It won't be long before we all are getting on a flight. I couldn't actually find this piece of information online, so I shall post it here. weeeeeeeee..... excited about this. Pls pray for us that everything will go smooth.
Here's a checklist for this affair
1. Basic health requirement
2. Contact the Veterinary Deparment
3. Microchips
4. Rabies vaccination
5. Carrier
6. Flight ticket
7. Import permit
8. Export permit
9. Quarantine
Update:
1. Basic health requirement
This is regarding the usual vaccination, deworming and just basic health requirement that every cat should have, despite of whether or not your cat is going to travel. I mentioned this here, because the Veterinary Department mentioned so.. I suppose it's because there are people who actually don't provide all this for their pets. Well, to everyone out there, your pets need these. It's mainly vaccination, deworming and the ongoing maintenance of their health. Clear of fungal or fleas. No ear mites. No eyes problem. No fever. Nothing. As for me, I consider this a done thing, just hope they'll be in their best of health when the time comes for us the get on that flight!
2. Contact the Veterinary Department
I heard around and I asked around, but still do contact the Veterinary Departments involved. This is to find out the requirements and procedures, and who knows if they've made changes and whatsoever to the procedures. I did this, and will be bugging them more, for confirmation and assurance =).
3. Microchips
In order to obtain the import permit, each cat should have microchips implanted. (in my own non-IT/simple words), they implant a chip in the cat. It's a simple procedure, it's like a vaccination or even less that that. They actually inject the chip into the cat. The needle is thicker than the usual vaccination needle and hence it's recommended that the cat be of about 5 to 6 months (as I was told) when they get microchips in. They applied local anaesthesia to the spot where the chip will be injected into, waited for a while for the effect to kick in, and injected the microchip in. I suppose due to the effect of the local anesthesia, my cats could actually sit still for this as compared to their vaccinations. For the welfare of the cats, my post-microchips implant care is identical to my post-vaccination care for them. Additional attention, no bathing, vitamins, be alert with their appetite. So far my cats have done well, better than post-vaccination, none went into fever or loss of appetite as they did with their vaccinations.
With this chip in the cat, they have a scanner/microchip detector that they run over the cat, walla! a number comes out. Each microchip comes with a set of sticker (barcode with number), make sure the number that comes up on the scanner match the numbers on the sticker and put one on the cat's vaccination card/passport. the numbers are lengthy and I believe it's not meant for us to memorize.
In my own opinion, this is important when it comes to the import and export affair, because of the health requirement the cat needs to go through. I.e. I claim this is my cat, with all the health requirements needed, but I may just change the cat of the same color and claim so. Or (this is me being paranoid) maybe there's someone else on the same flight who also took cats with them and decided my cat is cuter (which they are =P), coincidentally we each have a cat of the same color and suddenly as were arrived this person claimed my cat as being his. Which is an easy thing to do, if only we didn't have microchips in. hehehe.... so my cats are mine, no such thing as you lost ur cat a few months ago and ur cat looks exactly just mine. blueeekk....
So out of 9 cats, 8 are done with their microchips. SUNSHINE's the next one in line. and just when I thought I was near done, I found out about the rabies vaccination.
4. Rabies vaccination
I heard that this MAY be a requirement but I gotta do more research on this. If we need to go and another round of trip to the vet =P
5. Carrier
I should have 9 carrier for my 9 cats. I now have 4, another 5 coming soon. And I gotta find out if I need to put water feeder in their carrier, if that's the case, 9 water feeder coming soon.
6. Flight ticket
I'll need to purchase my flight ticket (heh for the human alone ya), because I'll need the exact date of the flight in order to apply for the import permit. The cats don't need a flight ticket. They will be charged RM15/kg (they're not considered as ur luggage). Minimum is 5kg including the carrier. I'm not sure if that means each cat must be minimally 5kg or the total must be minimally 5 kg. The total weight of my cats would definitely exceed 5 kg. We shall find out about this when the day comes. This is how it's done with an accompanying human, cats may fly off unaccompanied, but I'm not sure how to go about with that, and I think someone has to be at the destination upon their arrival.
7. Import permit
This is to be dealt with the Veterinary Department at the place of destination. I'll keep our destination as a secret, but I'm sure you can take a wild guess =P
8. Export permit
This is to be dealt with here, the Veterinary Department from where we'll be departing. hehehe... The export permit comprises of a health check up, and it's only valid 7 days. So I hope my cats will be in their best of health, within this period of time.
9. Quarantine
The duration of quarantine upon arrival is 1 month, but I heard u can appeal to have it shortened to probably about 1 week. I shall elaborate more once we pass this stage =)
In conclusion moving by flight with your cats is a 'can-do' thing =).
