Pet transportation questions...

[macamrstudios]

All the above is great advice. We followed this when bringing our lab here. I suggest (if you are geographically located to do so) - to go to the USDA office and get your forms stamped. JUST MAKE SURE YOU MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!!!! I made this mistake and had to come back. Aside from that error (on my part), it was super simple and better then relying on the a. office to do this timely and b. the postal service.

 

[oksanache]

I do not know if the rules changed in the recent year, but I have traveled with my pug over 4 continents, and we wound up in Argentina 3 years ago. No one requested any of the above, EXCEPT for one current vaccination (rabies) and the vet certificate of general health stamped by the state animal authorities (in the US it's department of agriculture). None of the countries I visited required more than this and no one of my friends had to go through anything more than I did either.
I would be very curious to know if there were significant changes over the pat couple of years.

 

[cujodu]

Cujodu....My vet was approved and we still had to send the forms she filled out to the USDA for approval / stamping whatever...maybe this is different from state to state or the rules have changed in the last 2 years.

I arrived in March 2008 from California with my dog and everything I had read up to that point only said to use a USDA approved vet, he gave me a form from the USDA that was my dog's health certificate and that's what I presented at the airport here and they passed me on thru, no problems. Interesting. Anyone else?

 

[betts]

This is an update from my previous post - see what we did to prepare for the trip. One thing I didn't mention is that when we booked our flights with LH, we also reserved a spot for her in the cabin. I believe only a certain number of animals are allowed in the cabin, so let the airline know in advance. We also paid 30€ per kilo for her to travel with us, it came to about 210€.

We arrived in BA on Sat eve with our cat on LH 510 from Frankfurt. She travelled economy with us and fortunately it was not a full flight so we had a row of 3 seats for ourselves. We had to stow her under the seat in front of us for take off and landing, but for the rest of the flight we put her carrier on the seat between us. We were amazed at how well she travelled, she did not meow once and she did not go to the bathroom. We tried putting a small bowl of water in her carrier from time to time to see if she would drink, but she didn't touch it. When we arrived we went through passport control, Flu control - they take your temp with something infa-red, then we picked up our luggage. Then you go through customs. This is where you take your cat to the SENSA counter and show your papers. The gentleman at SENSA was very nice, said he had 3 cats of his own. He looked through my paperwork which was the official health certificate and the EU Pet Passport which documents her vaccines. I had made copies of everything and written in Spanish all the key words. He took the copies and left me the originals. The only thing left was to pay the fee, which was written up in pesos and at the counter they had the exchange rates for USD and EUR. I came prepared with about $100 USD in small bills and was able to pay the $39 USD fee with exact change. That was it - no problems at all! She was in her carrier door to door probably about 24 hours. Another tip for those travelling - we did not pack her big litter box or a bag of litter. But we didn't know when we might get to a store so I bought a travel litter box and we filled a large ziploc bag with a bit of her litter and that has lasted until today when I am off to buy a proper size litter box and cat litter. link to travel litter box: http://www.classypets.com/Merchant5...CTGY&Store_Code=CPTS&Category_Code=PORTKITLIT
It folds up and is watertight and machine washable - it did a great job!

We didn't sedate or do anything to the cat before we travelled. She was scared at first but during the flight was quite settled and even stretched and groomed herself. Hope all this info helps those thinking of travelling with their pet.

 

[HDM]

betts, this is virtually an identical experience to the one we had bringing our cat on a United flight from Dulles. Word for word, just change the airline and departure city. Just to let people know that your experience is not unique.

 

[soulskier]

The big thing we learned with our dog was the shots had to be current within a year, but more than 30 days. We had intended to get the new shots the week before entering Argentina, but that would not have worked.

 

[desertrose]

Re taking pets back home:
Air France will charge me USD 150 (apparently a flat fee) to take my dog to Germany. Also I was informed that they can lend me a kennel free of charge. Sounds nearly to good to be true!

 

[EvergreenGal]

I am very curious...it was not required to micro chip when I brought our cat...I just googled and it says it's not required...I really would like to know IF this is required...either coming in or leaving...what's the best source for info on this???

 

[cujodu]

I am very curious...it was not required to micro chip when I brought our cat...I just googled and it says it's not required...I really would like to know IF this is required...either coming in or leaving...what's the best source for info on this???

I've asked a couple of vets about the chips here and they just laugh. If you lose your pet in Buenos Aires, no one is going to be scanning for a microchip.

 

[EvergreenGal]

That was my first thought...sorry to say! Another sense of false security I am afraid! Great for the states for sure...here a lost cause....