What is an Animal Health Certificate?

Anyone taking a pet dog, cat or ferret from Great Britain into the EU or Northern Ireland. It replaced the EU pet passport for GB residents on 22 April 2026 — if you still hold a passport, it no longer works for this and cannot be converted.

One certificate can cover up to five pets travelling together with the same person, so a household with two dogs needs one certificate, not two.

Two things have to be in place already, and neither can be done on the day:

A microchip. It must be readable, and it must have been implanted before the rabies vaccination — if it was done after, the vaccination does not count and has to be repeated.

A rabies vaccination given at least 21 days ago. Day 1 is the day after the vaccination, and you wait 21 full days from there — so a jab on 1 March means the earliest you can travel is 22 March. Book late and there is no way to shorten it.

We check both at the visit. We do not administer the rabies vaccination itself — that is a separate appointment with your own vet, and it needs to happen at least three weeks before you travel.

The certificate must be issued within 10 days of the date you enter the EU. That is the part people get wrong: it is dated from entry, not from the start of your holiday or the day you leave home.

Once you have entered, the same certificate then covers onward travel within the EU for four months, and your return to Great Britain. So it is a narrow window at the start and a generous one afterwards.

In practice this means you cannot get one sorted months ahead. The appointment has to land in the 10 days before you go, which is exactly when everything else is happening.

An Official Veterinarian examines your pet, confirms it is fit to travel, scans the microchip, checks the rabies record against the microchip date, and completes the certificate. It is paperwork with an examination attached rather than a full health check.

Bring the vaccination record. If the microchip number on it does not match the chip we scan, the certificate cannot be issued — that mismatch is the single most common reason a visit fails.

Dogs entering Finland, Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland or Norway need a tapeworm treatment given by a vet between 24 and 120 hours before arrival, recorded in the certificate. It catches people out on the way back, because it has to be done abroad by a vet there.

Cats and ferrets are not affected, and neither are dogs travelling to the rest of the EU.

Most certificates are issued at a clinic, which means a car journey, parking, a waiting room and an afternoon off work — with an animal that generally does not enjoy any of it. The examination itself takes a fraction of that time.

We visit your home instead, including evenings and weekends. It costs more than the cheapest clinic appointment, and it removes the whole journey. Whether that trade is worth it is a fair question, and the cost page sets out the numbers plainly rather than arguing for it.