It’s been a year since I flew with Pixel to Dublin and I just wanted to pen down the process she and I went through.
In September 2018, my husband Shwaytaj got a job with Intercom and we were ecstatic. What this meant was that we move from Navi Mumbai, India to Pune, India in November and then wait for our visa and move to Dublin, Ireland. Easy right? Not quite.
Flash Back to March 5th, 2017 — Vile Parle Mumbai
We were on our way back from a movie when we turned the corner to our house and spotted this white ball of fluff in the middle of the road. Shwaytaj avoided it and came to a stop. When we turned back we saw a few dogs trying to sniff at this little ball of white fluff — a tiny tiny kitten. We did not see a mother in sight so we decided to pick it up and put it to the side of the road. We both looked for the mother around but did not see one. Fearing that this little one will walk into the road or be mauled to death by the area dogs or cats I looked at Shwaytaj and instantly knew we were taking this little one home. We got home, feed it some milk and started finding out a veterinarian close by to examine this little one.
me and the little one :) — photo credits: Shwaytaj
We also decided that on the way to the veterinary if we find the mother we would let the little one go back to his/her family.
With no mother to be found in the evening, we got the Kitten checked and vaccinated, and voila we Welcomed PIXEL (a Female, 2-month-old, feral kitten) to our family!
Back in September 2018
Shwaytaj got his offer we were ecstatic! A second later we looked at each other and we had the same brain wave. We were going to have to figure a way of getting Pixel to Dublin!
There was a pet relocation service available for us to use. The only issue with this service was
The pet travels as a cargo piece which I think is inhuman.
The services cost a fortune! We got quoted from €3000 to €7000
We also did a lot of reading on pet travel and read on many cases where dogs and cats traveling as cargo were not provided water and food or experienced anxiety attacks or faced other health issues and worse did not survive the travel.
Pixel is and will always be family due to which leaving her back in India was not an option. So I decided I would do anything to take her with me to Dublin.
The only option I had was to take her with me in the cabin.
I had read on a few blogs that pets below a certain weight were allowed in the cabin and began reading up on which airline companies allowed pets in the cabin, which of them were the friendliest. Some names popped up
Turkish Airlines
Lufthansa
Air France + Jet airways
After researching a bit more it became clear that Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines were the most favorable ones. This was noted and would be acted upon by me closer to my flying date
Now for the real process:
Any pet flying out of India to another country has to follow the quarantine process.
Refer to these websites below from the Irish Government for detailed information. These websites were my go-to for any questions. Also, the email provided by them is very responsive :)
Citizens Information & Agriculture
But, here is the gist of what I had to get done before moving pixel from India to Ireland
1. Pixel needed to be microchipped before the rabies vaccine and the microchip should be readable on a device compatible with an ISO standard 11785
If the microchip could not be read when we entered or returned to Ireland, she could be put into quarantine or refused entry. We had the option of carrying our scanner but I got her scanned at a local vet and the government vet who had the device with the above specifications and it worked fine.
*** I Made sure to get a certificate from my Vet with his signature, stamp (with his/her registration code), and the date and time of microchipping Pixel.
2. She also needed a rabies vaccine after being Microchipped(Cost — INR 1,000 approx.)
The vaccination has to be given after the microchip is inserted as per the website.
*** I Made sure to get a certificate from my Vet with his signature, stamp (with his/her registration code) and the date and time of vaccination of Pixel.
3. Rabies serological test (blood test) (Cost — INR 25,000 approx.)
Post the above process we waited for exactly 30 days (days specified in the website by the Irish gov) after the rabies vaccination had been given before the blood test was carried out. My vet sent the blood sample via an agency to an EU-approved blood testing laboratory. The laboratory was located in the UK and part of the list of approved laboratories that can be accessed here.
The result of the blood test came back with a statement that said the vaccination was successful (a rabies antibody level of at least 0.5 IU/ml).
We got back a digital version of this test but I made sure I had the original hard copy that is signed and stamped by the laboratory as well.
4. A 3 months Quarantine period
Pixel or any animal must wait three months from the date a satisfactory result has been recorded, before it can travel to the EU, including Ireland.
So we waited!
In the meantime, I got back to researching and booking an airline ticket for Pixel and me
This is the most confusing part ever.
The process to book a cat/animal less than 8 kg on a flight is
1) Block the ticket for a flight of your choice first — Pay later
2) Then call the airline on their local contact number
3) They will check if the pet is allowed on the flight (Only 2 pets under 8 kg are allowed in the cabin in one flight 🙄)
4) If a spot is available they will book your pet in
5) WILL NOT PROVIDE ANY WRITTEN PROOF OF THE CAT BEING BOOKED IN THE CABIN 😡
6) Pay for your ticket.
I did this whole process for both Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines and I must say the Turkish airline booking went way smoother than Lufthansa.
For the Turkish Airlines booking, I booked the ticket on the call, on the same call, I booked a spot for Pixel, got a confirmation for my ticket, no confirmation on Pixels spot (kept calling the airline every week to check if her spot was still booked on the flight or she was booted like a crazy cat mom 😂😂😂 ) and paid for my ticket online via the email they sent me.
The ticket cost is 100–200 Euros depending on the weight of the pet. As I was traveling with her in the cabin she had to be under 5.5kg and it cost me 115 Euros. I paid this amount at the airport.
5. The pet must be accompanied by a valid EU pet passport or EU health certificate
EU health certificate (also known as EU Annex III Health Certificate) is something that I was personally very confused about and used an agent for this. These were the same agents that Intercom had suggested but I did not use them for the whole process as they were very expensive only for this process they charged me a fee of 20000/- Rupees which was fair considering the paperwork involved and the government agencies and appointment system.
I sent the agency all of Pixel’s paperwork, photo and details, and my One-way ticket.
They took an appointment for a date close to my flying as this is specified by the government
Filled out the above form
Accompanied me on that day and did all the paperwork at the government center — details of this visit to the gov center can be its own blog and will be as long as this one. I will skip the details here.
And handed me the final travel document and health certificate for Pixel.
But here are some points if you plan to do this on your own.
An EU health certificate must be:
completed by your veterinary practitioner, AND
signed and endorsed by an Official (State) Veterinarian of the country of departure, within 10 days of pets arrival into the EU (point b, page 5 of the health certificate refers), AND
immediately upon arriving into the EU, signed and endorsed by the EU country which performed the compliance checks.
The endorsed certificate is valid for travel between the EU Member States for up to 4 months, or until the anti-rabies vaccination expires, whichever is the earliest.
5. Pets must undergo compliance checks and must enter at specific entry points in Ireland.
Pets traveling to Ireland from non-EU countries may enter through Cork, Dublin, and Shannon Airports, or Rosslare or Cork (Ringaskiddy) Ports and must undergo a compliance check on arrival.
It is the caregiver’s responsibility to ensure that the animal undergoes the
compliance check.
There is a separate process for a pet traveling in the cargo hold (It’s inhumane to put a pet in the cargo hold IMO but any-who that process is different so check the websites mentioned above for more details)
Pets traveling in the cabin of an aircraft or as excess baggage
You must not leave the baggage reclaim area without presenting your pet for a compliance check. Compliance checks will be performed at the port/airport.
This compliance check should be organized in advance. To get this done follow the following steps
Complete the advance notice form which can be accessed on https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/pets/euhealthcertificatescompliancechecksandadvancenotice/. Alternatively please provide us with the details required within the form in the main body of your email to the above email addresses.
Send the completed form or all the details in the form in the main body of the email, as an advance notice email of your intention to bring a pet into Ireland to the following mail ids
Dublin airport petmove@agriculture.gov.ie
Shannon airport PetsShannon@agriculture.gov.ie
Cork airport corkpetmove@agriculture.gov.ie
Ringaskiddy port, Cork corkpetmove@agriculture.gov.ie
Rosslare ferry port rosslare.europort@agriculture.gov.ie
at least 24 hours in advance of travel.
If you do not follow these rules, or the pet fails the compliance checks, the pet may be refused entry into Ireland or may be placed into quarantine for the necessary tests or vaccinations. In very limited circumstances, the pet may be euthanized. These measures will be implemented at the owner’s expense.
Wait, What! the pet may be euthanized. OMG, that information sent me into a spiral to check and double-check every step and process I was following.
I got the official Indian Government documents from the Official Government Vet in Navi Mumbai and had to spend an entire day with Pixel in a crate there with an Agent.
Later that day I sent out an email to the airport authorities intimating them about Pixels details and our arrival date and time.
Phew! All done and set to Fly with my huge file of all her previous paperwork. All her certificates — spaying, vaccinations, microchips you name it I had it.
We did a 4-hour drive from Pune, Maharashtra to Mumbai, Maharashtra which was mostly uneventful as pixel had done this a million times. We took a 5-hour break at my Aunt's place in Mumbai that was close to the airport. Pixel was comfy in a room at my Aunt’s house and had food and water.
We left for the airport at around 3 am in the morning. Pixel knew something was up and was the toughest at this point. I managed to get her into the pet carrier which was airline approved.
I arrived at the airport — said my goodbyes and headed to the check-in area. Waited in the queue. I mentioned to a Turkish airline attendant that I had a pet with me and asked them if I had a separate process to follow. About 15mins later I have whisked away to a separate counter where a helpful lady told me the whole process from there on, we weighed Pixel and the issued a charge of 120 euros that I paid for in Indian currency and was given the receipt, my boarding pass and asked to head to Security.
At the Security counter, things got a bit tricky as the guard asked me to take pixel out of the bag and hold on to her while they x-rayed her carrier. I was praying for Pixel to not get too anxious and jumpy and scratch me around. Pixel was nervous but I held on to her tightly so she would not escape.
Bag scan, done! Phew!!
Then I went in for my scan and after stepping out I was told to head to another security counter where they checked all pixels papers, provided stamps on the export form and checked my boarding ticket, and checked Pixel as well but without taking her out.
That was it from the Indian gov side and it was pretty smooth to take my baby with me on the flight.
The Turkish Airlines staff members were super helpful all throughout the flight. I was also allowed to priority board the flight as I had Pixel with me.
Through the flight pixel mostly snoozed and I made sure she had her blanket and was super comfortable.
At the Istanbul airport, the Staff members checked her papers, noted her microchip number (Had to decipher what they were saying due to the language barrier but I eventually got there as I was super confident of all my paperwork).
Then back again on the second flight. There was a lady on this flight (super rude) who was allergic to cats which I totally get in my aisle so I was asked to move to a seat near an emergency exit but I got a free seat next to me where I could put Pixel so Win-Win for everyone. Pixel was a bit anxious at this point and did meow once or twice but fell asleep once the flight took off.
4 hours later we landed in Dublin. I was happy — I was done with 99% of my journey with just 1% more to go.
Immigration — Check.
Bag collection — Check.
After this is the declaration area. I had to figure this one out as it is not super clear. I asked one of the guards to help me out and she took me to the area and showed me the door to the pet examination center at the airport. It is the most non-conspicuous door and I would have surely missed it.
I went in and was received by two friendly women inspectors. They check Pixel’s papers. They signed and stamped them, took photocopies for filing and handed me the originals, and said I was all clear to take Pixel with me.
This is it I walked out of the airport with Pixel, my luggage with a big smile toward my husband. It was all done and over Pixel was now with us in Dublin and had traveled 8000k.
Fin!