Making travel plans for the furry member of our family

When I set about making plans to bring home my adorable cat Molly, someone close to me suggested we make her part and parcel of the house sale! Well we were selling to someone we knew and maybe the new owner might be amenable to the idea??  Needless to say that was never an option put on the table!!  I was going to jump through whatever hoops necessary to take my 17 year old tuxedo cat from the US to Ireland.  There were some family members who doubted she would survive the journey over the Atlantic and I'm happy to report that there were no issues and a year later she is thriving in her new home.

Thankfully animals travelling into Ireland are no longer required to be quarantined - as long as you carefully follow the instructions provided by the USDA (US Dept of Agriculture) and the Irish DA. The steps involved for specifically taking a cat to Ireland are:

1. Your cat needs to be microchipped and registered on a vet database

2. Once they are microchipped they can be given the rabies vaccination that is required for travel 

3. They need to be administered and pass a rabies blood test which cannot take place any earlier than 30 days after the rabies shot.
4. If your pet does not have an EU pet passport, it must be accompanied by an  EU Health Certificate before entering Ireland. 

5. Here comes the trickiest part: the EU Health Certificate which is completed by your vet must be signed and endorsed by an Official (State) Veterinarian of the country of departure, within 10 days of pets arrival into the EU.  

6. You must provide advance notice  to the Irish Department of Agriculture and organize compliance checks for your pet in advance of your arrival into the country.  There is a charge of 50 euros for this service.

As for the actual travel booking for Molly - I had to fly Delta from NY to Dublin as Aer Lingus does not provide a service for animals on Transatlantic flights. As long as your cat (or dog) along with the container you bring them in weighs in at 20lbs or less you can bring them on the plan with you.  They need to fit under the seat in front of you and Delta allows a maximum of 4 pets per flight so you have to book your pet ahead of time over the phone for a fee of  USD $200.

December 10, 2023 was D-Day and it went amazingly well.  My greatest fear was my little friend might be in pain or have an accident the day of travel.  She suffers from digestive issues and every now and then after eating too much she will howl from stomach pain and sometimes loses control if you know what I mean...  Turns out she wasn't much into food when we were traveling and didn't need to use any facilities and there was no embarrassment or otherwise.  There was a little dog directly behind us on the flight and he cried alright but it never phased Molly.  I was a proud Mama.