidneys, liver and skin. Although slow in onset (the condition can take years to appear and progress) and controllable, ultimately the condition is usually fatal.
Babesiosis - Spread by ticks, babesiosis causes the immune system to turn on itself, destroying the red blood cells - if this happens quickly enough then the disease can be rapidly fatal.
Ehrlichiosis - Again spread by ticks. This condition causes clotting problems for the blood and can result in heavy blood loss, typically seen as nose bleeds in a pet which has been abroad. Although dramatic in appearance and potentially serious this can be treated with antibiotics.
Dirofilariasis - Otherwise known as heartworm, this parasite is spread by mosquitoes (pictured right)and can cause fatal disease as the adult worms grow in the animal's heart!

Incidence Levels

OK, so they all sound pretty horrific but to put these problems into perspective consider the following. Since the inception of PETS over 300,000 animals have travelled abroad. During this time the government has been running a monitoring scheme called (DACTARI) to keep track of the incidence of the four diseases mentioned above. At the time of publication just over 51 cases have been reported in total which means your pet only has a tiny (1 in 6,000) chance of contracting these diseases when abroad.

Our Recommendations for Keeping Your Pet Safe

As always prevention is better than cure so we've compiled a checklist that will minimise the disease risk to your pet but also comply with the PETS regulations to get your pet back into the UK.

1. Use a tick control product containing fipronil monthly (this must be timed to coincide with your re-entry to the UK).

2. Use a wormer containing milbemycin oxime to kill tapeworms and prevent heartworm monthly (this must be timed to coincide with your re-entry to the UK).

3. Use a medicated collar containing deltamethrin to repel sandflies at least two weeks prior to departure.

In addition to these measures we recommend that you keep your pet indoors during dawn and dusk as this is the peak feeding time for sandflies. Make use of mosquito nets on the property in which you reside abroad and perform a daily tick check on your dog using an O'Tom tick hookto remove any parasites you may find.

Do not be baffled or put off by the unfamiliar names above, each of these products is available from the practice and can be discussed with the vet.

We recommend a pre-holiday check up with your vet to make sure your pet is healthy before departure and you have all the necessary measures to make sure you bring nothing more serious home from holiday than a suntan!

Insuring Your Pet Abroad

At Parkvets we are strong advocates of pet insurance and we advise all our clients to ensure they have sufficient cover available when travelling abroad.

Petplan provide a policy extension for existing customers costing approximately £6 per 2 weeks. They will also cover clients who do not have a UK policy with them for approximately £30 for up to 30 days cover.

Call Petplan on 0845 077 1934 to book your policy. You will need your pet's details (including microchip number) to hand when booking.

↑ Top of page

← Back to pet passports home

← Services

Send us feedback on this page