Import requirements to bring my dog to Egypt ?

For anyone who is looking for this information.
I have just brought my dog (English Staffordshire Bull Terrier) from Australia to Egypt on Sat 12/10/2013.

I used JetPets outbound jetpets.com.au/ who cost me a fortune, but no other pet relocaters had any information on importing to Egypt.

The importing ground agent I used in Cairo was Mahmoud Amen from Arab Trans +02 010 66 87 88 17,+02 011 52 00 14 42, [email protected] who was worth his weight in gold.  I thoroughly recommend him if you relocate your pet to Egypt.

It took us 4 hours to have my dog released with Mahmoud.  Mainly due to British Airway's ground clearance Manager being uncontactable for 2+ hours when he had taken all the original vet documents from my dog's transport crate.  This is totally normal for Egypt, so be prepared.  If you don't have an Egyptian helping you, you will be asked for more and more money by everyone you talk to before they will give you your paperwork required to get your pet released.

While I was waiting, there were some other unfortunate animals that had been seized by the Egyptian Authorities because their ground agent didn't have the correct paperwork and faced a 5 day+ stay in the Egyptian Vet centre due to the Eid holiday.  Egyptians do not have anywhere near the same standards that anyone from Europe, USA, Canada, Australia etc would expect for their animals so please, please, make sure you use a qualified ground agent for your pet clearances.

The requirements to bring your pet (dog) to Egypt are;
*  Current Vaccination Certificate stamped by your Country' Animal Department (in Australia this is the Dept. of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (DAFF)) & the Egyptian Embassy in your country
*  Current Rabies Vaccination Certificate also stamped by the same authorities
*  Health Certificate issued by your Vet and again stamped by the same authorities.

When your pet arrives in Cairo Airport, you MUST have a ground agent nominated to liaise with the Egyptian Customs and other agencies to have your pet released.  You cannot do this yourself.

There are no animal facilities at Cairo Airport, so don't expect your pet to be looked after at all like it would be in Heathrow for example.  My dog was treated like a piece of cargo, left in his transport crate from when he was offloaded from the plane to when I picked him up.  He had not been given food or water, he was covered in dirt, terrified and his crate was manhandled from wherever he'd been left over to me rather than using any of the equipment to load/offload the crate that was used in Australia or Heathrow.

I cannot stress enough the importance of using an authorised ground agent in Cairo and to also be present as soon as your pet's plane arrives if you are not on the same flight.

Good Luck !