Starting the pet-import process and already overwhelmed. There seem to be steps that must happen in a strict order and window before travel. How did you keep it straight and not miss a deadline?
Built a simple calendar with every deadline marked backwards from the travel date. Kept the strict ordering from becoming overwhelming to track in my head.
Same overwhelmed feeling right now, adding a calendar like this immediately.
This is one to be careful with: pet-import rules — the treatments, the order, the timings, the paperwork — are strict and very country-specific, and they change. The Pets section for your destination is the place to confirm the exact sequence before you book flights, because missing a window can mean quarantine. Please verify against your specific country rather than any timeline you read here.
The vet clinic itself flagged the correct order for me proactively once I explained the move — worth asking them directly rather than researching it entirely alone.
Coming back to this with good news: my cat arrived in Portugal last week with every document in order and no problems at the border. The backwards calendar from Anna's reply was the thing that saved me. I put every deadline on it and ticked them off one by one. The vet at home called me personally on the morning of the flight to check I had everything. Thank you all.
So happy for you, Sofia. The morning of the flight is the worst part, and knowing your vet called you personally makes me like them already.
We're bringing our old cat to Spain in the spring, and this thread is my plan now. A calendar backwards from the travel date, the vet involved from the start, and every document checked twice. Thank you for starting it, Sofia, and for coming back to tell us it worked.
A thread that ends well. I needed one of those today, after a morning of paperwork of my own. Congratulations to you and the cat, Sofia.
Adding the backwards calendar to my "if we ever get a pet" list.