# Pet passport.. entering France.. tapeworm required?



## PeteJC21 (Feb 10, 2011)

Hi,
taking the dogs to France end of June and have a couple of questions regarding the passport scheme.

On returning to the UK they must have their tapeworm treatment, going to use Drontal Plus XL, I'm assuming this is an acceptable treatment? (both are around 23kg).

Is the tapeworm treatment required for entering France? I'm pretty sure nothing gets checked leaving the UK, but want to play it safe regardless.

Thanks,
Pete


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Dunno about entering France, I don't think there's any requirement from the UK to France but not 100% on that, but the worming before entering the UK must be done by a vet, you can't do it yourself. They have to stamp the passport to say it's been done if I'm not mistaken.


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

PeteJC21 said:


> Hi,
> taking the dogs to France end of June and have a couple of questions regarding the passport scheme.
> 
> On returning to the UK they must have their tapeworm treatment, going to use Drontal Plus XL, I'm assuming this is an acceptable treatment? (both are around 23kg).
> ...


I assume you know that the tapeworm treatment prior to returning to the UK must be done by a vet - sorry, wasn't clear by the way you say _you're_ going to use Drontal XL?

Drontal XL is one tablet per 35kg bodyweight, so for 23kg dogs, you're overdosing them by quite a large margin. I would use two and a bit regular Drontal tablets per dog (each tablet does 10kg).

A tapeworm treatment is not required for entry into France.


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## Shikoku (Dec 16, 2013)

The tapeworm treatment must be done by a vet between 1 -5 days before returning to the UK and recorded in the pet passport.

The vet must record the following details in your dogs pet passport:
- the name and manufacturer of the product used to treat your dog.
- the date and time they treated your dog.
- their stamp and signature.

The treatment must have praziquantel or equivalent as its active ingredient.


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## diefenbaker (Jan 15, 2011)

You can take your own tablets but the vet must administer. If like me you have a tablet spitter take something yummy to crush it into.


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## Wilmer (Aug 31, 2012)

Drontal is a broad spectrum wormer, it is OK for the pet travel scheme, but if your dog isn't due for regular worming you can use Droncit which contains just the ingredient required by the scheme. As previous, it must be administered by a vet 24-60 hours before return to UK and marked in the pet passport. Some vets charge so much for giving the treatment, you may as well let them provide the pill (the brand names Drontal and Droncit are the same in France), others are more reasonable. I don't know about Drontal, but Droncit is also available as an injection - my vet in Brittany prefers it as there can be no cheeky spitting out when no one's looking...

If your French is shaky, there is a series of web forums under the banner "Anglo Info" - if you post in the appropriate region someone may be able to point you to an English speaking vet.


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## PeteJC21 (Feb 10, 2011)

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, a vet in France has to administer the Drontal and record it, sorry I wasn't clear on that.

Not really sure when they should have it in France at all, if the treatment is effective for 3 months and we're only going for 2 weeks I don't see why their vet here can't administer and stamp before we go?

Do vets in France usually charge a lot? I'm estimating around 30 to get them both done? Found a vet already, our French is quite poor, but will be getting some text translated and printed on cards to show the vet in case they don't speak English.


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## MariaB (Aug 28, 2013)

We take our dog back and forth to France and Italy all the time. 

They don't require tapeworm to enter France. In fact they have never even looked at his passport. 

Others have advised correctly about the wormer being administered by a French vet.

When you get to the French border crossing, you will be sent to a porto-cabin or a special pet section. Someone will want to see the dog and they will then scrutinise your papers. 

One of the biggest reasons people don't get across the border is micro chip problems. Get your vet to check the dogs microchip before you go but also make absolutely sure your chip papers are in order and everything is signed. 

What part of France are you going to?


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## Wilmer (Aug 31, 2012)

> Do vets in France usually charge a lot? I'm estimating around 30 to get them both done? Found a vet already, our French is quite poor, but will be getting some text translated and printed on cards to show the vet in case they don't speak English.


I can't remember exactly what I paid last year, I think it was about 35Eur for one 40kg dog.

I'm paranoid about chip issues, so I bought one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/HALO-MICROCHIP-SCANNER-MID06-WHITE/dp/B009KPDN4G

It was worth it's weight in gold, as when experimenting with it before our holiday, I found out my vet had written Betty's 'chip number down wrong in her passport


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Not sure about France but in Germany prices seem to be 30-50 euros for the worming. And yeah, microchip seems to be the biggest problem people encounter getting back to the UK. Dreading it with ours to be honest.


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## MariaB (Aug 28, 2013)

Sarah1983 said:


> Not sure about France but in Germany prices seem to be 30-50 euros for the worming. And yeah, microchip seems to be the biggest problem people encounter getting back to the UK. Dreading it with ours to be honest.


As long as you are prepared and checked that your dogs chip matches its documents and so long as all paper work is signed by you, the owner, then there should be no problem.

As far as what the vet charges, it depends where you go in France. We live in the southern French Alps and get the dog wormed in our local town before leaving. We pay around 15 Euros. The further north we go, the more expensive it becomes. Vets in France are far, far cheaper than UK vets so long as their footfall isn't a lot of English tourists.


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## shinra (Aug 9, 2013)

How much is it to get a pet passport now? is it as expensive as it used to be? I know apparantly things have changed a bit.


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

shinra said:


> How much is it to get a pet passport now? is it as expensive as it used to be? I know apparantly things have changed a bit.


Shop around. £10 worth of fuel driving to a cheaper vet could save you up to £50.
And, I do think the "seeing a vet for the tapeworm treatment" is more than just the worming pill. It's also checking the animal is fit for travel.... although it doesn't say so, if your dog appears ill then that vet potentially has the right to veto its return. I imported small animals under the Balai Directive years ago, and they all had to be seen by a vet and signed as fit before coming to the UK.


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