Pets, Quarantine and Travel Options

Quarantine and Euthanasia

All pet dogs and cats entering Ireland from anyplace but Britain must spend 6 months in Quarantine unless they've been previously microchipped and approved for travel under the Pet Travel Scheme. There is only one quarantine facility in the Republic called Lissen Hall. Lissen Hall tells me that they usually have available spaces, but in the past, they have sometimes been booked up.

Customs officers every year offer dozens of unprepared people a stark choice:

Many people don't have the wherewithal to handle the unexpected costs, or the quarantine facility is already booked out. Others find themselves frantically phoning overseas friends to implore them to take a family pet.. Which then has to be placed back aboard an airplane with a expensive new ticket. Euthanasia is a frequent choice.

Avoid this undesired outcome! Either make your boarding reservations long in advance and set aside the necessary cash, or find a good home for your loved pet before moving. Or be prepared to invest the time and money to comply with the bureaucratic necessities of the Pet Travel Scheme.

There are five methods of fulfilling the regulations and they are all discussed below with links to the relevant government documents and regulations.

Your five choices are:

1. Making reservations at the Republic's only recognised quarantine facility at Lissen Hall.

2. Bring your pet into England under the Pet Travel Scheme that went into effect there in 2000. Then bring it to Ireland. This is only possible from nations without any rabies problem. The U.S. and Canada, notably, were added to the Pet Travel Scheme in December 2002.

3. Quarantine your pet in Northern Ireland's officially recognised Quarantine facility. This is a reasonable alternative if Lissen Hall Quarantine Facility in the Republic is booked out.

4. Build your own government approved kennel and keep your pet in strict quarantine at your private dwelling. This might sound enticing, but it is by far the most expensive and difficult route to follow. And you'll still have to quarantine your pet for one month at Lissen Hall.

5. Come directly to Ireland under the EU Pet Passport programme.

This EU programme came into effect in July 2004 and provides a "harmonized system" for movement of pet cats and dogs. You will have to prove the following to be issued a Pet Passport:

• The animal is travelling from an eligible country.

• The animal is identified by means of a microchip.

• The animal has been vaccinated against rabies.

• The animal has been successfully blood-tested for antibodies at least six months before entry into Ireland.

• The animal has been correctly treated for tick and tapeworm.

In short, figure on several trips to the Vet and a minimum of 7 months. For lots more ins and outs from folks who have been through it all, keep on reading. Or, check out the Department of Agriculture & Food's excellent pages about pet travel into Ireland.

Come In by Ferry

Travelling by ferry presents exactly the same problems as coming by air. You have to have the EU Pet Passport or your animal will end up in quarantine.

Approved carriers do NOT include all ferry companies into Ireland. Here are two approved carriers:

Irish Ferries – The company lands at the ports of Cherbourg in Normandy, France and Roscoff in Brittany, France - English ports are Pembroke in south Wales and Holyhead in north Wales. Irish ports are Dublin and Rosslare in the southeast.
Tel: + 353 53 9133158 or 0818 300 400
Fax:+ 353 53 9133544

Brittany Ferries - Approved Route: Roscoff, France to Cork Port, Ireland.
Tel: +353 21 427 7801
Fax: +353 21 427 7262

Come Via the UK

Once your pet has been accepted into the UK, you can bring it to Ireland without further restriction. Just keep your paperwork handy. You can fly directly to any Irish airport out of the UK on any airline that accepts animals. You don’t have to go through any elaborate customs and veterinary checks beyond those will already have been completed during your entry into the UK. Alternatively, you can take Irish Ferries out of the UK or France. If you go via France, you’ll have to go through the whole rigamarole to board the Irish Ferries ship.

For information about the UK’s Pet Travel Scheme, go to http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm Or keep going on this page and read Lien's advice and that of other pet owners.

Other details, including acceptable countries, approved labs and carriers can be found at the Irish Dept. of Agriculture and Food site - http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/index.jsp?file=pets/travel.xml The Animal Help Line is at 1890 504 604. If calling from outside Ireland: +353 1 607-2827

For much more on the British option, click here.

Aerlingus Pet Travel Policies - Come In by Air

Aerlingus Airline's pet travel policies are handed out on their website via an automated response. Travel crate sizes, procedures and exceptions and more are covered.

Yes, you may fly your pet into Ireland via Aerlingus. For much more on this, see Lien's advice below. One last note – all the airlines demand ruinous amounts of the old calabash to fly your precious overseas. Transporting a big dog from the US, for one example, to Ireland can cost in the region of 2,000 Euro on some airlines.

The Full Hassle

Lien went through the entire hassle - and I do mean HASSLE writ large! Here are the full intricacies of one person's experience with a cat. But, the same rules apply to dogs.

"I’ve just moved my cat Chloe from the US directly into Ireland under the new rules. It was enough of a hassle that I’m hoping these tips will help other people. I’ve separated the ordeal into two sections: paperwork and vet work. The required vet visits were by far the easier part of the two. People at the Irish Department of Agriculture and at Aer Lingus were very helpful. However, the program is still new, so sometimes they don’t have all the correct information. I developed the habit of calling twice with any question, to ensure that I got the same answer twice.

Required vet work:

1) Get your pet microchipped. Make sure it is a Euro-standard chip! My vet had no problems ordering one for me; it cost around $40. The US and Canada use different chips and the scanners here won’t be able to read them.

2) Get your pet vaccinated for rabies. My vet did this on the same visit as the microchipping. You must get the animal vaccinated after the chipping, even if it’s already up to date with its rabies vaccine.

3) Get your pet’s blood tested to show that it’s got a high enough rabies antibody level. Your vet will tell you how long after the vaccination to do this. Chloe already had her year’s rabies vaccine before Step 2, so we only waited 2 or 3 days to take the blood titer. If your pet wasn’t already up to date with the vaccine, you may have to wait longer. This blood sample must be sent to the officially approved lab in Kansas to be tested.

4) Wait six months; do paperwork.

5) 24-48 hours before you are due to arrive in Ireland, your pet must be treated for ticks and tapeworms. My vet used Frontline for the ticks. I know you could just buy and administer it yourself, but the paperwork requires the vet’s signature, so it has to be done by the vet. The tapeworm treatment must contain praziquantal (sp?) as the active ingredient. The treatment comes in pill and shot form, but, once again, since it must be administered by the vet, the shot form seemed easier.

Paperwork:

1) After vet work steps 1-3, download the Veterinary Certificate from the Irish Department of Agriculture’s web site. The Pet Passport applies only to animals moving between EU countries; ignore it. From the US, you need the Vet Certificate. Your vet will fill out and sign sections I-V, then either you or the vet will send the whole thing to your state’s USDA office to get the official USDA vet signature and stamp (look up APHIS vets on the web). Once this is signed by the USDA vet, it expires in four months, so don’t do this part too soon.

2) The animal won’t be able to enter Ireland until at least six months after the vaccination. Look up flights. I used Aer Lingus, which flies direct to Dublin from Boston, Chicago, New York and LA. Now, here’s the logistical nightmare:

i) Your pet will not be able to fly if the temperature at any of the airports you use will be higher than 85 degrees F at the time of the flight. Also, if the temp is going to be lower than 45 F, you’ll need a special note from the vet saying that your pet can withstand such temperatures. If the temp goes below 20 F, your pet won’t be able to fly. Period. How to predict what the weather will be like at several different airports months in advance? I don’t know. Chloe and I were in San Francisco, and since I was flying in January, LAX was the only place I could fly from- the temperature at the other airports could not be trusted to be above 20 F.

ii) Lien used Aer Lingus. The airline's rules change and I have been advised by the airline that the best thing to do is check their site for the most up-to-date rules and advice. (Scott)

iv) Oh, also try to arrive in Dublin M-Sat, during working hours. If you arrive on a Sunday or holiday, you’ll have to pay an extra fee for the vet to come in to check all the paperwork.

3) Once you’ve chosen the flight (you can’t actually book the animal onto the flight yet, at this point), e-mail or call Lissenhall and tell them you plan to bring an animal into Dublin and give them the date, time and flight number. They’ll make a reservation for you with one of their vets and will also book the approved courier (Kelly Couriers) who will pick up your pet at Dublin airport and transport it to the Lissenhall vets. Then fax or scan and email your USDA-signed Veterinary Certificate to the Irish Department of Agriculture. Include your proposed flight details and tell them you’ve contacted Lissenhall. They’ll sit on this paperwork for a while, and will eventually fax or e-mail you the Prior Approval license for importing an animal into Ireland. Armed with the license number and not more than 14 days before you wish to fly, you can now call the airline and book your pet. The airline won’t book a flight for the animal until it has the Prior Approval license number. The airline will double check the license with the Irish Dept. of Agri. and call you back the next day or so to tell you it’s all set.

4) 24-48 hours before you plan to arrive in Dublin, have your pet treated for ticks and tapeworms. The vet will fill out sections VI and VII of the Vet Certificate.

5) Deliver your pet, Vet Certificate and all relevant documentation, in appropriately-sized carrier, to the cargo desk of your airline at least 3 hours in advance. Once you are on the plane, ask an attendant to confirm that your pet is on board- they’ll have to ask the ground crew. After landing at Dublin, your pet gets sent to the Dept of Agriculture people at the airport, who will check that the paperwork is in order and then hand the animal over to the courier, who transports it to Lissenhall. You don’t get to see your pet or supervise this part. I stayed at the airport with my mobile on and asked the courier to call me when he had the carrier, and then made my way to Lissenhall myself. (At this point, I had not seen Chloe for 14 hours.) Aer Lingus charged me $102 to ship the cat and carrier by cargo, and Lissenhall charged me another 200 Euro for the vet check and courier. There are no approved airlines that fly into Dublin yet (like the UK has for their PETS scheme), so you can technically take any airline you want as long as you arrange for Lissenhall to collect the animal and check it before you take it home with you. I actually think this is a plus, because the approved airlines for the UK charge upwards of $1000 to fly a cat into Heathrow; more for larger animals."

And I thought moving a family and all its furniture and 2 kids was complicated! Ha! (Scott)

Further Dog and Cat Advice

Below are the words of advice offered by site subscriber Lori.

“At the end of the day bringing in my dog wound up being relatively easy:

-followed the info on the Department’s website about the process of micro-chip, etc.

-gave a copy of it all to my vet who worked thru it all on her end, even though she'd never done it before. The key point was her riding the state vets hard (um, that'd be in the American sense of riding not the Irish) to make sure they did everything correctly.

-got a proper sized crate.

-I'd suggest British Airlines as the way to go (and maybe Virgin) because the American airlines like United seemed much less knowledgeable.

-pet travel agencies weren't that helpful and way more expensive and often downright wrong.

-James Cargo in London Heathrow - http://www.jamescargo.co.uk/ - was great to deal with. They sent me all the forms that I filled out & sent back.

-it may well cost a fortune to fly the critter (his flight from Chicago-LHR was about $2,000 US and then several more hundred (maybe 300? 400?) to get him to Dublin - but he is the largest size dog they'll take.

-also costs fluctuated wildly - every time I called I got a diff price depending on gas prices and the like.”

Pet Chips

You must have the ISO - 11784/11785 chip for your pet. The older US chip was FECAVA/AVID. Most US vets have gone over to to the newer ISO - 11784/11785. Make sure your vet provides the current chip.

Larissa offers this advice for US dwellers:

"The ISO chips can be purchased in the US through PetSmart. For $29.95, they will place both types of chips in your pet. I just got off the phone with them 5 minutes ago. Those interested in taking advantage of this will need to visit the PetSmart store locator page (http://stores.petsmart.com/petsmart/), tick the box for 'Veterinary (Banfield)' and search for a location near them."

Help from the English

In essence, the rules are the same as the UK's scheme. For the details, you'll still want to check out the British rules. Please note that the entire process takes 7 months before you import your dog, so get started.

Horses

Depending on the country from which you are bringing the horse and also depending on its breed, different rules apply. The summary is that you get the required paperwork in the country of origin of the horse. It's German or American vets who will inspect and certify a German or American horse before it is sent to Ireland. As you'd expect, paperwork for horses coming from EU nations is considerably less than that required for non-EU nations. For details, click here.

Rabbits and Rodents

Rabbits can be imported into Ireland but there are a number of rules. 6 months private quarantine is required. Facilities have to be built and approved by a government appointed inspector before the animal is allowed to be imported. It must be kept away from all other mammals during that period. Facilities don't have to be elaborate. A rabbit hutch that the animal cannot gnaw through is sufficient. The official dealing with this in Ireland is John Rowley at john.rowley@agriculture.gov.ie

As of late 2003, advance notice must be given about rabbits coming from the UK. A General Authorisation form must be filed. The owner has to sign a declaration that their pet rabbit has been vaccinated against mixmotosis and hemorhagic fever. Documentation from your overseas vet attesting to such vaccinations may also be sought.

If your rabbit is coming from the continent, you have to apply for an import licence and get clearance before importing the animal. A vet will have to examine your quarantine facilities. If a friend or family member will be hosting the quarantined animal, then the keyholder will have to allow such an inspection.

As is obvious, the restrictions for rabbits coming from the UK are less burdensome. The problem then is to get it into the UK. http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm is the address of the British Dept. of the Environment's pet travel pages. The site says relaxed travel rules into Britain apply only to dogs and cats. Rules for rabbits - catch 22 - are that no non-European rabbit may be imported into Great Britain at all. And any acceptable rabbits must undergo the 6 months quarantine.

For those of you into rodentia, the same rules apply to guinea pigs and gerbils and the like. (I just know someone is going to tell me a guinea pig isn't a rodent. Next thing you know, someone will try and convince me they're not pigs.)

Shipping Pets by Airplane from the US - More Information

The costs, the rules, the sheer complexities of moving your pet to Europe from America are amazing. It might be easier to smuggle heroin out of the country and probably cheaper. A subscriber details the regulations for moving your pet to Britain under the PETS scheme.

Kennels and Catterys

irishanimals.com provides a list of kennels and "catterys". Remember, only Lissen Hall offers quarantine facilties, but those of you from the UK do not need to worry about this and may bring your animals over directly to any Irish kennel or cattery. And, once you move here, all pet owners will find such a list useful. It is by no means exhaustive, so be sure to check your local yellow pages or ask your neighbours.

Dog Licences

Once you get your bundle of tail-wagging paperwork onto Irish soil and into your home, there's one last bite from the bureaucracy. You must have a dog licence.

The procedure couldn't be simpler.

Go to any Post Office and ask for a dog licence. You will need to supply your name, address, the breed of the dog, its colour and sex. And, most important of all from the government's point of view, you then need to supply 12 euro and 70 cents. The Post Office will take care of all the paperwork from then on, sending a copy of the licence to the appropriate authorities.

Dog wardens will want this information and you can be fined if there is no licence.

I was also told that when out walking your bundle of beast, the basic rule is that the dog must be under your effectual control or on a leash.

Important Addresses

Department of Agriculture and Food Pet Pages
Animal Health - #3 Centre
Agriculture House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
Country Code 353-1-607-2862

Lissen Hall 
Swords
County Dublin
Ireland
lissenhallvet@eircom.net
Tel: +353-1-840-177

For more information about pets and animals in Ireland - check Irish Animals on the Web.