Dear friends, today I am going to tell you one of my favourite stories that dates back to before we arrived on the island, when we were planning our move to Malta. It turns out that, at our home in Lima, my wife and I had adopted two kittens from the street who quickly became part of our home.
So when we started planning our Malta adventure, obviously the first thing we did was to start looking for all the relevant information on how we had to go about travelling with pets to Malta.
Well, we couldn't find any consolidated information or anyone who could tell us exactly what steps to take. That's why I think this post can be very useful for all those who, like us, are thinking of coming to Malta with their best furry friends.
In this post I will tell you about all the steps we had to do, how it all went and, of course, how our kitties are doing today in Malta.
In addition, this information may be useful for other destinations within the European Union, as these are, in general, harmonised rules for companion animals, such as cats, dogs and ferrets.
If you're not much of a storyteller and want to get straight to the point, you can go straight to the last section of the article where I detail the bullet point costs and procedures 😊.
Prepare well in advance
It should be noted that, for most Latin American countries, a recommended preparation time of approximately 6 months prior to travel will be necessary, as there are several requirements to be met. However, the main requirement is that your pet must be over 15 weeks old, otherwise it will not be allowed to enter the EU.
Most Latin American countries, such as Peru, from where we brought our kittens, must comply with the rules concerning countries not listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 577/2013 for serological tests against rabies, i.e. we will have to perform a rabies test on our pet.
If your country of origin is not on this list, you will need to take the serological test. If your country is listed, then you simply need to bring your current rabies vaccination card.
As we were coming from Peru, we had to take the long way.
The rabies serological test is perhaps the most time-consuming and complex procedure to carry out, firstly because your pet will not be able to enter the European Union until 3 months after receiving the results. Secondly, because there are very few laboratories that are authorised by the European Union to carry out these tests outside the European area. For example, in Peru, as in Colombia, there are none. So your pet's blood sample will have to travel before the pet itself in order to be tested in an authorised laboratory.
Here is the list of authorised laboratories to carry out serological tests for rabies.
The most important thing then is to choose a good, trustworthy vet to help us carry out this test, preferably with vets who already have experience in performing this procedure.
In our case we were very lucky because, in our usual vet, Groomers, in Jorge Chavez (Miraflores), for the people from Lima, we were attended by Manuel Cols, a vet with great experience and who helped us a lot in all the stages of the process. If you want his contact details, write to us and we will gladly share them with you.
So the recommendation is to start everything at least 6 months before the trip in order to avoid stress and to do everything in good time.
The first steps: vaccination and microchipping
Dr. Cols recommended us to do the serological test 1 month after the rabies booster, because at that time the kittens would have a higher level of antibodies, because the test, to be valid, has to give a value higher than 0.5 IU/ml.
So the first step was to wait until we had to give them the booster vaccination and also take the opportunity to microchip them.
The microchip is mandatory for entry into the European Union, as it is a way of verifying that the animal is the same as the one that has been tested and vaccinated, as well as being a unique form of internationally valid identification and contains the owner's details and other relevant information about the pet.
The microchip is placed on the top of the back, near the nape of the neck, under the skin, with a gun. It didn't seem to cause them too much pain and we never had any problems with reading it, nor have they ever shown that they mind having it.
The vet will then give you stickers with the microchip number and a certificate. Take a first reading of the microchip once it is inserted in the pet to make sure that it can be read and that it corresponds to the number on the stickers/certificate.
The litmus test: the rabies serological test
Once 30 days have passed since the last vaccine booster, we can go for the serological test, which consists of a blood test that must be processed in one of the laboratories certified by the EU. As we have said before, in many Latin American countries we do not have these laboratories, so the tests will be sent abroad. In our case the vet worked with a laboratory in the USA so the test went there.
One thing that happened to us was that one of our kittens had a very difficult time getting her blood drawn and had a very difficult time. Worse still, as we were informed that her test had haemolysed, perhaps due to mishandling in transport and we had to take her back to have her blood drawn again. My advice is to always make sure that the transport picks up the tests as soon as possible to avoid the risk of the blood haemolysing, which basically means that the red blood cells break down and are no longer suitable for laboratory analysis.
While the test is being sent, processed and the results are coming in, you have to wait a couple of weeks.
When the tests were ready, the vet called us to give us the good news that the test results of both kittens were satisfactory, i.e. their defences were adequate and the level of antibodies was above 0.5 IU/ml.
From the moment you receive this answer, you have to wait at least 3 months before you can travel. We did the tests with a little more time, because if the test came back with levels below 0.5 IU/ml, we had to do it again, and the truth is that we were not planning to leave our daughters in Lima for any reason whatsoever.
This whole process, up to this point (booster vaccinations, vet visits, microchip installation, blood tests in the USA) cost us about €200 per kitten, so we had already invested about €400 here.
Buying tickets for pets: in the cabin or in the luggage compartment?
After doing some research, we realised that animals travelling underneath, together with their luggage, suffer from stress and in some cases cannot even endure the journey, so for us it was simply unthinkable to bring them in the luggage compartment of the plane and we opted to bring them in the cabin.
Here it is important to find out the airlines' policies for transporting pets in the cabin. Not all airlines accept pets in the cabin and particularly now with COVID most are restricting it.
Generally airlines that accept pets in the cabin have a weight limit of around 8kg per pet and they must fit in a fabric pet carrier (not hard-shell carriers). The pet carrier must fit under the front seat, so the maximum dimensions are 46 x 28 x 24 cm (check with each airline). Pets must of course have all health requirements up to date.
To avoid any complications regarding the dimensions of the cat carrier, we decided to buy it directly from the airline, so that we were sure that we would not have any inconvenience when boarding. In this case, as we travelled with AirFrance, we bought the cat carriers directly from them.
Each cat carrier cost us €66 so we are adding an additional €132 to the total bill. The truth is that these AirFrance cat carriers are very good, easy to transport, very well ventilated and so far we use them when we have to move the kitties in Malta.
Also, we had to purchase the tickets by phone because AirFrance only allows two pets per plane, so you have to check if there are no other pets on the flight and be sure you have the space. You will not be able to do this if you buy your tickets online. For this reason we buy the tickets six months before the trip.
Our route was Lima - Paris on Air France and then Paris - Malta on Air Malta. Both airlines have an agreement, however, their services are not fully integrated so we had to make the arrangements for the purchase of the kitties' tickets separately. Of course we also made sure that Air Malta could travel with pets and the airline's rules were very similar to those of Air France, so we opted for that route.
The cost of the cabin tickets was €180 per kitten on the Lima - Paris route and €80 per kitten on the Paris - Malta route, so we invested €360 + €160 in tickets.
For the anecdote, I have to tell you that I had to contact Air Malta several times by phone from Lima, as it was impossible to arrange the Paris - Malta route through Air France. They made a mistake in the charge on my credit card and in the end it took me a couple of weeks to make sure that the kittens had a ticket to go from Paris to Malta and a couple of months to resolve the undue charge on my credit card.
More permits! Animal health certificates at point of origin and application for entry at point of destination
With the vaccination card up to date, the serological tests OK, the microchips, the tickets bought and the cat carriers ready, all that remained was to wait for the big day of departure and, just before leaving, to carry out the last procedure in Peru: to obtain the animal health certificate, which in Peru is issued by an agency called SENASA (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Agraria - National Agricultural Health Service).
To obtain this certificate, you have to go the same day of the trip, or the day before, to an office outside the Jorge Chávez airport in Lima and wait for the veterinarian on duty to check the animal, take its temperature, etc. and then issue a certificate which includes the name of the animal, its characteristics and the microchip number (be careful that it is exactly the same as the one on the vaccination certificate and on the anti-rabies serological test).
This procedure costs S/. 98 per animal, i.e. approximately €25. There goes an additional €50. The certificate has an international format in the case of Peru and is in Spanish and English, but it is important to check from all destinations if this is the case. Otherwise, the certificate must be translated into English.
Alternatively, you can also hire a company to take care of these formalities, as you will probably have several things on your mind and may not have enough time on your hands in the final stretch. These companies pick up the animal, take it to the animal health centre, process the certificate and return your pet to you while you take care of the last things you need to do. We have a very good contact in Peru who helped us a lot, so if you want, you can write to us and we will be happy to put you in touch. We are sure that in all Latin American countries there must be companies that take care of this, so ask your vet!
In the case of arrival in Malta, we must write an email to [email protected] informing that we are going to land with our pet, and also filling in the form on this website. This will ensure that there is a person on arrival in Malta who can check the animal and the documentation and give the OK for entry into the territory. The office is located in the baggage hall, on the right hand side if we turn our back to the exit.
In our case, for the transit through Paris, there were no additional formalities, as there are always customs personnel at the post and on arrival you simply have to go and declare that you are entering with a pet and they check the documentation and the pet.
Advice: Check the costs and formalities in your country of origin to obtain the health certificate. This certificate is usually issued by a state agency and is compulsory for the travel of any pet. It is also essential to find out what formalities must be carried out at our stopover point, as there are no direct flights between Latin America and Malta.
Last preparations: tips to avoid animal stress
As cats are very easily stressed animals, especially with the change of familiar places, we were a little worried about how they would cope with the journey.
The first thing we did was to take them to the countryside, a two-hour drive, to see how they reacted, as normally the drive from the house to the vet (about 5 minutes) was a real pain in the ass, so we decided to get them used to the hustle and bustle.
We had read that it is better not to do this, as they would be stressed on the trip anyway, but we decided to try it and it worked out very well.
The car journey to the countryside was a Greek tragedy for both kitties, one vomited, the other hurt her nose trying to open the cat carrier - which she actually managed to do several times - so we also opted to padlock the cat carrier for the big day.
When we got to the camp, one got very stressed and the other started to explore, which gave us a bit more peace of mind.
The return trip to Lima was a little calmer, but they still had a hard time.
Additionally, as we left our flat a week before the big day, we also had to take them with us to my aunt's house, where we stayed before we left. This move was quite useful, because they were already noticing that the family was in a "time of change", but that we were still there.
Dr. Cols also recommended us to buy cat nappies for the trip to put in the bottom of the cat carrier in case they had to urinate during the flight, remember that the flight time alone is 11h30 from Lima to Paris! She also advised us to take some food biscuits for the plane, but not too many, and to avoid giving them too much water before the flight, so that they don't have too much to urinate.
The big day: what it was like to travel with kittens in the cabin
When the big day arrived, we had to leave well in advance for the airport as we had two suitcases each, as well as the kittens, and because of the paperwork, we decided to be at the airport 3 hours earlier. So the kittens were finally in their cat carrier 4 hours before the flight.
At first they seemed a bit nervous, but when we arrived at the airport and went through all the formalities, they calmed down, as we always paid attention to them and showed them affection, which calmed them down. Also, we put them facing each other so they could see and smell each other and know that they were not alone.
Normally on most flights they don't allow pets to travel side by side, but we spoke to the Air France staff, told them we were a family and they let us travel together. We were lucky as it could have been different.
The truth is that the airline took excellent care of us. They helped us at all times and even on the plane, in the middle of the flight, the cabin manager came to see the kittens a couple of times and to give us water for them.
The flight lasted 11h30, most of which was very quiet. One of the kittens was quite frightened by the turbulence and meowed when the plane moved, but otherwise everything was fine.
When we arrived in Paris, we went to customs, showed them the documents and opened the cat carriers so that they could check the health of the kittens. It was really liberating for them to get out of the cat carrier after almost 16 hours inside.
Since our connection to Malta was for the next day, we had to find a hotel at the airport that accepted pets, for which we had to pay a supplement, in our case it was €60, but it applies to both, since in reality what they do is hire a cleaning service to remove any hair left by the animal in case the next guests have any allergies.
Our kittens behaved wonderfully, as neither of them went to the toilet during the whole trip. When we arrived we put some nappies in a special area of the bathroom, as we had no litter, and one of the kittens went immediately, just to pee. As she went straight into the nappies, everything was squeaky clean and it was super easy to pick up and clean up.
The next day we repeated the same process, but in a simpler way, as we were already inside the European Union. However, it should be noted that Malta requires some additional deworming than the rest of the EU countries, so everything must be detailed in the vaccination card.
Again we were allowed to sit together on the flight from Paris to Malta, subject to verification, but we were also lucky.
When we arrived in Malta, we had already left everything marked on the form we shared with you above, so there was no problem to be dealt with at the animal health department.
There they check the pet again, as well as all the documentation requested and let you in. It is important to have everything ready because there was a guy who was bringing his dog from Hong Kong and they were not letting him in because he was missing a piece of paper and the animal health officer used us as an example of how to do things, which made us a bit uncomfortable to be honest! We felt very sorry for the dog, after all the hassle, not being able to get out of his crate.
Final stretch: the kittens' arrival and life in Malta
The last thing was to arrive by taxi to the house we had rented and we had to wait for the owners outside the house for about an hour because they were late, so the arrival was also a bit of a struggle.
However, when we arrived, the first thing we did was to go to a petshop We went to buy litter and bowls, as well as scratching posts, food and water dishes and food and set up a space for them. They immediately went to the toilet, after two days of travelling! Amazing how well behaved these kitties really are.
The good thing about Malta is that it is a country catloverIt is very easy to find all kinds of accessories, cat food and cat litter, even in the bodegas and at a good price. The welcome kit for the kittens cost us about €50 including food.
It is important to note that in Malta it is important to make sure that the accommodation you are going to rent is pet friendly and they usually ask for an additional deposit to take care of the furniture, etc. We had to pay an additional deposit of €300, however, I will not take this into account in the calculation of the costs, as this will depend on the accommodation you find and normally, if everything is in order at the end of the rental period, you will get this money back.
The day after they arrived we took them to the vet so that they could get their European pet passports, and that's right, our kitties became Maltese in no time at all and now they even look down their noses at us Third-Country Nationals!
To apply for a European passport, you need to bring all the documents with which you entered Malta and pay for a consultation. We did the whole procedure at VetCare in San Gwann, and it went very well. Here you have the website.
We have to pay a consultation which costs €20 (one consultation for both kittens) and the cost of the passport is €40 each. That is to say that we spent €100 for this last procedure.
The animal's passport contains its details, microchip number, vaccinations, deworming and all the information concerning the pet. Once the passport has been issued, it is important to know that you must wait a month before you can travel.
Then, with the passport already issued, it will always be much easier to travel with your pet in and out of the EU. You will no longer have to do a serological test and many of the formalities required here and your pet will have a legal status before you get your first ID Card 😊.
Now our kitties are living happily here in Malta, they are truly part of the family without a doubt and every day that goes by I am grateful that I made the decision and determination to bring them here.
Costs and formalities to travel to Malta with your pet
Yes, as I said at the beginning, here is a summary of the costs and formalities to be taken into account when bringing your pet to Malta.
Requirements:
- At least 15 weeks old to be able to travel
- Microchip
- Up to date vaccination and deworming certificate. Particularly rabies vaccination.
- Check whether your country is on the list of countries exempted from rabies serological testing. If not, carry out the serological test through an accredited laboratory. Once you have received the results, you must wait 3 months before you can travel.
- Book cabin/baggage tickets with the airline.
- Have pet carriers of appropriate dimensions
- Obtain an animal health certificate from your country of origin.
- Notify Maltese animal health authorities that you will be arriving with a pet.
- Pass checks on arrival
- Apply for a European pet passport
Costs: approximately €660 per kitten, including everything. You may be able to find cheaper options, but always keep in mind that the priority is the welfare of the pet above all else.
In any case, if you would like assistance in planning your trip with your pet, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help you with all the steps of your trip, as our priority is to tailor-make your personalised plan, every detail is important to us!
Now, I leave you with one last photo of these smug girls. Greetings!
