About me

Hello all!

My name is Rodrigo, but in the UK most people know me as “Rod”. I am a vet who has been living and working in Great Britain since 2011. I am also a British Official Veterinarian (OV), holder of the Official Controls Qualification (V) Companion Animals, OCQ (V) – CA, that enables me to deal with pet travel veterinary affairs

I was born and studied in León (Spain), but I have spent most of my career far from the Iberian peninsula, mostly in Britain; I also worked and volunteered in places as different as Denmark, India and Nepal. I used to work with large animals, but since 2015 I changed direction and now I am working with small animals 100% of the time. I have been an OV for many years, so I have plenty of experience and expertise to handle these documents

I am a part-time employee for the practice Gamston Vets4Pets, and the rest of the time I work independently as a sole trader vet, which includes running PETS ON BOARD

About PETS ON BOARD

Once the Brexit transition period expired (31/12/2020) and the old GB-issued EU pet passports and the EU pet passports issued to pet owners resident in GB became generally invalid to travel overseas, I started to issue the Animal Health Certificates for the practice I worked for at the time, where I was the only OV. The prices, complexity and hassle of the Animal Health Certificates are clearly bigger than what the EU pet passports used to be; there are some facts behind which I would like to explain below for everybody to understand and try to debunk some myths at the same time:

• Veterinary surgeries are typically really busy places that nowadays struggle to have quality time to issue this kind of complex and time-consuming documentation
• This documentation can only be reliably produced by a knowledgeable and confident OV, which some vet practices just do not have. Some practices do not have an OV at all, some do, but the OV is often not keen in dealing with pet travel documentation or not experienced enough; and some other surgeries have basically decided to stop originating this paperwork, on logistic reasons
• Many small animal vets are typically people who love medicine and surgery, but do not feel confident doing this kind of paperwork
• The time of a vet is precious, and we are very skilful professionals that can do a lot of valuable work and make a practice earn a considerable amount of money in a little time. In addition, a vet practice has a lot of expenses that has to face. So essentially, the Animal Health Certificates are not profitable for a vet clinic, unless their prices are substantially increased. We could then say that a veterinary surgery considers an AHC a luxury
• There is a significant shortage of vets in GB (and consequently of OVs), and a remarkable increase in pet numbers, which if possible, makes it all even more challenging
• Pet travel is becoming more and more popular

Because of all that, I had the idea of starting to do this documentation on my own, and this idea became PETS ON BOARD, which I undertake from the calm and comfort of my home, and at my own pace, to make sure that errors are not made

At a more affordable price for a pet owner, and also giving a personalised and efficient service, it makes the whole process a better experience and not the headache that sometimes can be. I hope this convinces you to count on me!