Bringing your pets to India

Hi All,

I am putting this blog up because I want to make the information transparent for those wishing to bring their pet Cats/Dogs to India.

1. You can bring your pet Cats/Dogs to India (up to 2 per passenger).
2. They require Rabies vaccinations and a certificate.
3. You will probably end up paying some form of Baksheesh to the customs officials. There is No avoiding this part and no matter how much you think this is wrong, it allows the process to be fast and better for your pets. It happens in every international airport. All the customs officers are there to collect the reasonable tip!
4. You DO NOT require a health import certificate from the indian departments for pet animals.

I just brought my 2 cats from Paris to Bangalore recently and Air France was considerate enough to let us carry the kittens in the cabin as hand luggage. Yes, we have to pay approx 250 euros for allowing 2 bags with 2 cats (approx 8 kgs of extra in cabin weight, they charged us for 6 kgs).

http://www.airfrance.co.uk/GB/en/local/guidevoyageur/pratique/pratique_animaux.htm?BV_SessionID=@@@@1498964852.1190552916@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccladdmdfmddjfcefecekedgfndgig.0

The airline needs to be informed about the animal transport at the time of booking the flights as only a certain amount of animals are permitted on board at any given time.

The bags need to be airline compliant:

Only the medium size Original Sherpa bag size is generally permitted. The bag actually fits underneath the seat in front and is considerably large to allow a cat of approx 4 kgs to sit comfortably inside.

Before flying: Get your pet vaccinated against Rabies at least 3o days in advance and less than 12 months. The vaccination certificates need to contain vaccine name and expiry date etc.

Also your pet's home Vet will need to fill out the following form and make some official stamp.

http://www.geocities.com/indiancustoms/pn/circ94-02.htm

Normally you will also need to carry your pet's medical vet history and the microchip info but nobody looks at this stuff.

The pet also need to be micro chipped, it's not like the customs officer would give a toss about checking your pet's with a scanner but it's required none the less so get it done.

And make sure you are carrying at least 2000 - 5000 INR in cash. You will need this to make the customs happy. This is generally done in a very pleasant conversation, and a very professional manner. They bring you aside, lots of people who work there around, and you ask them how much to get this cleared and they will start with a high amount (unbelievably) they actually know how much your species of animal generally costs in the market and will quoted something like 8000 - 10000 INR to clear them. Just say you can't afford whatever they quote, tell them the pets don't cost as much and say that "I want you to be happy and I want to be happy". Make a bid you can afford, they will probably up it and you settle... 2 Balinese cats imported into India for 3000 INR!!! Of course I have heard of stories when you slip through customs without paying a single dime... If you can, go through green channel and if they don't stop you, you pay nothing!!!

Even though you can do everything right, the customs officials can hold the pets for one reason or the other... India has some form of quarantine officer check requirement and this is ambiguous as there is no such officer at the airport and most airports don't have a pet quarantine facility build there, therefore settling with some $$$ is a better option and probably cheaper than paying real importation procedure costs. Some person actually quoted me to clear the cats at an amount of 10,000 INR per cat. That she would do whatever is needed to clear the pets. This is not required! The process is straight forward, if only the Indian customs department could keep information online and freely available.

I hope your travel with your pets to India will be a pleasant journey. It gave me sleepless nights before as I had very little info about this area. I hope this blog helps you avoid any trouble

Enjoy your pets and make them move safely... If you need to move and need some more detailed info, send me a message and I will be happy to provide some info...

J+C+B+L