Just a quick guide to the requirements to take your dog, cat or ferret to Morocco. It’s easy to get it wrong and there’s a lot of misinformation out there, much well intentioned but wrong or outdated.
Brexit has added to the issue, with the withdrawal from the EU Pet Passport scheme and replacing it with the expensive and frankly useless Animal Health Certificate. The AHC is only useful for 1 journey, valid for 4 months and can only be used for travel from U.K. to EU and back.
It cannot be used for travel from U.K. to EU and on to a 3rd non-EU country and back.
The first step is to get an EU Pet Passport as soon as you set foot in the EU and a rabies booster – the reason for this will become clear. Fewer and fewer vets will transfer information from your AHC to a Pet Passport, as they are under strict instructions to only enter details of treatments they have administered themselves.
With an EU PP, you can travel freely in the EU & U.K. and will no longer require an AHC, provided the EU PP is kept up to date (by EU vets only – do not let U.K. vets enter anything in your EU PP!).
To travel to Morocco, you will need a Rabies Titre (Titration) Test, which checks the concentration of rabies antibodies found in the blood. This is actually a requirement for the temporary export / import licence, without which you will need to quarantine your pet on return.
Please be sure to note that the Titre test is the biggest cause of problems at the border: the blood sample must be drawn and tested by an EU approved vet / laboratory. Blood samples drawn in the U.K. will be rejected at the port, regardless of what the U.K. vets might say. They are wrong. Previously it was acceptable if the sample was tested at an EU lab, such as BioBest, but this is no longer the case. This is why we were denied the temp export / import licence and turned away.
The added difficulty of this is that, 30 days must elapse after the rabies jab before the blood test can be taken for the titre test. You will then have a further 7 to 10 working days to wait for the result. Email results are no longer satisfactory and the PP can only be updated from the original document, so you need revisit the vet who did the test.
Checklist:
- You need an EU Pet Passport
- You need an in date EU administered rabies jab
- You need an EU Titre test, with bloods drawn and tested in EU. You must have the original certificate / entered in EU Pet Passport – email proofs are no longer acceptable.
- You need an EU issued Animal Health Certificate, to have been conducted by an EU vet just before you travel (within 24hrs). We recommend Brulina Vet in Los Barrios, a short distance from Algeciras
- You should ensure your dog is wormed and that you have made provision for tick / flea and sandfly bites (e.g. Scaribor collar).
- You report to the PIF (animal control) at port of departure (e.g. Algeciras) with EU issued Animal Health Certificate (issued within last 24hrs), Pet Passport and vehicle V5 document.
- If all in order, you will receive a temporary export / import certificate which you will need for returning (don’t lose it).
- Board ferry and enjoy your trip.
- On return, you will be asked for all these documents, so do not lose them! Quarantine in Spain is 15 to 30 days and costs €600 per day!
I hope this is helpful. It’s not that difficult, but it is a pain to jump through the hoops, especially with the timescales. So it’s worth planning ahead and start the ball rolling now if you want to travel to Morocco in the future.
The Little Red Bus 