Pet Passports - one rule for humans and another for cats and dogs

I only found out about Pet Passports because I have been thinking seriously of leaving Tenerife in Spain and returning to the UK., and so I made some enquiries about what would be needed to be done for my cat to be able to travel. I was told, and the information is correct, that she would need a Pet Passport, and has to have a series of treatments by a vet to qualify.

What this actually entails is first of all a cat or dog has to be micro-chipped and vaccinated against rabies. Then about a month later a blood test is carried out to check if enough antibodies have been formed in response to the vaccine. If not then the procedure has to be done again.

Of course all of this has to be paid for, and if that wasn't bad enough, in my case I am personally opposed to vaccinations and micro-chipping of animals and humans. I would refuse these procedures fro myself so it makes me a hypocrite to have them done to an animal in my care that depends on me and that I love.

I have read too that microchips embedded in animals have sometimes been thought to have caused cancer. This doesn't surprise me because it is an artificial object that the body will try to get rid of I would have thought.

The usual line that is given to convince people that chipping is a good idea is that if the pet gets lost it can be traced more easily because the chip will store its individual details. In the case of my cat this does not apply because she is a house-cat and never goes outside anywhere so could not get lost. Unless, of course, they are suggesting that the flight system is so badly organised that cargo goes astray!

The rabies vaccine is to protect against a disease she has no possibility of contracting. My cat never comes into contact with other mammals that could carry the virus so how could she get bitten and catch it?

I have never heard of any cases of rabies on this island and the disease is as good as eliminated from the UK too. So where is the possibility of her catching rabies supposed to come from?

Then after all that, before entering the UK a vet has to confirm that the animal has been chipped and vaccinated.

Finally, just before a cat is allowed to fly it has to see a vet in the period of 48 hours beforehand when it is treated against ticks and tapeworms. It is also checked over and the vet has to issue it with a clean bill of health in order for it to travel, at least these were the rules at time of writing in 2011..

Again I would ask why an animal that has no ticks and no tapeworms has to be treated for these parasites that are not present?

Although I am told otherwise by some friends, I am certain that my cat will hate all of these treatments, and I am worried that she might suffer allergic reactions to them too.

I am certain that if humans were told they had to have a vaccination against rabies, a microchip implanted,  that they must have a blood test, further that they were not allowed to fly for another six months, and finally that they needed drug treatments for ticks and tapeworms before they could board a plane, they would be horrified and there would be a public outcry about this! Even more so if they also were expected to pay a lot of money for all this!