The Cats

We love our 2 cats very much, but had no idea how much bureaucracy is involved in taking them briefly back to Europe en route to Burkina. They will be staying in what is known in dutch as a "cat hotel" - I refer to it as the cat prison, since no matter how nice it is, after the house and garden in which to catch lizards in - no amount of space will be enough. But sending them unaccompanied from Rwanda to Burkina isn't really an option...and is even more complex as they are then commodities not pets.

Nev inspecting proceedings below..

Musti in the famous yoga pose of a wrung out rag..


So if anyone stumbles on the blog and wants to export a pet from Rwanda to the EU (excluding UK)
you need to begin the process 4-5 months before you leave

1. animal must be microchipped
2. vaccinated against rabies
3. have rabies blood test certificate
4. have health certificate EU rules 998
5. have export paperwork from Rarda (sub-ministry of the Ministry of Agriculture)
   

http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/nocomm_third_en.htm
is the place to start, they have the info in various languages


Our experience

1. The vets here in Rwanda cannot provide a microchip - but can inject it for you if you manage to find a friendly vet in europe to sell you one. They don't have readers that can read all microchips though. If you have more than one pet, make sure that you are certain which pet has which chip. Don't forget to complete the paperwork for your home country chip database.

2. The vets here can do that OK. Its better if you have a pet vaccination booklet from your vet too, or you will end up with lots of loose papers.

3. The vets here can draw the blood and get it spun for you at one of the labs. You have to send the blood to an approved lab (see EU page for list) - this can be done in person, or by DHL - we successfully couriered ours to South Africa for just under Rwf 40,000 (volcanic ash period). This blood test must be 30 days after last rabies vaccination and three months before departure.

4. The vets here can stamp the EU 998 Health Certificate form, print your own out for them. This health certificate needs to be dated not more than 7 days before flight in order to get the export paperwork from Rarda.

5. the export paperwork from Rarda is free of charge and could / should be done on the same day. You need to go to Veterinary Services Office.

Directions to RARDA office
if you are driving from centre Kigali towards the airport
After Remera / Gisimenti (Chez Lando)
go straight
turn right at the next traffic lights (lively area)
down street for about 3 km, and its on the right - if you see the big food depot you have gone too far!