Getting Your Pet to Malta: Part 2

Many of the basic rules surrounding of what you need to do to get your pet (dog, cat or ferret) to Malta apply to most other nations in the European Union. I'm going to call your attention to a couple of details, which, if you overlook, could land you in a cage with your pet in quarantine

Example of My Cat's Timetable

I thought it would make it easier if you saw when I got my cat ready for Malta. As this is written, this is a tentative schedule:

Goal: Leave for Malta Oct 14th/08

• 3/4/08--Rabies vaccine--I Yr.

• 3/25/08--Microchip implanted.

• 4/14/08--Rabies titer taken (blood drawn)

• 4/30/08--Rabies titer comes back at 3.6 IU/ml (whew!) It MUST come back at least at .5 ml.

• 8/14/08--Arrange flight.

• 8/14/08--Call airline, tell them I'm bringing a cat; ask for seating preference (near exit in economy so there is more room in front for cat carrier.)

• 8/14/08--Call and make appointment with my vet for tick and tapeworm treatment--and signing of all the forms-- for 10/12--48 hours before flight.

• 9/2/08--Contact Veterinary Services in Malta for permit.

• 10/4/08--Veterinarian should fill out Veterinary Certificate for Domestic and International Travel.

• 10/12-/08--Take cat to vet for tick and tapeworm testing; vet signs all forms--if not already signed.

• 10/14/08--Fly off to Malta with cat! Jekk Alah jrit (G-d willing in Maltese)

Now here are the potential problem areas:

The first is the rabies vaccination and the rabies titre test. You must give yourself enough time to arrange these actions. Malta regulations call for everything happening within a six-month period before you leave with your pet. Please note: As in my blog-www.An-American-in-Malta.com, I explain that what I write here is my own research and no substitute for legal or immigration advice. Always recheck information with official departments in Malta.

But you need more than that. You must start eight months ahead of when you plan to leave. And here's why:

1. The titre test-which measures your cat's immunity level to rabies-may not work properly. And that means that it has to be redone. Here's the problem with that: Your vet has to wait one month after your cat gets the rabies shot to perform the titre test (it's a "simple" blood test that costs $100. That test is sent off to one special lab in the country and that usually takes two to four weeks to come back. Now, if the test doesn't come back at the required level-which is .5 ml (whatever that means)-you need to perform the whole procedure again. That means your cat has to get another rabies shot, wait one month and then get retested. And, of course, you have to wait several weeks for the new test to come back. So, do you see what I mean about giving yourself enough time? If you have a certain schedule in mind in getting to Malta (in my case, it's to take a course to learn to teach English) you really have to give yourself some breathing room.

2. Contacting the Veterinary Services in Malta for a permit to bring your pet into the country. Below, I'm going to give you the address and email of the person you must contact. You must be persistent and do this. I kept trying and couldn't get through by phone and the former email address I had been given didn't work; the emails came back to me. So I started thinking that maybe I didn't have to call this place to get a permit.

Boy, was I wrong! By luck, I was online with a Maltese friend and asked her to check it out. She did, got me the right contact information and told me that I had to let this official person know exactly when my flight would land in Malta.

And why is that? Because this official guy is going to leave his office and come to the airport to meet my cat and me. He's going to examine my cat and look at all the veterinary certificates and determine if he releases my cat into Malta-or denies her entrance. I still can't believe that some official in Malta actually comes out to greet us-or rather, my cat.

It's amazing. I could be a leper with my nose falling off and no one would care if I came into Malta. But my cat? The official vet of Malta is coming to check her out. Now you know what I mean about not missing any details in this whole get-your-pet-to-Malta-and-have-a nervous-breakdown-while-doing-it-scheme.

I wonder if this vet will give us a ride to our hotel?

Sources:

The Director of Veterinary Service
Albertown, Marsa
Malta

lucienne.cassar@gov.mt

Tel from the US:

001-356-212-256-38 or
001-356-212-259-30
Fax: 001-356-212-381-05

Information has been used from the author's own blog:
An American in Malta.com