Pet owners are reminded to keep vaccines up to date

Saturday 03 June 2017

The States Vet is reminding Islanders to keep their pet's vaccines up to date before they travel, after a record number of pets travelled to Jersey from Europe.

Approximately 4.1% of the 747 pets that came to Jersey under the PETS scheme since January didn't meet the pet passport travel requirements, resulting in animals being refused travel or being put into quarantine.

Over the last three years, the Animal Health and Welfare Section in the Department of the Environment has seen a significant increase in the number of pets that don’t comply with the travel scheme requirements, in 2014 it concerned 2.6% of the animals.

The service says it is dealing with pet arrival problems, on average, twice a week, as a result of people failing to comply with the requirements, which they attribute to lack of awareness and lack of attention to detail. The most common reason is dogs not having a valid tapeworm (echinococcus) treatment, and not having a valid rabies vaccination, or these details not being correctly recorded in the pet passport by the vet. 

The States Veterinary Officer, Theo Knight-Jones has therefore issued a reminder to pet owners. He recommends to check the pet's rabies vaccination is up to date for the whole duration of their stay, before they leave the Island. Between one day and days before coming to Jersey, they should also arrange for a vet to get an anti-tapeworm treatment for their pet. All the details of both the vaccine and the treatment need to be entered in the pet passport to avoid any issue.

Dr Knight-Jones said “The rules are there for a good reason - to protect you, your animal and the wider community from sickness, and serious, sometimes fatal diseases like rabies.”

"Travelling with animals can be stressful – for pets and owners – and we’d urge you to avoid any further stress by knowing what steps you have to take to come into Jersey, this includes getting the relevant treatments done within the right timescale with everything correctly recorded in the pet passport. By doing this, needless delays, stress and expenses can be avoided.”