International Travelling With A Dog. Ukraine-UK

dovetail (60)in #travel • 3 years ago (edited)

Travelling with a pet internationally especially in our times of restrictions is almost an epic venture. I would like to share with you my experience as it took me months before I found out the information on how to do it. Seems like nothing is straight forward especially when countries like Ukraine and the UK are involved.

So the task was to bring a dog to the UK. And as if that mission was not already difficult enough, the additional condition I received from my child our dog should go with us in the cabin. All those horrible stories of animals transported in luggage on flights who didn't survived or being hurt left my little researcher adamant on this.

Of course one of the first steps were to check the rules in the UK https://www.gov.uk/bring-pet-to-great-britain

First of all you need to know generic rules for international travel for pets. Of course you need and international passport that's number One. Number Two is electronic chip. Feeling like blood on my hands and I'm betraying my little friend with his eyes reproaching me but I did that.

Number Three, antibodies blood test state certificate: no less than 30 days after vaccination against rabies, but not earlier than three months before issuing an international certificate, it is necessary to conduct a study on the presence of post-vaccination antibodies to the rabies virus in accredited laboratories or a specialized research institute. Without an expert opinion from the laboratory on the test results, the animal will not be able to enter the EU. All that provisions you could actually find on Boryspil airport site https://kbp.aero/en/pass/petc/. Read carefully that.

Also your dog needs deworming few days prior the trip with the vet verified it in the passport. You will use a sticker from a tablet you are giving the dog for that reason. So check you received that sticker when buying the drug at the shop, they might sometimes forget to give it to you. We used Cestal which has praziquanten.

We were about to fly from Lviv, but pets are not allowed to fly from there, so we needed to go via Kyiv. Also at your destination point you need to check if there is portal to accept pets.

Keep in mind before the travel you need to receive the reference from your local state vet that the pet is healthy, they also mention the route of your travel. The reference from vet is valid only for three days. Upon arrival to airport you need to exchange that reference for International Document which again will be valid for ten days. The vet control in Boryspil airport in International Terminal D is situated on the second floor. The process took for us maybe 10-15 min.

Ok. Now when we decided what documentation we will need, here is the also a difficult part. How to actually get to the UK as no airline from Ukraine have license to fly pets there. Not knowing that costed us a few months of delay of our plans. We bought tickets to Ukrainian Airlines as they only one who could fly our a bit over- grown Minishnauzer as take up to 10 kg with a cage in the cabin. The problem was I didn't check on their site that there are some countries they don't actually fly pets. Of course the UK was in the list. You could check here if also choose Ukrainian Airlines https://www.flyuia.com/ua/en/information/traveling-with-pets Also keep in mind there are restrictions on flying brachycephalic animals. Also at this site confirm one more time their requirements including one of when you check in pet. As if the payment will be too late they won't allow it.

You will need a special container to have your pet in hand luggage in the cabin with you. Read the dimensions allowded before you buy one. I had to go to Internet to find something situable

It did take me also so long time to work out the route then. So I decided we need to fly to one of the European countries and then we needed to reach British shores somehow. I will omit dozens of search results I had. Luckily I stumbled upon the forum of the same desperate dog owners. And Bingo. Stena Britannica ferry was the answer to all my questions. So it was Amsterdam we flew in as we were about to take ferry from the Hook of Holland to Harwich.

While we were working out the route it was still not clear what the policies be of the country on accepting the travellers but I found out that if you travel via country to next destination within 12 hours you don't need to self-isolate. Gvmt site of the Netherlands https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiting-the-netherlands-from-abroad/ By the mid of August the country was opened for Ukrainian travellers so our stake on Netherlands did play.

That was such a relief after swift check of chip being working and documents we were let in to Holland airport. Then by train we got to the ferry. Another quick check up and Davis got his little cabin with a blanket and possibility to walk him on special deck for walking dogs. Such a civilised way of travelling.

He used to travel so much on long night trains from East to West Ukraine and vice versa so for him night in this spacious chamber was easy. Crossing the North Sea for him was fun. From Harwich to London we took train, they are free for dogs here.

So now my Davis is an international traveller.

Hello, London