For foreigners moving into London with their pets, the exciting news continues to be that Britain is moving, by inches, it is true, toward a loosening of tough quarantine laws that many see as archaic. The new Pet Travel Scheme allows certain dogs and cats to enter the UK without first spending six months in quarantine.
So far, most of the countries that animals can enter from are in Western Europe, and also Australia, New Zealand and Japan. But there is talk that the hundred year old quarantine laws, enacted to control rabies, which is now relatively rare, and treatable, may be dropped in the next year or two against pets from the U.S. and Canada, too.
In the meantime, if your pet has already gone through the ordeal, and is happily messing up your rug again, remember that although it has been said of the British that they love their pets more than their kids, make sure, before you move into a flat or a house with a shared garden, that pets are not banned and that there are no restrictions about walking dogs. If you don't, you may discover, too late, that the British don't love your pet nearly as much as their own.
The exciting news for pet owners continues to be that Britain is moving toward a loosening of its tough quarantine laws.
