 Articles - How
to Bring your Pets with you to Greece
So you’ve decided to take the plunge and are coming
to Greece to live permanently. Of course you have to make provisions
for all the members of your family – not just the two legged ones!
Here are some guidelines as to what you need to do in order to bring
out your pet dog or cat with you to your new home. Your local vet
should be able to inform you of the procedure but we thought it
would be useful for you to have an idea of what’s involved before
you embark on the venture!
 MEDICAL
REQUIREMENTS
- DOGS
All dogs over 3 months must be vaccinated against rabies not less
than 15 days and not more than 12 months prior to export. Dogs
under 3 months of age should be presented for vaccination on reaching
3 months of age after entry. Also their booster card should be
up to date..
- CATS
Cats don’t need the rabies vaccination but do need to have their
booster card up to date. .
No import permit is required for the importation
of a dog or cat into Greece from Great Britain. However, a bilingual
health certificate should accompany all animals exported from Great
Britain to Greece. This can be obtained by making an application
to your local Animal Health Office who will forward it on to your
nominated Local Veterinary Inspector ( a veterinarian appointed
by the government to carry out export certification duties). Details
and guidelines can be obtained from your local Animal Health Divisional
Office (AHDO).
PROCEDURE
Both dogs and cats need to be taken to a kennels
which deals with the export of animals 2/3 days before they are
due to depart. A list of these can be found on the internet among
other places. It is important to check exactly what is included
in the price as some kennels offer a better deal than others. A
friend of mine used the kennels in Bristol in 2001 and paid around
750 GBP (which was less than she had been quoted from other kennels).
This included health tests, crates for transportation as well as
the costs of the journey, sometimes these can be extra costs. She
was especially pleased as they treated the animals as if they were
part of the family and even requested to be informed of the animals’
safe arrival so that they could stop worrying about them!!
Not all airlines take live animals on board but
the kennels should take care of all the paperwork and travel arrangements
and all you have to do is to be waiting for your pets the other
end! Don’t forget there are direct flights form the UK to Zakynthos
from May to October which will make their journey easier. Once your
pets have arrived in Greece they can be taken straight to their
new home. There are several good vets on the island to advise you
about vaccinations etc so don’t worry they are in safe hands once
they are here,
So you can
see it is relatively straight forward and reasonably priced to bring
your pets with you so that all the members of your family can come
and live in your new home on this beautiful island and nobody need
be left behind!
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