Taking Dogs and cat to India - lets get some new info here - May 2009

chrisandcin

There are threads here, that are helpful, but it appears that the information is already outdates as there were some changes for importing your pets late last year.

I will post the information I have here, our story is that we are trying to leave Miami late next week for Kolkata with 2 dogs and a cat. We have travelled with to 7 countries so far with our animals, so we arent 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

Pet Relocation
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:

* Microchip: Each Pet shall be identified by means of a microchip. No other form of identification is acceptable. The microchip used should comply with ISO Standard 11784 or Annex A to ISO standard 11785- otherwise the pet will need to be sent with it’s own scanner attached to the top of the crate.
* 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 two years, others are only good for one. This vaccine must be an
* 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:

1.No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Quarantine Officer at the Animal Quarantine Station in India.
2.A duplicate copy of the NOC has to be fixed on the crate of the pet during the air travel.
3.Orignal copy of the NOC has to be produced in India to get the pet released from the customs at the Airport in India.
4.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.
5.30 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



Now with this info to start with lets make a NEW post with the current information for us to all share, so if you have travelled with your pets after Dec 1 2008, please post your experiences and knowledge here to share with others doing the move INTO India.

chrisandcin

Update NOC costs so far:

www.fuzzywuzzy.in - $500 for first pet and $150 each additional pet

www.jetex-oceanair.com - $500 service feem plus $60 NOC fee each pet, and $40 customs fee per pet.... although latter fee we are still querying.

At present I think I will take the Jetex Oceanair as the service provider as they are local for me in Kolkata in case of problems, and can do it in 2-3 days, as opposed to 4 days for the first person.

chrisandcin

We have opted to use Jetex as our agent as they appear on the ball and answer quickly your questions.

Also to add to it some new NOC information:

The NOC is valid ONLY for 72 hrs, so you must be aware of this when travelling with the NOC, make sure your agent gets it so that it is valid for your travels.

We also needed 2 letters in addition to the above:

1- An authorization letter stating that you authorize a bonafied person of jetex ocean air pvt ltd to clear the pets on your behalf, stating the name & details of the animals.

2- A letter stating that the animals are absolute domestic & are gift item. Please make a separate letter for each of the pet. ( If you dont state it as a gift item, you have to incur heavy duty, this letter is just to sve your duty)


Booking our pets:

We have just booked our pets on Lufthansa, from Miami to Kolkata via Frankfurt, the Lab is a big girl and she is 68 kg in the largest pet carrier on the market too, Moe the cocker is smaller of course, but both cost $400 each for their excess baggage charges, and the cat is $200, but the cat we have to take with us in the cabin!, as there were only 2 spaces left for pets in the hold !!

We have been told in Miami to take the pets to the normal check in counter and get there as early as possible to clear the paperwork etc.

Will let you know how it goes!

Nick-H

Thanks for the up-to-date information.

PriyaVins

There is another agency in Mumbai that is into pet relocation and NOC - my brother Nikil went through them - charges only about $240 per pet including the NOC. Their agent is at the airport to help you at Mumbai in India. They even arranged for a Pet-friendly taxi service from the international airport to the domestic airport, since my Brother was going down to Hyderabad.

The NOC is valid for 14 days and the Health Certificate is valid for 10 days in which you would have to land in India too! I don't remeber the person's name but you can check out http://www.petvacations.in

chrisandcin

I wonder about this Health Certificate you mention... there appears to be 2 of these, one from the country you are leaving. The USA one I have from the USDA is valid for 30 days, and there is another one which you get upon arrival from the Indian Quarantine office. As I have been told and others mention on their sites the health certicate in India you make an appointment to get or they can do it at the airport when you arrive, they issue this provisional certificate and then you get another vet to inspect the animals within 30 days.

Its good to get another name of a agency for the NOC here too, maybe we can get this made into a stick for this forum??

chrisandcin

We received our NOC's today, early too! The animal quarantine officer was kind enough to issue them early.

I found out what the health certificate is, here in the USA its the USDA APHIS form that your vet fills out and that you take or fedex to the USDA office in your state (and pay $34 per animal for the stamping of the document). Thats all the health certificate for the NOC is, and then when you arrive you show them the original copy and presto thats it....simple a health certificate is issued!

So personally I wouldnt be paying a company to attain this health certificate for you, as you can do it yourself here in the USA.

BUT DISCLAIMER - it seems that the different parts of India have different rules, so it may be different, I am writing of my experience in Kolkata.

I will be writing about our experiences on our blog www.chrisandcin.com

4sama

Hi Chris,

We are planning to travel with our 75lb golden retriever from San Francisco to Mumbai in October. We plan to fly Lufthansa as well but I thought that the dog can only be taken via Lufthansa Cargo. And when I called them, they said that they only work thru Pet Express, which will charge me $2,850 for their service - guiding me on US paperwork and ensuring that the dog is walked and fed at Frankfurt. This seemed a little excessive especially because I know what paperwork is needed (thanks to your earlier posts!) so not sure what we will be paying for.

Did you use Pet Express as well ... Or is there a difference between taking the dog as excess luggage as opposed to Cargo? Please advice

Regards,
4Sama

chrisandcin

DONT send the dog freight, plus you need a agent here and have lots of fees and duties to pay. No matter which way the dog travels its in the same pressurized hold in the aircraft at the read of the plane generally, but its handled on the ground differently. Via excess freight ie traveling with you, is better I think, you keep the dog with you until the last minute, and most US airport have dog parks just at the terminal door... and then a handler takes the dogs in its cage and makes sure its comfy and stays with it until its loaded. When you arrive it comes straight off and by the time you pass immigration it will be delivered to you at the baggage carousel.

Go to my site and download the docs, call Lufthansa when you have your tickets and book the dog as excess freight, then take your dog with its cage to the checkin counter and presto you are on your way (of course you need the docs I have on the site) Make sure you get your NOC.

ALL animals travelling thru frankfurt are taken into the pet hotel, walked, checked, watered and rested out of their cages between flights. They dont charge extra for this too!

buzzgg

Hi All -
Brought my cat through United/Air India via Delhi to Hyderabad. Something to consider, I did not use an agent (found it too excessive) checked the cat in as excess luggage and paid $200. When I arrived in Delhi, did a straight bee-line to the senior gent directing traffic and made sure that he heard me about my concerns over my beloved cat. He assigned an Air India assistant to "walk me through the airport". He walked me right through passport control/collections and customs. I HAD ALL of my paperwork (just in case) (make sure to have the USDA documents stamped within 10 days of departure), but I never encountered a quarantine officer for the No Objections stamp. Since I landed in Delhi and processed through there, when I arrived in Hyderabad, it was all considered an internal flight, I just pointed out that my passport had already been processed in Delhi and I was waved through. I point this all out to emphasize using the airline "facilitators" since they know not only the airport but all the personnel. I would not have known where to go, but thanks to the airline, I was escorted. NOTE!! If using Air India - you MUST book your flight through Frankfurt. DO NOT SEND YOUR PET AS FREIGHT- Bring it with you as excess luggage, but make sure that you let the airline know ahead of time (when you book the ticket) that you are bringing your pet with you. Air India has a two pet per cabin policy and has a weight limit (I believe 10 LBS for pets in the cabin), all others must go underneath with baggage. Regardless with Air India - they require to know name of cat, contact.... etc and have you fax in the information two weeks before your flight. Make sure that you get the name of the person attending to you on the phone when you call to request what information they want faxed in.

Another quick note is that I did not send my pet as FREIGHT, however I did send some books via freight and while I was there, I had to go through the process of checking them out of customs and there were many pets there, and although the pets seemed ok, the warehouse was very hot, large, and loud. The process was arduous and long (took me over 6 hours) and I can't imagine putting my cat through that, he would be totally traumatized. Seriously how do you feel after a long flight to India, now how would your pet feel after that AND being in a small container with limited movement.

birds

What is the URL of your site?

I agree with the above posters, do NOT send your pet as cargo. It is better and cheaper to pay somebody to fly with your animal than sending it through cargo which is fraught with potential problems, very expensive and highly traumatic for the animal.

Good luck!

__________________
Of the estimated 500 million dogs in the world, approximately 75% are strays, of which about 25 million live in India.

4sama

Thank you so much! I had no idea that pets could be checked-in as excess luggage - the process seems so much more efficient. Thanks for all the advice and help!

chrisandcin

What is the URL of your site?

http://www.chrisandcin.com/category/petinfo/

birds

Great! Thanks a lot.

gweilo

I took a pup with me on Air India a week ago from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to allow him to fly in the cabin with me. They said they normally don't allow it. Going through the airport (in Ahmedabad, Air India flies out of the international terminal, even for domestic flights) was harrowing -- quite a few hostile individuals, not happy that we had a dog with us. (We'd gone to the domestic terminal first, and people there were much nicer about the whole thing.)
Everything worked out ok in the end, but it was a discouraging and alienating experience.