Our story is that we are trying to leave Miami late next week for Kolkata with 2 dogs and a cat. We have traveled with to 7 countries so far with our animals, so we aren’t new to this. And so far have had no bad experiences with the effects of traveling on our animals …even with the odd disaster along the way with screwed up arrangements…and dogs not loaded onto planes even!
We will be taking our dogs as excess baggage, so far the prices we have received for shipping them as freight have been:
$6000ish from one company here in the USA, and $7000ish from other. One company wanted $505 just to complete the paperwork for export (I have attached the paperwork as you can do it yourself!)
So we are taking them as excess baggage on Lufthansa, we have found from our previous experience and recommendations of others if you cant get a direct flight to the USA, travel only via Frankfurt, Amsterdam, or Heathrow as they have pet care facilities at the airports that will look after and water , clean and check up on your pets between flights.
So far we have found you need the following docs completed:
- IATA veterinary certificate for international pet travel form
- Airline acclimation certificate
- Annexure I Animal Health Certificate for Importation of Dogs into India , and stamped by the USDA Government Veterinarian
- Annexure II Animal Health Certificate for Importation of Cats into India , and stamped by the USDA Government Veterinarian
- Rabies vaccination certificates
- Pictures of animals
- Microchip numbers and certificates (but not required for India)
Pet Relocation to India
Here is some more info that I found, some is already mentioned above:
Following are the requirements for Prior Approval for Pet Cats/Dogs entering INDIA:
- Rabies Vaccination & Certificate: All pets must have an original Rabies Certificate and this certificate must state the microchip number, the date of inoculation and the validity of the particular vaccination you obtain – some are good for three years, others are only good for one.
- Vet Health Certificate (Form 7001): This is the standard Health Certificate to be filled out by your USDA accredited Veterinarian. Must be issued within 10 days of the flight. Health Certificate must state that the pet has no clinical signs of Aujossky’s disease, Distemper, Rabies, Leishmaoiasis, Leptospirosis and Tuberculosis.
- USDA Endorsement:
The above referenced forms:
* Microchip Implantation Record.
* Rabies Certificate.
* Vet Health Certificate.
Must be sent to your local USDA for their stamp of approval. Please contact your local representative on the best way of handling this.
This USDA certification we are simply doing ourselves, and will travel to the office to get the Annex I and II forms stamped.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/area_offices/
We are traveling Lufthansa, and have found only some airlines are willing to take pets.
We are going to Kolkata and have found this agency that can handle the import paperwork.. the NOC certificates… we will report back on how it goes and costs as I am awaiting on this information. http://www.jetex-oceanair.com
Now shipping containers, we have found the cheapest here to be at Petsmart, and to get the right size this link helps:
http://www.baworldcargo.com/biztools/pcst.shtml
http://www.baworldcargo.com/products/liveanimals.shtml
We will be freezing the water for the animals, and putting in some mats that petsmart sells that absorb liquids and are dry for the animal to sit on (they are expensive though)
As far as travelling the animals into India they need this on their containers:
- No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Quarantine Officer at the Animal Quarantine Station in India.
- A duplicate copy of the NOC has to be fixed on the crate of the pet during the air travel.
- Original copy of the NOC has to be produced in India to get the pet released from the customs at the Airport in India.
- On arrival in India, an appointment to be fixed with the Quarantine Officer for issue of a temporary Health Certificate on examination of the pet.
- 30 days thereafter a certificate of health to be obtained from a local veterinarian to be produced at the Animal Quarantine Station. Then, the pet will be issued a permanent certificate of health for his/her stay in India.
People intending on arriving with their pets as accompanied luggage will need to have an agent apply for this certificate before they enter the country. It is required to be obtained in person and cannot be applied for online.
Here are some docs I have attained and want to share:
- Lufthansa Info Doc
- Lufthansa Veterinary Certification (same as ICAO doc below)
- ICAO veterinary certificate for pet travel form
- Info on bringing pets to India
- Annex I Dogs import certificate form for India
- Annex II Cats import certificate form for India
- Acclimatization certificate
Documents attached to the top of the dog crates
Name on front with some info on the dog and a picture and fact sheet on top with flight details, name, details of animal, shipper and consignee details, and special instructions.
The crate has to be big enough for the dog to turn around, and for our personal likes we want the dog to be able to fully stand and lie down as demonstrated by pumpkin. We also under the mats and absorbant materials taped a copy of all the dogs records in a ziplock to the base.
Stickers of live animals came from Petsmart, it also comes in a pack with special paper to absorb pee pee and 2 food/water containers to put on the crate door.
Moes fact sheet and documents, we included the full vet history and test results on his due to his health problems.
Moes needs are special so we posted it here
We placed a water bottle on the side in a sport holster which you can get from Kmart, Target or Walmart, the crate also has a nipple type water bottle on the door which will contain frozen water to make it last
yes its too small, but pumpkin appears to really like crates, so much after she did this and we took apart the crate to get here out!, we put together her crate and she loves to sleep in it!
No related posts.
From Kalash Jhamb:
Hi Chris
I need your help. I had a relative of mine, visit Qatar airways Ahmedabad office to check on the paper for bringing my dog to India and also to take my dog back from India. We were told by local Qatar airways office, that we are not allowed to take our dog/fly our dog back from Ahmedabad airport; is that true?
I dont understand what can be the restriction to have our dog fly back with us from Ahmedabad airport. Flying my dog into Ahmedabad airport doesnt seem to be an issue, but taking it back is an issue – strange
Can you help/advise on this issue. Is there a way for you to confirm this ?
Pls this is important for me
Kind regards
Kalash
From admin:
Aviation wise there is no restriction, and there is no dept of agriculture intervention on the outbound travel of your pet.
But what does come to mind is the Qatar air rep at the airport might have not understood your relative, in that they might have thought you wanted to ship the dog as freight, not as excess or checked baggage on your same flight as you. I am pretty sure they have no way of taking freight out of Ahmedabad which may be their thinking, the other thing is the airline person may just be clueless. I had the same situation with Lufthansa, in the end I had to go to the airport and speak to the Lifthansa base manager at 12 am one night as they only fly late into Kolkata.
I would call Qatar airways number if you are still in the USA or the main help line number if you are in India and get advice from here and take note of the name , date and time from who gives you the answer. I am just pretty sure its the person at the airport being incorrect here.
Its all up to the airline though on whether they accept animals from Ahmedabad or not, no one else.
I am on a trip so cant make any calls as am not in the country for the next month. But give Qatar airways a call yourself, I am 99% sure the airport rep was wrong.
Chris
From Kalash Jhamb:
Chris,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I am checking with Qatar airways people in US, if such a rule/restriction exist and also if it’s an airline rule or airport rule. Anyways, what checks does a dog need to go through before boarding an international flight from India? Do they need to be checked by an airport vet before boarding the flight? I don’t think there are any special conditions that an airport needs to have to load/allow my dog to be boarded as on board cargo.
Thanks for the continued support and help !
Regards
Kalash
From admin:
From India just get the airline forms which I have here, go to a vet and get them signed and stamped. Simple. There is no check of the pet before boarding and the Indian government is not involved at all in the export of the pet, you just take them with the paperwork and put them on the plane.
When the pet arrives in the USA at the cargo terminal , if you are on the same plane just go to the cargo area as soon as you clear customs, the cargo people will be there to help you through the simple process of clearing the pets into the USA. Make sure you have a letter also stating the value of the pets.. like put $50 on it or something in case they want it. Its very simple and quick, sometimes and mostly if the flight is during the day a customs person will come look at the dogs before they release them to you. We brought our dogs and a cat from Sth africa into Miami a couple of years ago and it was pretty simple and done within 1 hr. But it was 11.30pm at night when we arrived. But we still had to take the docs from the British Airways cargo ourselves down to the customs officers and get him to approve the release of the cargo, it was simple though and they are sympathetic to animals coming in and wont hold you up.
Chris
From Dana:
Chris,
I have explored this post, as well as your India Mike post, and can’t thank you enough for all the wonderful information you’ve shared!
One question: How long did it take you to prepare all the documents, pet checkups, NOC, etc? I am looking to bring my two kitties to India in March, and am wondering if two-and-a-half months is even a realistic and workable goal.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Dana
From admin:
We did ours in 2 weeks, just be careful of the rabies vaccine , if memory serves me correct it has to be done no sooner than 1 mth prior to entry into India (or something like that).
Chris
From Dana:
Great, Chris, appreciate all your help.
After reading more on your site (bringing pets back to US) and IM, it seems like it’s a challenge to have animals in India. After your experiences, would you advise against it? My cats are older (9 and 8), and while they are healthy here, I want to do what is best for the cats, not what is best with me (ideally, I would like my entire “family” with me in India).
On your IM thread, you mentioned your now-deceased cat; I’m so sorry! If I may be so bold, how was India “not good” for him? I don’t mean to pry, but as mentioned, I want to make a decision that will make the cats happy and healthy, for as long as possible.
Ah, decisions, decisions.
–dana
From admin:
Hi, sorry late response was away on a trip in China
The problem we found here in Kolkata was the real lack of 2 things, decent pet food and vet services.
On the pet food front for a cat there is just some Whiskas satchels of wet food and dry food thats decent and even then you may see them in the store this week but not the next, it was only after we found a pet store that we could get them consistently. There is other brands of canned cat food, and dry cat food but compared to what we have in the USA, its really poor quality here and low in actual nutrients. Our cat didnt like it much at all no matter what we tried and he wasn’t a fussy eater before! We mostly fed him with a BARF diet and did it with chicken and fish. He actually like the frozen whitefish we could buy in the Spencers stores, it was expensive but he was happy.
Vet services, now in other cities it may and possibly is different. But here you go to a vet, there is little or any hygiene, and little to nil pet meds available. What you can get you have to hunt through many small drug stores to find as the vet wont keep stocks of drugs at all. They also are not trained at all to the same standards as we are used to, nor appear to have the same knowledge (we saw 3 different vets in India, all were the same). When you go there with a sick pet, of course its normal to get a blood test. Normally we would have the vet draw the blood and send it to the lab….but not in India, you have to take your cat to the lab yourself and get the blood drawn! The lab tech is not trained in animal husbandry and has no clue. So instead of traumatizing our poor George the cat, we moved him back to civilization asap. If we had of been able to catch it earlier, or probably not brought him to India he would still be with us as we would have been able to diagnose that he had got diabetes in the months he was here. of course being a cat he didnt show the symptons until it was too late, and the vet here thought we were crazy suggesting our cat was sick. They would take his temp, look at him and say he is fine…
Also in India should your pet die, in most cities there is no way to get the body cremated easily, in Kolkata its not possible at all, nor is there any pet cemeteries. That weighed on our minds a lot with old animals.
We also nearly had our 2 dogs die here in India, one dog got so sick that it was only through the help of the web and our vet in the USA that we were able to nurse her through it , but still when she got back to the USA she has bad kidney problems, so did the little on Moe, he too was really sick and needed lots of $$ spend getting them back to help. It was just stomach viruses they both had, probably from licking a puddle outside or something like that. But the vet response was when I called, if she is still alive on Monday bring her in and I will look at her then !!!! Really thats what one guy said, and he was meant to be the best in town!!
Be prepared to make sure your pets only drink mineral water here from day one, we would buy tons of liter bottles of Dasani, then we found we could buy it in cooler sized bottles for Inr80 a bottle.
If your cats are healthy with no abnormal things already wrong with them bring them with you, also make sure you have some extra meds, or the names and contents of the meds (as you can just walk into a drug store here and they will hand it over with no script). Just be really vigilant to make sure you watch what they eat and drink and they will be fine. To get the meds here in a drug store, have a copy of the box in hand or a printout of the contents for the web and hand it too them, they will find the same under a different brand here, although a lot of the time the drugs appear to be of very low quality.
Chris
From Dana:
Chris,
Thank you again for your reply. I’m still in the process of deciding the “best” (which, in itself, is totally subjective and enigmatic) thing to do, talking with my US vet, my partner in India, and vets/expats with animals in Delhi. If I take the cats, I’ll surely follow your advice with water, litter, food, etc. Also, I’m preparing a “pet emergency fund” so I have the means to treat the cats if they’re sick or rush them back to US if needed. (Your pictures of the animal’s crates are invaluable, btw. I’m more of a visual learner
)
An aside about water: Should the floors only be cleaned with mineral water as well, or, in your opinion, will an anti-bacterial cleaning agent negate the tap water? This may seem like a silly question, but I have been thinking about what would happen if the kitties stepped on the wet floors and then licked their feet, etc. I’m being a paranoid mommy, I know, but better safe than sorry. I guess I could always boil water before cleaning. I have read multiple times that “If you can’t drink the water, neither can your pet,” but, as you alluded, it’s near impossible to control all external factors.
I’ll be sure to update IM and let you know if the cats travel to India. A million thanks!
–dana
From admin:
Dana we just had the maid clean the floor with lysol which you can get here cheap. The biggest problem was the water in the trays under the pot plants which george loved to drink from…god only knowns whats in the plant soil, it sure isnt sterilized potting mix like we are used to! Also the paint would flake from the walls sometimes, and its all lead based paint here and we were afraid one of the animals would eat the flakes of paint.
Oh and bring a can opener ! Some of the wet cat food doesnt have ring pulls, and the only can openers you can buy here are those old fashioned ones you stab the can with a blade. Plus if you want to make italian the imported crushed tomatoes are in can and you need an opener for those too!
Chris
From Dan:
Dear Cris,
I am moving to Delhi-India from the Tampa,USA . My pet cat about 4 yr old will accompany me as accompanied baggage .I can get these documents 1. Vaccination record including rabies vaccination 2. Export Health certificate which I will recieve 7 days before the date of departure 3. Certificate for Import of cat into India which I have downloaded off the internet and will get my vet to sign In order to get the NOC . The agents are charging too much for my cat. I dont have no one in India who can get NOC .And when I called Regional Officer (NR), Animal Quarantine and Certification Service Station,
Kapashera, New Delhi – 110 037,Phone No.: 0091-11-2506 3272,Fax No.: 091-11-2506 0647
He said to send my relative or friend in Delhi that they will getNOC for free. As NOC is issued by officer for free. But i dont know anyone in Delhi.How can I get NOC for my cat. Please help me or email me at …….@gmail.com
From chris:
Have you tried getting the NOC at another Quarantine center. I understand and have been told its best to get it from your arrival place, but you dont have to. After all it should be nationwide (I know not always true in India with a central government department!!).
Sorry cant offer any other help apart from shopping around and see if someone else can be paid to go and get it for you, try sending some emails to some of the Logistics companies, I am sure you can go get one to be your agent and get the form cheap for you in Delhi. Thats how I originally started my search to get the NOC, just sending emails.
You should take your cat in the cabin with you, he/she will be more comfy, just get one of the collapsible containers like we used, as you just push them under the seat for take off and landing and the rest of the time they can be out from under the seat. Plus you can make sure your cat gets some liquids this way during the flight and you can take it into a disabled restroom and let it out for a stretch and pee during your stopover.
Chris
From Shamitha:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the very useful info you’ve provided regarding pet transport to India! I am travelling to India from Dallas with my 2 year old labrador Aura on Dec 29th. I got all the info required from here but I had a doubt as to what the India sanitary certificate was. It says somewhere in one of your attachments that the certified copy of the APHIS form, the India Sanitary Certificate, the pet’s inoculation record and the no objection certificate create your pet passport for India.
I really appreciate all your help.
Thank You
Shamitha
From chris:
Let me have a look at the docs.. I am away on a trip will be back Tuesday night and post an update
Chris
From admin:
The Sanitary Certificate was this one: http://www.chrisandcin.com/05/airline-certificate.pdf . Its a form the vet filled out 14 days prior to show the dog is healthy and inoculated that’s all, you have to submit this to get your NOC here in India. If they give you the NOC you will have all the required docs to import your Pet. the NOC is basically stating they have pre reviewed all the information and they say you have all that’s needed to legally import the dog.
I would still recommend the Lufthansa flight ex DFW (if they still do that route). Don’t do the new Emirates flight, as sometimes the connections from that flight to India are long and its still quite warm there.. plus they don’t appear to have any sympathy for handling dogs at Dubai airport I see dogs sitting on the warm tarmac all the time there.
From Shamitha:
Thank you so much Chris!
I am going Lufthansa from Dallas to Mumbai with a stop at Frankfurt. Got all the documents done except for the NOC. Sending the documents to India today. Hoping it won’t take longer as I’m leaving on 29th. A little worried about obtaining the NOC, but I guess it should be fine. Your blog has been a great help! Thanks again!
Regards
Shamitha