One of our main concerns before our first trip was how to take dog food in to Europe with us. The official rules post Brexit are that you can’t take any meat / dairy based products into Europe including dry biscuits… a bit of a problem… especially if your dog is fed raw like ours right?
What are the options?
Lets look at the options, including the “unofficial” advice that we follow (by no means suggesting you follow what we do but hey, just listing the options right)!
- You could look at swapping your dog on to a fish / plant based diet before you travel. We use Naturaw food and they do have fish only options. There are of course plenty of other options available in wet / biscuit form but you have to make sure they don’t contain any milk or meat.
- You could buy food there, afterall we’re not the only country with pet stores and most common brands can be found across France and the rest of the EU. For raw food some pet stores will have a freezer section and certain other frozen food stores such as Picard will stock raw dog food.
- You can ask your vet to provide you with a letter to say that your dog needs to have a specific food so that you can take it with you. I’ve personally never known anyone do this so I’m unsure how successful it would be or if there are limits to how much you can take.
- You can do what we do and roll the dice and gamble. We take Ted’s food with us in a 12V fridge freezer (more info on that to follow) and have never been asked if we are carrying meat. We are accepting of the fact that if caught then we’re going to lose it but given how sensitive Ted’s stomach can be our number one preference will always be to give him his normal food.
This is the type of fridge we take with us in the car (obviously not an issue if you have a motorhome or caravan).
*A link to purchase can be found by clicking here
In summary
Moral of the story is don’t panic! Taking dog food with you to europe doesn’t have to be a deciding factor as to whether you take the plunge or not. There are plenty of pet stores in France so whatever happens you have options. Go with option 4 at your own peril but for us it’s the most risky but also best option.
Full advice can be found here –
Taking animal products, food or plants with you in the EU – Your Europe
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