Tom
3 posts ago someone has already posted the same cat-copter.
I wonder whether that guy still has friends though. It's just macabre. I wouldn't want to be his grandma.
When we brought our cat last year, they made us take her out of the carrier and carry her through security. At arrival, they checked her papers and scanned her microchip, no fee.
I just flew in from Toronto on Monday and they were very easy going. He asked if I happened to have the required papers, but didn't even look at my cat (or the papers for that matter).
Fill in your information as requested through the link below and just follow the steps they asked, you shouldn't have a problem.
If animals are going as carry-on (cabin not down-under) they sometimes make you take the animal out and put the carrier through xray, before putting pet back inside and then they let pet go around as most cages would also set detector.
Depending on airport they will also inspect cage thoroughly before accepting pet for baggage.
I have never been charged for bringing pets (dog/cat/rabbit) across border, even as initial import. The Gemeinde charged for the dog tax, but the other two beasties do not get registered.
Word of warning (after very unpleasant experience), make sure you arrive to check in your pet with a VERY generous time margin, even if you have to go off and walk dog another few extra laps before finally handing over. On several occasions I have encountered airport staff who are not familiar with the procedures for checking in animals. They may need to call for help etc. and if pet booking not paid for that will require an extra trip to another desk somewhere with possible queue or incompetent employee.
The worst experience I had with this was at Zürich airport last January. The KLM woman was very chatty (Swiss German style) but gave the illusion she knew what she was doing. I had arrived at the desk 2.5 hrs before departure, but she fiddled and fuddled with checking in the dog - which documents, where to attach them etc. Then she sent me to pay which took 20min. With 1hr to departure I arrived back at her desk and awkwardly tried to get her attention as she had started on another party. As I was nervously glancing at my watch she continued with my boarding passes and told me I would need to hurry to gate. No sh** Sherlock! Then she looked up at me and said "your dog won't make that flight" and would have to rebook on a later flight. I made a cursory attempt at trying to explain why she couldn't just reroute us straight to London w/dog on a Saturday evening.l
Thus we missed our flight to Amsterdam and connecting overnight ferry to UK. We did take a later flight to Amsterdam and spent a chilly night on a bench as KLM did not consider it their problem that their incompetent employee botched up perfectly orchestrated travel plans - and I wasn't going to shell out for a hotel. The journey that should have had a max duration of 20 hrs including a nights sleep metamorphosed into 32 and a lot of uncompensated hassle.
Moral of story...it isn't actually that difficult to travel with your pet. Dealing with some airline staff may give you wishful visions of having a fire-blowing dragon. instead of a domestic-type pet
[QUOTE=Tasebo;2192010]
Word of warning (after very unpleasant experience), make sure you arrive to check in your pet with a VERY generous time margin, even if you have to go off and walk dog another few extra laps before finally handing over. /QUOTE]
This is a very good point. I got to the Airport about 4 hours ahead of departure and I was still the last person on the plane (though this is pretty normal for me).
The Iceland Air staff were excellent, it was the baggage people that made me crazy. After checking in the staff told me to keep my pet for another hour as it was very hot down in the baggage area. When I came back an hour later, after getting the carrier scanned while I held my pet, they requested a pick up. The guy didn't show up for over an hour. They somehow got my pet and me on the plan before take off, though it was nerve wracking.
I hope I'm not encouraging any bad behaviour in anyone, but here's our experience with pet transport:
We flew our cat from Canada to Switzerland a few years ago. We paid $500 for the ticket and about $500 for the shots, checkups with the vet, government stamps, etc. It was a lot of stress and running around in the week before we moved and at several points I deeply regretted our decision to take our cat.
He flew with the luggage and had to have a carrier that he could stand up in.
When we got to Geneva we just walked out of the airport (with our huge cat carrier in plain site) and no one said a thing. We realized later that we should have declared him at customs (the few days before the move were insane so we were a bit spacey), but he (and we) have been happily living in Switzerland ever since. If we'd known in advance it would be that easy to walk out of the airport with a cat we could have saved $500 on the vet and government fees and avoided lots of running around.
Good luck!
But there is always the risk that you get stopped at customs. And then what would happen to the poor animal if it didn't have it's vaccinations and paperwork up to date?
Also not sure about Ireland, but we're flying our 2 cats from Jakarta early August. We hired a pet transport service provider so it's less stressful.
Microchip, vaccination book, rabies shot, health certificate, worm treatments and rabies antibody titre test were required. The pet movers will take care of pretty much everything: flight booking, permit application, customs clearwnce, vet work, quatantine booking, etc...
We brought our dogs over a few months ago and ended up driving them over (from UK) due to the high costs and potential stress on the dogs. The only issue is if you are not planning on bringing a car to switzerland and you need to hire a car, then the costs become comparable with you all flying!
You should have pet passports and a check 24 hrs before travelling, however we did all these things and nobody checked either our passports or any pet paperwork on our entire journey.
Somebody told me that (in Zurich at least) they are reducing the number of cats you are allowed to have from 3 to 1, I think because of the fall in bird numbers. I'm not sure how they can do this unless you register your cat. Plus there is a cat tax of circa 80 chf/pa.
If stopped by customs and it is found that the animal was not imported correctly - especially if vacs are missing or incorrectly documented - the animal could be seized. Why risk it?
An owner is usually given the option of paying to return the animal to the home country. In some cases quarantine to fulfill the statutory waiting period (at the owner's expense) might be offered as an alternative. But don't count on either option . The border officials have the authority to seize an incorrectly imported animal, and apparently do so with some regularity.
There have been cases where the owner would not/could not pay to return the animal to their home country and cases where the owner was not given that option - and the animal was euthanized.
For instance, the case of the beagle Buddy earlier this year:
http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/zuerich/...t-tot-10703832
And others:
http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/news/sto...efern-22361156
tl;dr - Don't take chances with your beloved four-footed friend. Dot all Is, cross all Ts, do it right.
ETA:
To add to this, currently the BLV is highlighting the risks of rabies and the need for correct vaccination and importation - and warning that incorrectly imported animals can be euthanized at the border:
Einem herumstreunenden Hund zuhause ein tolles Leben bieten?
Herumstreunende Hunde werden oft in bester Absicht aus den Ferien mitgenommen. Doch schon bei der Heimkehr sorgt dies meist für mehr Kummer als Freude. In Mittelmeerländern sind die Tiere oft von Parasiten befallen und herumstreunende Hunde aus Tollwutrisikoländern bergen ein hohes Risiko. Deshalb gibt es strikte Bestimmungen bei der Einfuhr von Hunden. Meist können die Einreisebestimmungen nicht erfüllt, die Hunde aber auch nicht mehr zurückgeschickt werden . Und so wird für den Hund nichts aus dem tollen Leben und er muss an der Grenze eingeschläfert werden.
Roughly:
Offering a stray dog have a wonderful new life here?
Stray dogs are often picked up in good faith while on holidays. But on return this generally ensure more grief than joy. In Mediterranean countries, the animals are often infested with parasites and stray dogs from rabies-risk countries carry a high risk. Therefore, there are strict rules on the importation of dogs. Most (stray) dogs cannot meet the entry requirements, but also can no longer be returned. And so instead of enjoying a wonderful new life the dog must be euthanized at the border.
I have heard that to adopt a cat in Swizterland it is advisable to adopt two cats, so they don't get lonely.
And a lot of cats here stay inside apartments and never see a bird in their lives, up front.
And i have never heard of or paid a cat tax in 40 years living here.
Strange things people hear. Or perhaps it's only in Zurich you have to abide by those cat rules.
Don't think it's applicable for Geneva. Or alot of my friends are going to get great big, back tracked bills!!!
At present there is no cat tax...
I was about to post a link to a Tages Anzieger story reporting that the ZH Kantonsrat is considering a cat tax - but then I saw the date was 1.4.2014. A little further reading showed that the article was published as an April Fool's joke.
So if the idea of a cat tax is so foreign to the Swiss that it would be the subject of a fake April Fool's article, I think you cat owners can breathe easy.
Sometimes they do come out with some good April Fool's articles!!
That one must have had more than one person shaking in their boots!!!
I just flew in to the Zürich airport today with my cat. It wasn't complicated at all, but the total travel time proved to be a bit too much to my poor little buddy, who handled the whole thing like a champ, but had a little pee in the carrier shortly before we arrived. Next time I would bring along some litter and rig somekind of disposable tray to get him to pee at the airport bathroom. So I'm adding my experience for future reference.
We flew directly from Portugal, which takes 2 hours. I had to be at the airport one and a half hours before and could not check in online. I would advise to make (and pay for) the cat/dog's reservation in advance, it saves quite a lot of time and guarantees that the animal can fly with you in the cabin. The airline had also recommended a flexible carrier instead of a rigid one, so that it would be sure to fit under the seat.
At check in they looked at his passport (very important that stamp from the vet 48h before flying!) and wheighed the carrier and cat to make sure it was under 8kg. At the security checkpoint all I had to do was pass the metal detector while carrying the cat, and the empty carrier went throuh the x-ray scanner.
After arrival I went through the Goods to Declare gate, where the guy had a look at the cat's passport, scanned him for his microchip and stamped the passport. I'm sure I could have passed through the "normal" exit since the guy wasn't there at first, but why risk it when the whole thing takes 5 minutes?
Getting a dog into Switzerland has a bit more requirements, but for flying all the cat needed was to have a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination, and a stamp from the vet, 48h before the flight, declaring it to be fit to travel. A deworming pill is not required, nor external deparasitation if it is an adult cat, but the vet might insist on it.
My little guy seems to have handled the move pretty well. After a bath and sniffing every nook and cranny of his new home, plus a long nap on my lap, he looks much more at ease. He really hated the noise at the airport, but during the flight itself he just looked a bit bored.