If you’ve been living abroad and are returning to live in the UK with your beloved pet, you may be lucky enough to be returning from a country that is a member of PETS, the pet travel scheme that exists between certain nations and allows the free transportation of qualifying animals.
Alternatively, if your animal does not qualify because perhaps it has not had its rabies vaccinations in time ahead of your move or it has not been microchipped before its vaccinations, you may find that you have to look into the realities of quarantine for at least a short period of time.
Others who are moving back from nations such as South Africa or Northern Cyprus will find that there is no agreement in place between these countries and the UK, so your beloved cat, dog or ferret will have to go in to quarantine. In this report we’ll look at putting your pet through quarantine in the UK – so that both you and your animal/s survive emotionally unscathed. (Note, this article is written by someone who has first hand experience of putting their dog through quarantine in the UK.)
To find out absolutely everything you need to know in complete detail about the pet travel scheme and how you can prepare your pet ahead of a move so that it can avoid quarantine, we cannot recommend the DEFRA website highly enough. The information contained therein is comprehensive and totally clearly laid out. What’s more, any questions you have that are not answered on the website can be addressed by contacting DEFRA on: +44 (0)870 241 1710 from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm UK time.
If your animal has to go into quarantine however, there are various centres around the UK that can accommodate cats, dogs and ferrets. They are not all located at ports or airports, but they have to be DEFRA approved and adhere to very high standards when making sure your animal is kept apart from others. Unfortunately quarantine kennels are quite depressing places – perhaps because the only reason you have any need to go there is to establish a period of confinement for your beloved pets!
You may be limited in choice in terms of quarantine centre because of your geographic location in the UK and/or which kennels or cattery has space. But if you do have a choice we thoroughly recommend you go and visit the quarantine centre in advance and have a good look around. Ask the owners and, far more importantly, the day-to-day staff about how animals are cared for. If there is a visitors’ book look in it to see comments left by other owners. Look at the general state of health of the animals, and get a feeling for whether the place is clean, functional, well run and that animals are cared for.
You also have to bear in mind that you won’t be seeing happy animals. They are animals in confinement missing human company, so some howling and whining is par for the course. However, my dog is proof perfect that the most spoilt, soft and human-natured dog can survive quarantine unscathed and completely unchanged. The secret was in the number of regular visits he had, it was in the kind nature of the staff who continued to spoil him rotten in my absence, and it was in ensuring he had plenty of home comforts - from his beds and blankets to his toys.
If your animal is used to going into kennels or a cattery on a fairly regular basis they seem to cope with the initial period of confinement well, but after a few weeks it will sink in that this is different. It is very important to establish regular contact from day one if you can therefore, otherwise they tend to go downhill. Other animals that are not used to confinement seem to suffer earlier on, but then settle. Watch out for your animal getting some form of illness at some point in their confinement – this seems to be par for the course as well. It must be to do with the fact they are adjusting to seemingly being incarcerated forever. Try not to get upset. Work with centre staff, vets and visit your animal regularly. They will adjust to the change, they will cope and survive – and so will you.
I lived over 60 miles away from the kennels where my dog was, but because the kennel owners were so accommodating I made sure I took one day off every week or at the weekend and went and spent the whole day with my dog. Initially I thought it was important to play with him to keep him exercised, but after a couple of months of getting used to being in a small pen he wasn’t so fussed about jumping round. I would sit with him and give him a bone. I’d read or listen to music and stroke him, he’d chew and be 100% content with my company. No matter how far away you have to be, try, try, try and get to see your animal as regularly as you possibly can. Even if you cannot visit, can you ask family or friends to go so that your animal is not alone for longer than a week?
When I had to leave and my dog would cry and howl, I used to cry too! But I knew as soon as I went that the kennel staff went and settled him back down. They were excellent – and if you’re at a dedicated quarantine centre, the staff do tend to care about the welfare of the animals because they get to know them over the 6 month period. I will not recommend the centre I used for quarantine as the owners were horrible people – the only thing that mattered were that they had nothing to do with the animals – this was down to loyal, long-serving, dedicated staff.
Things that concerned me before I put my dog into quarantine were that my very active Weimaraner would get fat with no exercise – but they monitor animals’ diets, so don’t fret. I was worried he wouldn’t know me, would change, become a dog’s dog after being surrounded by lots of other animals, would become a barking nightmare after being surrounded by constant noise, and would run a million miles as soon as he was finally released. Yet none of these worries came to reality. This is largely because I kept close, regular contact with him. Other family members came with me when they could, the kennel staff looked after him well, and when he was finally released he came straight back into my loving arms and was spoiled and very well looked after all over again.
As I am writing this article he is currently upstairs in my bedroom curled up on ‘his’ armchair by the window! He has been for a 6-mile run, has had his breakfast, and before he goes to bed he’ll have a snack and a cuddle as well. It was suggested to me before I moved back to the UK and committed to putting my dog through the stress of quarantine that it might be kinder to re-home him abroad. I thought about it because I wasn’t sure I could cope with the pain of being without him for 6 month, and because I thought perhaps yes, it would be kinder to do that for him. But I now know that that would have been the worst thing in the world to do. My dog is my life, what’s more, only I can ensure he has the best life, so he has to be with me! His life is so important to me that the cost of the confinement and flight for him (lots of thousands of pounds) was well worth it. And ultimately, if you have to move back to the UK and you feel as I do that a pet is a family member, then face quarantine full on and just keep very regular contact with your animal.
Final top tips are negotiate in advance the cost of the confinement, ask about discounts for cash and for full payment in advance, haggle because there is competition in the market as there are more than just a couple of centres in the UK, and ensure you visit if you can, just to make sure the place is well run by caring staff. For a list of quarantine centres in the UK visit the DEFRA website.
