Years ago cats were the easiest pets to take on an airplane. They were small enough that most airlines let them on as hand luggage. Because of their size and disposition they were rarely scrutinized in the same way dogs are for health certificates and vaccine cards when they arrived at airports, particularly outside Europe. That has all changed, especially in the UAE.
Last year, the small matter of a war forced me to relocate my family to Sharjah. Getting the paperwork — work permits and residents visas — in order is always a headache but I groaned when I learned that pets, in this case our Siamese cat Simone, were not exempt and needed their own papers.
To avoid having your pet quarantined on entry here are the steps one needs to follow: make sure your pet’s vaccines are up to date. Then, take said pet to its vet and have a micro-chip implanted in either it’s neck or behind the ear verifying that the information on the vaccine card tallies. In Lebanon, the cost for the chip is around $40. Once that is done, you (or your vet) need to get a “Good Health Certificate” from the Ministry of Agriculture in the country you’re travelling which states that all the health documents are legal and that your pet is in good health. It is advised to get that document within five days of departure. In Lebanon, the “Good Health Certificate” costs around $20. Then you need an import permit from the UAE Ministry of Agriculture. To get that you need to fax the vaccine card, the Good Health Certificate and a copy of your passport. If you have no one in the Emirates to pick up the permit your pet will, on arrival, be detained at the airport until you can produce the import document, which costs AED200 or $56.
On landing in the UAE, you must proceed to the veterinary clinic in the cargo section of the airport to pick up your pet. If all your paper work is in order you need to sign a few more documents, pay an additional AED 100, ($28), and you and your animal are then free to leave.
To avoid putting Simone in the hold, I called all the airlines in Beirut that have flights to the United Arab Emirates to see which one would accept my cat inside the cabin. I didn’t think much of it because I am used to seeing cats, sitting in cages on their owners’ laps on aircrafts. I called about 10 airlines that make the Beirut Dubai/Sharjah run to learn that only Middle East Airlines (MEA) allows pets on board. All the others said that animals have to be checked in as cargo and put into a pressurized, temperature-controlled section in the cargo area of the plane. Poor Simone. They added that the rule was imposed on them by the Emirates port authority. The only odd exception other than MEA was Emirates Airlines which forbids all animals inside the cabin except falcons and even they need a ticket. This, by the way, is nothing new. In the mid-1980s when Emirates was in its infancy, I was lucky enough to return first class to Dubai from Pakistan. A lucky break, I thought as I turned left, past the curtain into the world of privilege. Or so I thought. I had been allocated a window seat and my fellow passenger was a cage with four hooded falcons returning from a hunting trip in the Punjab. Their masters were relaxing in the row in front of me.
Back in Beirut, I proceeded to the airport with Simone and his accompanying paperwork. The check-in was simple (apart from the $70 weighing fee) and the flight went well with Simone sleeping the entire journey. After retrieving our luggage in Dubai I thought we were home free but at the last control, one of the customs agents saw the cage and escorted me to an office. “Why had I been allowed to carry the cat on the plane,” I was asked. Simone was promptly taken away to the cargo area where I had to go and rejoin the formal process before I could take her home.
We brought our cat back to Lebanon with us for the summer and the vet at the Dubai airport assured us that all her papers were in order. He said that all we need to take her back is a re-entry card, which we got, and a new health certificate issued no more than 5 days before we travel. When we called our vet in Beirut to ask how long the health certificate will take, we were told that there are new UAE regulations requiring a blood test for rabies. This test cannot be done in Lebanon and the blood sample has to be sent to France, a process that takes eight weeks. I’m praying Simone is exempt.
