Cost of new Animal Health Certificate

sheramber

A vet who can issue an Animal Health Certificate must be  validated as an Official vet which requires training and certification.
That costs money and time. He has to be revaluated every 4 years.
There  is also a lot of paperwork involved in issuing the certificate which again takes time. 
The cost charged will reflect all that.

NoodleDoodleMan

There was woman on morning TV last week advocating a National Health Service for pets - funded by the public purse from what I was able to deduce.

No comment.

Helenpet64

So, since I originally posted, I have done some research. Firstly, I asked 2 or 3 vets for a price for an AHC for my 2 dogs. The cheapest I have found is £120 for first dog and £60 for second. When asking vets to justify the cost, they say the form is long and complicated and time consuming to complete. One vet told me it takes about an hour. So I went to the DEFRA website, searched for the form, printed it off (dual language English/French) and completed it myself using data from my dogs’ existing pet passports.it took me about 10 minutes to complete it for the 2 dogs. Whilst it is 9 pages long, only 3 pages actually have bits that need completing. So, to an experienced vet used to doing these, I can’t see how it can take an hour! Given that we need a form each time, I phoned my French vet to ask his opinion. He laughed and said he could solve the problem! He has subsequently issued me 2 new French pet passports. According to EU legislation I can take my dogs in to EU with these, without an AHC. They are also valid for return to UK. I would thoroughly recommend all pet owners who travel frequently to ask their EU vet to do the same. It will save you a fortune.

sheramber

Not everybody has an EU vet.

CL16Fan

Glad you've found a solution! 

We got our dog a pet passport which he never got to use because our trip was cancelled (something about pandemic?) Now we're rebooking our trip and will need the animal health certificate. £124 from our vet, and they've asked for two weeks notice just to get the paperwork done - sounds like a faff!

We're (hopefully) off to Ireland for a few days, but we'd love to travel more with the dog in the future, either via the tunnel to France or the ferry to the Netherlands. Haven't got as far yet as researching if he's allowed to travel around the Schengen area so we can visit Germany and Finland with him. 

thriftytracey

We paid for the rabies antibody tests after Brexit (£200 odd) and ended up not travelling.  It was a complete waste of money as now you have to have an animal health certificate.  My vet is charging £80 per dog.  I am going to France for six weeks and taking all documentation on the dogs - microchip, rabies, normal vaccinations and travel health certificates.  I am going to try and get pet passports for them.  Our vet said we could get them and worth it as going to Spain in January.

CashStrappedRick

3 months on and things appear to have changed for the worse. I was quoted £127 early this year when the RVC pricing was £93. RVC (from their website) are now pricing an ACH as £180. What has changed??? I'm with Helenpet64. My vet is now quoting £150 which I will pay but once in Spain I will seek out a vet there to enquire about an EU Pet Passport.
I've found 'Pass Pets' in Portsmouth quoting £99 for an ACH but since I'm in the Midlands it's not practical (or cost effective) to travel. We will be sailing from Portsmouth so we could do it the day before but it's just not worth the risk.

Biscitt

I've just been quoted £120 for mine. I was flabbergasted it cost so much to a have a form filled in and stamped. I want me one of them EU vets!

Putting off my planned trip to Ireland now for a tour of Wales/Scotland instead.

petpassport4ever

I'm amazed at the blatant difference of the animal health certificate between vets in our area. So far I've been quoted £143, £174, £250 and £160. Surely there should be a capped price or are some vets being greedy ?
The vet that quoted £250 stated that is for the first dog, with a second and third dog being discounted at £50 each, making a total of £350.
If the second and third dog can be issued a health certificate for £50, why can't the first one be the same price, after all, they all 3 will have a health check and documentation filled in exactly the same, unless dogs 2 and 3 don't receive the same care and attention. If it takes a vet, say, 1 hour to complete the health certificate, which is one reason for the charge, it will still take him 1 hour to fill in the certificate for dogs 2 and 3 but at a much lower price.

sheramber

Vets' charges are individual to them just as the coast of treatment varies from one vet to another.

Basically he is giving you a discount on the other 2 dogs.

Do you ask Tesco how they can charge full price for one item but less that double that for two?