Exporting Pets out of Taiwan

Life Pets & Domestic Animals
41

I am in the middle of preparing my three dogs and one cat for transportation to the UK. I’ll post my experiences here to help others going through the process.

Well, the first step is microchipping your pet (cat, dog, ferret) at least seven months prior to travel. The first problem you’ll encounter is trying to establish which kind of chip should be implanted.

I called the DEFRA helpline (+44 [0]870 241 1710 (Monday to Friday - 8.30am to 5pm UK time)) and they were extremely helpful. They said that customs at both Heathrow and Gatwick have universal chip readers that can read 99.9% of all ISO chips meeting specifications 11784 or Annex A of ISO standard 11785.

My vet was very helpful and pointed out that there are two main chips here: AVID and TROVAN. The latter is not ISO standard. The former has two forms - ISO standard and non-ISO standard. Unfortunately, the kind used in Taiwan is non-ISO standard. But there is a third kind which did not have a name but was ISO standard. Basically, an ISO-standard chip will bear a 16-digit number. Non-ISO-standard chips bear a 10-digit number.

So, you have two options to consider: (a) get the non-ISO-standard chip and buy a reader to take with you on the plane to assist customs, or (b) insist your vet gives you the ISO-standard chip. Personally, I think (b) is the best option, because if your pet was ever to get lost in the UK, you’d want the chip to be readable by people other than yourself.

My pets already have TROVAN chips, but for the NT$200 - NT$300 per chip, I’ll get the ISO-standard ones put in as well.

Get the vet to check the chip is readable before and after insertion. All vets must read the chip and verify the number at each of the next steps (which I will update you on as I go).

The next step is vaccination against rabies. (Remember, the microchipping must be done before getting the rabies vaccination.) The post about vaccination will follow, but if you have any questions about the process, you can call a very helpful Dr. Fooks at +44 (0)193 235 7840 or the DEFRA helpline number listed above.

42

Hi,

I am leaving Taipei in just 2 weeks and need urgent help moving my small chihuahua.

Originally the plan was to let my friend adopt her - but now it has come down to actually having to give her away I realise I can’t.

I have read through the thread and although I can take her to the vets for a rabies jab and to get her tagged I need someone to give her temporary accommodation and to sort out all the paperwork and ultimately get her on a plane to Sydney.

Does anyone know if any company does all this. I have to go to a few other countries first and wont be in Sydney until the middle of May so she will need to stay in Taipei until then.

I really need to know whether it is possible I can still take her or whether I have left it to late and no options are open!

Any help any one can give ASAP will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

43

Yeah,
You don’t have enough time to beat the following requirement

Don’t you have any friends here that you can ask to handle it? Can’t the friend that was going to adopt your critter do that?

Or perhaps you could do a search on forumosa for “kennel”.

44

Hi there.

I know a lady that works for a company that arranges for animal transport. They actually got us cheaper flights than we were able to get on our own. Her name is Ruthy Peters. ruthpt@telus.net She was very helpful and she helped getting the paper work organized too, providing us with phone numbers and addresses here in Taiwan needed to get the import permits, etc.

Check this out too: www.animaltravel.com

Hope that helps. Bringing your pet home is the right thing to do. :slight_smile:

45

Thank you both for the information - and the very quick replies!

I expect I can get someone to look after her for 6 weeks but as they work it is probably too much too expect them to take her places, fill out forms and take them to different places, including getting her on a plane.

I can do as much as possible in 2 weeks - which would be the jabs. If I can find her a home, and I get her the rabbies jab and tag, do you think everything else be done while I’m out the country by one of these services - or would they require me to be here?

In the meantime I will email the contact you gave me - thank you so much for the info!!!

Thanks,

Chris

46

Chris, well done for deciding not to leave the dog behind! :bravo:

There is a pet shipper called Joseph Tsai who can take of all the dog’s travel requirements, including taking it to get the paperwork, etc. Last time I used him, it cost NT$5,000. He can also arrange to have your dog shipped as freight or as excess baggage (if you have a friend coming your way).

Unfortunately, I can’t find his number, but if you call one of the moving companies (Crown World Wide), they should be able to provide you with his contact details.

Good luck - a little stressful now, but picture how you’ll feel when it’s all over and the little pooch is with you back at home. :slight_smile:

Stray Dog

47

Thank you all for all the advice you kindly gave so quick…

I have been to the Yang Ming Veterinary hospital today and spoke to Mr Yang who assures me there are ways to take Twiggy to Australia - despite me leaving in 2 weeks.

He can take care of everything in conjunction with Joseph Tsai, and although moving the little mutt won’t be cheap, it will definitely be worth the while!

Thanks again!

Chris

48

Thanks, loads of helpful information.

Another pet shipping number I received by email today (no experiences yet):

[quote]Aloha Express Co. Ltd.
#296, 7F., Sec 5, Nanking E. Road,
Taipei,
Taiwan R.O.C.
Tel: 886 -2-27656030
Mobile Amy 886- 919333205
fax: 886 -2-27615742
email: alh369@ms38.hinet.net
Contact: Amy
Better to fax or call, their email is not reliable.[/quote]

Iris

49

[quote=“christhomas”]Thank you all for all the advice you kindly gave so quick…

I have been to the Yang Ming Veterinary hospital today and spoke to Mr Yang who assures me there are ways to take Twiggy to Australia - despite me leaving in 2 weeks.

He can take care of everything in conjunction with Joseph Tsai, and although moving the little mutt won’t be cheap, it will definitely be worth the while!

Thanks again!

Chris[/quote]

:bravo: :notworthy: :bravo: :notworthy:

Well done - let us know how it goes.

Stray Dog

50

Help

I am trying to arrange to send my dog back to canada on her own and am not having to much luck. I am looking for Joseph Tsai’s (or anyone else who does this) phone number or email address. I have tried contacting Aloha and not had any luck, they don’t seem to answer the phone or their email.
I thought I would try to go ahead and do it on my own but it is proving to be a challenge and I think it would easier to pay someone else to take care of. Any help would be appreciated.

51

PM christhomas. Then let us have the number for Joseph Tsai, as we are constantly being asked for it.

Cheers!

Sean

52

Hi all,
I am sending my cat home to my mom. Unfortunately I won’t be going home with him.
I was wondering if anyone knew what airline to use and what the approx. cost would be to send my cat to South Africa.
Any help would be great!
Thanks
Pixie

53

iris, i have the news that for germany you no longer need to do all that blood tests and waiting. i just got the info from someone who receive our homeless dogs in taiwan. before the new e.u law, rescuers i work with sent over 400 dogs to germany without any problem. please contact me for more details.
i would also like to ask if it will be possible for you to help bring more dogs to germany on the same flight. we have a 50% discount for dogs and cats on china airline to germany. if someone is flying there, each person can bring 3 dogs. i guess you can have two dogs along with one cat, too.

54

Dogkam, I have a hard time believing that. I’ve been in touch with the customs at Frankfurt Airport and the Hessen Veterinary Ministry (where I asked what range you had for the blood test, because every document says 3 months - and was told, that preferably, I should get into Germany 3 months to the day after her blood was taken - I asked them if they were joking and how you’re supposed to manage that when you’re moving between continents - bloody Germans). Both confirmed that I need the blood test.

Anyway, her blood has been taken and sent to Belgium, and I’ve paid for it already, so we’ll go through with it…

But feel free to post further information or PM me. I’ll PM you with my email address.

Thanks
Iris

55

i got this info from the people who receive dogs from the rescuers here, so i am pretty sure it is true.
they got the news from e.u. whichever department that is in charge of deciding which countries have or have not rebies.
why don’t you check with e.u.? they may not have told each airport yet.

56

There is nothing on the internet about this change. I know that the UK have their own regulations, the PET scheme, that includes Taiwan as a rabies-free country. According to the person I spoke to in Frankfurt, this is restricted to the UK and has nothing to do with the rest of the EU…

Anyway, I won’t bother much with checking further since I’ve already organized the blood test and definitely should be on the safe side there.

But thanks anyway
Iris

57

Update:

I just spent a morning sick and panicking because I realized that Tuesday’s chip is one of the 10-digit non-ISO Trovan chips (I told the vet that I needed the chip for going to Europe and trusted him to use the right chip).

Until I called the veterinary customs and immigration at Frankfurt Airport:

“Don’t worry, our readers can read any kind of chip” and:
" No, if you’re coming from Taiwan, she doesn’t need a bloodtest. Taiwan was approved as rabies-free about 2 months ago."

Good news but what the fuck??? :fume::fume::fume:

  • I emailed and called with Frankfurt Airport in February and was told that the UK Pet Scheme that already included Taiwan as rabies-free country didn’t apply to the rest of the EU and it would take another while before Taiwan did fulfil the requirements for being approved as rabies-free.
  • I called the Hessen Veterinary Ministry about a month ago and was told that she does need the bloodtest and that I’d have to enter Germany to the day three months after her blood was taken.
  • I surfed the complete internet including all EU sites for lists of countries that were approved as rabies-free. Taiwan wasn’t on any of them and still isn’t.

Looks like I won’t have to miss anything about procedures in Taiwan after moving back to Germany. Maybe the reverse culture shock won’t be that bad??? :raspberry: Comment of my colleague: “At least, now you know that she doesn’t have AIDS”

Anyway: good news for Germans travelling to Frankfurt with their pets:
no blood test necessary
no need to worry about the chip

Iris

Edit:
Taiwan is on the list, updated on 15 March 2005 (I checked mid of February). Updated list of countries here

58

Very interesting! Thanks for posting the info, Iris.

Hopefully we’ll have the whole process worked out before long. :s

59

Dr. Lin at the ChungShan animal hospital gave my friend’s cat his shots and examined him. He was nice, and he spoke English too I think.

Their address is:

台北市民權東路三段140巷5號 電話:(02)27196996
門診時間:9:30-21:00 週日門診:9:30-18:00

#5 Lane 140 Sec.3 Min Chuan East Road
Taipei, Taiwan
tel:(02)27196996
Hours from 9:30-21:00 mon-sat
9:30-18:00 on sun.

The examination was 1000
Microchip 500
5-in-1 vaccination 800
Rabies vacine 200

so 2500 nt in total

it took less than 30 minutes I think.

The next day we drove to the Bureau of Commodity Inspection and Quarantine at No.19 Lane 113 Jilong Road.

This is at the intersection where Keelung and Roosevelt intersect. There is a circle, and the lane you want to go down is between a police station and Keelung road. If you go down that lane, there are two low, old looking buildings on the right, and the first, newer looking one is it.

Bring your vet documents + passport + ticket.
So they look at your animal, verify its sex. And that was about it for us.

Then they print out the official document with several copies to a sheet. This is what you use for customs and stuff. And this is free.

But reservations need to be made with the airline in advance before you transport your animal, whether as carry-on or checked luggage. They need to know to heat and pressurize the luggage compartment in advance.

We had told them we were bringing a cat, but they didn’t record it. Thankfully, we arrived early enough for them to heat it.

They counted the cat as two pieces of overweight luggage. Was about 5800? I think it was $89 a piece X 2. Cat counts as one, and carrier counts as another. This is EVA airlines.

We checked the cat in with the rest of the luggage, and had to make a short trip down to the extra-large luggage department to so a guy could look at the cat and take it away.

Now, all vaccinations must be given 30 days prior to departure. But the health examination must be done within 10 days prior to departure. So get your animal vaccinated like, 2 months before you leave to be safe.

If you are transferring to another flight not with the Taiwanese airline, you must make a seperate reservation for your animal. In this instance, it was United Airlines, and they charged $100.

Now, on EVA, if the animal + carrier is less that 5 kgs, you can bring it in the cabin I think. But this would be a nuisance to other people if your animal whines, meows, or barks the whole trip. It’s 20lbs on American airlines I think. The cat actually made the trip of Taipei -> LA (with 6-7 hours delay) -> New Orleans without defecating himself. So that was interesting. But we didn’t feed him on the morning of the trip.

A thing to keep in mind during summer or winter is that some airlines will not transport a live animal if extreme temperatures are expected at any part of the trip.

60

Lupillus,

this is very valuable and simple to read information! Just the way everyone likes it! And thank you very much for your offer of helping busy owners do all this.
:bravo:

May you buy a winning lottery ticket!