The hardest part of leaving everything behind and moving to Bahrain was definitely taking our dog Luffy.. The fact that no one has clear information about taking a pet abroad, as well as the prices of transportation that planted a fig tree in our quarry, made the process unbearable from time to time.
If it’s an EU member state. if everything is much more comfortable; all veterinarians are well-versed in the matter, even any dog owner you turn around might say, “Get a rabies titration test, then wait 3 months” or something.. But for countries like Bahrain, where pets are not taken out very often, even in the authorized institutions, everyone has a voice. I listed it step by step by telling along with our experiences.. Although we have an experience with dogs, I must state that the process of carrying a cat is exactly the same.. Even if you don’t move to GCC, if you think “How do I take my dog abroad?”, I recommend you to take a look at the article.
The “DCargo Pet” company mentioned in the article employees started to serve under the name of “Volcargo” as of April 2019. You can use the www.volcargo.com site for communication.
Taking Pets Abroad
1. Does your destination country accept pets? Find out.
This subject really depends on your bond with the animal and your conscience.. Of course, everyone’s immigration story is different, but if there is a departure that can be shaped according to your wishes, before making a plan, it would be good to research whether the country you are going to accepts pets from Turkey, because there are countries that do not accept pets.. For example; Since Australia does not accept pets coming directly from Turkey, we eliminated him from the list of countries we plan to go to after Luffy came into our lives.. Likewise, when considering the job offer in Bahrain, the first thing we thought about was “Can we take a dog? Is it suitable for living there?”
2. Get a microchip inserted.
As soon as the subject of taking a pet abroad is brought up, I recommend that you go and have this procedure done without waiting for your situation to become clear.. A procedure performed by each veterinarian, which takes about 10 minutes and costs 50 TL, although it varies according to the veterinarian.. In fact, it is something like the microchip number, the identity of the animal, which is written on the vaccination certificate and which you also need to have.. Therefore, in order to do this, it is not necessary to be going abroad or the country you will go to requires a microchip.. For example; Where you live, in case of a complaint from the residents about your dog, it is always an advantage to have the animal with chips.. So to take a dog abroad, do this process without waiting for clarification.
3. Do a race check from the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture.
There is a concept called “forbidden races”, you may have heard of it.. A definition that is also used in the pet transport procedures of airline companies.. They do not carry dominant dogs such as pitbull and bull terrier on the plane.. Each company’s list is different.. There is also the version of the Directorate of Agriculture, some races are forbidden to go abroad.. Also, your destination country may have a similar “prohibited race” list.. An important step that you should check before starting the proceedings.
Luffy’s breed Cane Corso. Unfortunately, it is used a lot in fights because it is a strong dog.. For this reason, there are many who think that it is a forbidden race.. While I was doing research to go to Bahrain, one of the pet transport companies abroad said that they would not be able to exit, and even if they did, Bahrain would not accept it, and it made me cry all day.. After calling the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and confirming that the breed is not banned, we learned that all species except wolves were accepted by Bahrain, and we continued the process after that.
4. Get rabies vaccination.
If you are a responsible animal owner, you must have their vaccinations regularly.. The subject of vaccination differs from country to country; While some countries require up-to-date vaccines, some countries can take the animal and go without any action.. The problem here is that it is quite difficult to get detailed and accurate information about those ‘some countries’.. Therefore, in order not to waste time, go and get a new rabies vaccine as soon as your travel situation arises, even if the country you are going to does not require the current vaccination.. (If the vaccine you have had before is very new, of course, you should consult the veterinarian whether the renewal is a risk for animal health.) Our biggest waste of time was at this stage.. We thought we could titrate Luffy’s current rabies vaccine, but the Bahrain side demanded that all vaccinations be up-to-date.
5. Find out the pet acceptance conditions of the country you are going to.
If you are not going to the EU country or the USA, this may be the most difficult step because it is a complete mystery from where we will learn these admission conditions.. That’s why I listed the steps above so that you have at least removed some processes until you reach the right information.. Let me tell you how I followed in Bahrain:
The first thing I did was to search the internet, of course.. Since the information about Arab countries in Turkish sources is close to zero, I looked at foreign sources, but I could not get a result from there, since the documents requested from Turkey may be different.. I called the Bahraini Consulate and naively thought they would give me all the information I was looking for.. When I reached out to someone who could understand Turkish, he was surprised at my question and said that he had no clue.. Finally, I found the solution by calling the local airline of Bahrain, Gulf Air.. After all, a company that carries dogs on an airplane should also know the procedure.. This is the correct address; They did not know the procedure, but gave very important information: Bahrain does not accept pets without the use of a pet transport company.
England, Ireland, some Arab countries do not accept pets that come with passengers. In other words, the animal is subject to customs.. It also goes through customs control in the country where it exits through customs and arrives.. This means: You cannot take the animal with you on the plane when you go to these countries.. The transport company you have agreed with takes delivery of the animal from you and gives it to the customs.. Another point is that even if you take a 3 kg cat, the animals travel in the cargo area of the plane.
I continue with our process.. After learning that we had to send the dog through a shipping company, we started looking for a shipping company.. At this point, someone who brought a dog from Ireland to Bahrain came to our rescue and suggested Delmon Pet Relocation, the transportation company they got help from.. I contacted Delmon and they gave me all the information I needed in one email.. The only problem was that we had to agree with a local company for international departures, since they were not authorized to carry out customs procedures in Turkey.. They also made recommendations for that company.. We agreed with Dcargo, the company that appealed to us the most among the 3 companies I talked to in Turkey.. After that, the process proceeded like a sock rip.. (At the end of the article, you can find everything we did for Bahrain with prices.)
6. Get a “rabies titration test” if necessary.
One of the most common mistakes is the rabies titration test and the 90-day waiting period that follows. First, not every country requires a rabies titration test, and for every country that requests a rabies titration test, you DO NOT have to wait after the test.. You should do your research as “countries that require rabies titration test / countries that do not want rabies titration test”.
There are those who evaluate every country according to these standards; this includes veterinarians, transport companies and employees of the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture! For EU countries, the process is very clear: you have a rabies titration test, you wait 90 days after the test result, then you can leave.. However, processes may vary in countries other than that.. You can learn this from the sources in the step I mentioned above, ie from a transport company in your destination country, someone who has recently transported animals or an airline; not from the veterinarian or the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture. Do not have to take the test in vain or wait after the test because of the misdirection of our authorities.
Let’s get to the details of the rabies titration test… First of all, the animal must have the current rabies vaccine and that this vaccine is over. A minimum of 30 days must have passed. You take the animal that meets these conditions and take it to a veterinarian of your choice.. Before you go, it’s worth confirming that you have a qualified veterinarian to handle the rabies titration test, not all may do it.. The veterinarian takes 2 tubes of blood from the animal and sends it to the veterinary office in Etlik, which is the only place in Turkey to perform this test, together with the cold chain.. Along with the cargo, it is necessary to send a mandatory petition, a photocopy of the vaccination certificate and the test fee receipt that you have deposited in Ziraat Bank.. You receive the test result in 1-3 weeks after the cargo has been shipped in full. Our result came in 2 weeks.
7. Make your flight reservation.
After getting the rabies titration test result, you can book your flight after waiting that long if the country you are going to has set a waiting time requirement.. Not all airlines carry pets.. Most of the carriers have a limit of 8 kg; ie animals weighing more than 8 kg with the cage travel in the cargo hold of the plane.. Pricing differs from company to company.. The thing you shouldn’t miss is getting a cage suitable for the size of the animal and making a reservation for your pet at least 1 week in advance.
We didn’t have to wait for Bahrain and we were able to check out 1 week after receiving the test result.. The transport company handled both the cafe and the reservation stage on our behalf.
8. Get a Health Certificate from the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture.
No matter what country it is, one of the steps that anyone who wants to to take a pet abroad should do is to obtain a Health Certificate.. This is a kind of animal exit permit.. There are those who say 10 days for the validity period, and those who say 1 week… Ideally, to take it 3-4 days before the departure day.. We made an appointment with the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture because we wanted to get it from İzmir, it may be taken from the District Directorates in other cities, it is useful to call and check.. To get the certificate, you go to the authorized unit with the animal’s vaccination report, titration test if any, and a certificate fee of 165 TL.. You have to take the animal too, because they have its microchip scanned there.. You can get the certificate within the same day.. The thing to note is: The information entered on the certificate must be exactly the same as the vaccination record and titration test.. Dcargo helped us a lot in this regard and promptly warned us about incorrectly entered information and asked us to have the document reprinted.
Latest Advice on Taking Pets Abroad
* Do not rely on any information you will obtain other than the pet acceptance conditions published in written by the country you are going to.. Depending on that country, there may be additional actions you need to take apart from the steps I wrote above.. You can see this in the most accurate way in the animal acceptance conditions.
* Pay maximum attention to the cage size of the animal.. If it is too big or small, it may cause problems at the customs.. It took 10 seconds for Luffy to get into the cage as he was used to entering the cabin, and he was acting perfectly normal.. But before we had the club experience, when we wanted to put him in the cage to get on the subway, we tried for 3 people to enter for half an hour and he cried until they got out of the cage. It was the recommendation of the transport company in. They said that especially Arab countries have paid attention lately.
* The veterinarian recommended to give sedatives before the flight, but the transport company warned that it should not be given.. Animals at different pressures give a negative reaction and if it is understood that the animal is medicated in the customs of some countries, it can be rejected.. A subject of your choice. We didn’t give any sedatives to avoid risk.. After 20 hours, Luffy felt quite thirsty and a little agitated, but recovered within 2 hours.. “Is it trauma for the animal?” I was worried, we made it through without any problems.
* You need to give the dog the last food 12 hours before the flight at the latest.. can continue to drink water. I don’t know the situation with the cat.
* Taking a pet abroad is a bit expensive, but it’s not impossible.. If you don’t think the animal is a toy, please don’t leave it behind.
How Much Does It Cost to Transport a Dog to Bahrain?
Although some of the figures below are specific to Bahrain, I must say that a trip you will make using a pet transport company will not be cheap.. Another factor that inflates the prices is that Luffy is 35 kg, because in the flight part, each price comes up according to the total weight of the animal and the cage.. That’s why, on the one hand, I say don’t be intimidated by the prices, and on the other hand, I suggest you be prepared for these expenses.. (Also, in 2017, when we moved, the rates were much lower.. These prices may have doubled for 2019.)
* Microchip: 50 TL
* Rabies vaccine and pertussis vaccine: 80 TL
* Etlik Veterinary Medicine Rabies titration test fee: 343.2 TL (fixed fee)
* Veterinarian fee to conduct rabies titration test procedures: 300 TL
* Health Certificate fee: 165 TL (fixed fee)
* Internal-external parasite application: 80 TL
* Dcargo pet transportation – Departure from Turkey (including cage and customs fees): $ 2130 (approximately 8000 TL)
* Delmon Pet Relocation pet shipping – Admission to Bahrain (including pre-flight entry permit, customs fees, pet delivery to home): 318 BHD (approximately 3180 TL)
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Moving to Bahrain and House Details »
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