Bringing your pet to Malta - a success story!

559lkm wrote:

Hi caz,

Just spoken to my vet and they are going to give the tapeworm treatment to my 3 dogs on Tuesday 26th August and sign their passports and then I am scheduled to arrive in Malta on Sunday 31st August so the time scale just fits. I think it would be a nightmare finding a vet in Sicily when I am only there for a morning.

Is your time scale going to allow you to do the same?

Lesley

Sorry In my earlier posting I said 24 to 72 hrs when it should be 24 to 120 hrs, but remember its hours not days.
So check you don't go over the hours.

Terry

caz027 wrote:

Could you tell us which vet in Sicily you use Terry? Thanks

The vet we use in Sicily is in a small town called Santa Croce Camerina,
His name is Dott. Francesco Distefano.

phone 338 4236114

You will need to phone for an appointment and its about 1 hour from Pozallo, we use him because its close to the campsite we use in Sicily.


Terry

559lkm wrote:

And we leave here on Tuesday and arrive next Sunday afternoon!

Good Luck with your journey and I am sure Hannah will be fine so don't worry.

I have received an email from Karen Gott, the vet in Malta who deals with animals entering Malta, and because I am travelling with the dogs through other countries, ie.,France, Italy and Sicily, my 3 do need the tapeworm treatment. Its going to be a tight call for us but we should make it in the allocated time, just.

Yesterday in Malta, the temp was 41 degrees! As I am writing this in cold and rainy Cheshire with little hope of summer returning, I know I have made the right decision.

See you in Malta!

lesley

Have a great adventure Lesley - I'm jealous, I really wanted a Road Trip ... but it didn't come about.
Hope you have a lovely and stressless journey - see you in Marsakala 

caz027 wrote:

Hi - can I just ask if you've used a pet travel service to transport your dog over on the flight and if so who you used and how much it cost?

Thanks,

Caz

Hi Caz,
This is going to be the long story short edition. The only stressful thing about our whole move to Malta has been organising the travel for Hannah. In the end we had to call on friends who have friends in high places in the Maltese government to get the signature required before we could even book her on a flight! Now, if we contact the people concerned we usually get a response within 5 minutes!!

We considered using a company and contacted a couple but the response was slow and the prices pretty high.

What we did: Contact Air Malta, they put you in contact with a cargo agent based in Manchester (we are in the south of UK) but fear not. He has been very good.

He can make a reservation, but nothing official is provided but we have his assurances that Hannah is booked on the flight so we then went ahead and booked our own seats. Obviously you need the Pet Passport and you will need to acquire an IATA approved crate of the right dimensions (Cargo agent will help here). This can cost up to around £100 itself.

Our flight is 11:55 tomorrow but we have been advised to take Hannah to the Cargo area by 0600. Here she (and crate) will be weighed (jut like baggage) and only then will we know the price (although Cargo Agent will provide approximations).

We then have to pay in cash

We are expecting the bill to be around £400 but are taking £500 in cash.

We have been in touch with eCabs in Malta and booked a large cab to pick us up from the terminal and take us to the cargo area to pick up Hannah all in the same Cab - then we are wooshed away to our new life in Marsaskala

Will let you know how it pans out for us 

MovingToTheMed wrote:

caz027 wrote:

Hi - can I just ask if you've used a pet travel service to transport your dog over on the flight and if so who you used and how much it cost?

Thanks,

Caz

Hi Caz,
This is going to be the long story short edition. The only stressful thing about our whole move to Malta has been organising the travel for Hannah. In the end we had to call on friends who have friends in high places in the Maltese government to get the signature required before we could even book her on a flight! Now, if we contact the people concerned we usually get a response within 5 minutes!!

We considered using a company and contacted a couple but the response was slow and the prices pretty high.

What we did: Contact Air Malta, they put you in contact with a cargo agent based in Manchester (we are in the south of UK) but fear not. He has been very good.

He can make a reservation, but nothing official is provided but we have his assurances that Hannah is booked on the flight so we then went ahead and booked our own seats. Obviously you need the Pet Passport and you will need to acquire an IATA approved crate of the right dimensions (Cargo agent will help here). This can cost up to around £100 itself.

Our flight is 11:55 tomorrow but we have been advised to take Hannah to the Cargo area by 0600. Here she (and crate) will be weighed (jut like baggage) and only then will we know the price (although Cargo Agent will provide approximations).

We then have to pay in cash

We are expecting the bill to be around £400 but are taking £500 in cash.

>> Actual cost was around £307 - and this included extra weight (you have to pay to transport a pallet with the crate, which we didn't know about - and we included 2 towelling robes in Hannah's crate as "blankets" but also as a way to get them out without using our luggage space!)

We have been in touch with eCabs in Malta and booked a large cab to pick us up from the terminal and take us to the cargo area to pick up Hannah all in the same Cab - then we are wooshed away to our new life in Marsaskala

>> eCabs were (as usual) brilliant - they even said that the account was already paid for! (we thought some kind relative had paid it but turns out, not so... we contacted them and it turns out they had mistakenly marked the job as paid when we booked ...so were grateful for our contacting them 

Will let you know how it pans out for us 
>> Very Well 

559lkm wrote:

Oh everyone by the way, the TAPEWORM treatment is not necessary even if you are travelling over by road. The vet who met us last night said any dog coming from UK does not need it. He also said it is very toxic and bad to give to dogs and in extreme cases can even kill them so don't do it.

Interesting update Lesley! You in Marsascala yet?!

559lkm wrote:

Oh everyone by the way, the TAPEWORM treatment is not necessary even if you are travelling over by road. The vet who met us last night said any dog coming from UK does not need it. He also said it is very toxic and bad to give to dogs and in extreme cases can even kill them so don't do it.

He may say its not necessary but it is a requirement and a different vet may refuse entry if the pet passport is not filled in correctly.

Better to find an understanding vet who will stamp the passport and ask you to give the dog the tablet 

Terry
Glad things went  well for the journey and you are now settled.

559lkm wrote:

Yes we are here! Actually went for a swim this afternoon in St Thomas Bay with 2 of the dogs. It was lovely. Just trying to sort a Maltese mobile number and then we are up and running. Have the internet and the landline sorted now.
Let me know when the dog grooming starts. Alfie already needs another haircut!

Lesley, have pm'd you. Re celebratory meetup tomorrow :-)

559lkm wrote:

Oops sorry about the French. I saw that Isabelle was French and I just wanted to practise my French! Won't happen again. Was a one off!

What did she say please?? hehehehe:)