The Animal Health Certificate (AHC) is the new nightmare for Veterinary Surgeons and pet owners which is required for pets to be able to travel abroad to the EU.

Since Brexit became a real fact, owners need to get an AHC issued for their dog, cat or ferret if they are travelling from Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) to and EU country or Northern Ireland.

The certificate has become a massive issue for the veterinary industry who are already facing problems with shortages of staff and this is creating practices which are understaffed and staff who are subsequently being overworked. In a practice where you are being spread thin trying to look after sick pets, it is not reasonable to expect vets to set aside an hour or longer in order to fill in a single AHC.

The certificate has become a nightmare for owners as well as they are having to pay for a certificate each time they want to leave Great Britain and these certicates can range anywhere from £100 to £300 per certificate which is costly. For some families this is completely unaffordable.

We ask APHA and DEFRA to review these certificates and to try make agreements with the EU to make it easier to complete, more affordable and less stressful and time consuming (like the old PETs travel scheme Pet Passports).

The situation is affecting the veterinary industry profusely by adding more stress which in turn is forcing vets to give longer appointments to these exports and thus taking away appointments from sick pets.
This is unacceptable and cannot last for much longer.