Bringing Animals to Italy from the United States..
For families that need to relocate to Europe this is the post for you. Most pets are considered part of the family now days.. at least that was how we felt about our pets. There are many things to prepare if you are going to be bringing your pets to Italy. If you live near a military veterinarian then you are golden, if not then you will have your work cut out for you. First thing is your animals need to be old enough for a rabies shot because they need a rabies shot at least 6 months prior to traveling but before 30 days prior to traveling. The animals will also need international microchips. If you don't get the international chips then you will need to purchase the proper scanner for the regular chip, which ends up costing a lot more than just getting another chip. You will want your animal to have the international chip in Europe because that is what they will scan for if your animal is lost and happens to find its way to someone who will scan it. Next you will need to get them in for their health certificates which have to be in English and Italian. This health certificate is only good for 10 days so plan according to when you will be flying out. If you get this health certificate from the military veterinarian then you do not need to get the USDA to endorse it. If you get the health certificate from a civilian veterinarian then you will need to go to your local USDA office and have them endorse it. You may even need to overnight it to them.. but remember they are not open on weekends.
As far as the crates and dishes that you will need, call the airline you are flying on and they will give you the exact information. I do know that Delta will allow you to crate two same species together which may be less stressful for your animal and cheaper.
If your animals are flying on a separate plane than you, then you will have some more work on your hands. I recommend that you do what you can to have them fly on the plane you are on to avoid more complications such as custom fees and the fact that they no longer will fly animals from cargo into Naples. You will have to drive to Rome to get them.
Problems we ran into were that the military booked us on Delta Airlines. Delta allows you to bring all your animals if you are traveling because of a PCS. (regardless of breed embargo during the summer) But the problem was that we were not only flying on Delta we were also flying on Alitalia which did not have the same regulations. HUGE PROBLEM... we didn't find out until days before that they only had room for one out of our four animals. We had to pay a private shipping company to ship them on another airline. Lufthansa airlines seems to be the best airline to fly with animals. They will also ship animals in a cargo plane but they only work with private animals shipping companies.. after we paid for our animals to be shipped we then had to drive to Rome to pick them up from the airport. It was a very long process. You will have to have them review all the paper work for the animals at customs, then they have an Italian veterinarian examine the animals and charge you for that. That cost around 60 euro per pet and you cannot pay credit card or cash. You have to go to the post office and get something similar to a money order. It was very unorganized and took about 5 hours total. I would avoid shipping animals on a cargo plane. Don't be confused with shipping animals in cargo and on cargo planes. It is different animals in cargo under the plane you are on is the way to go, shipping them on a separate cargo plane is not cheap or easy..
Once you get to Italy check in with the base veterinarian. They will tell you certain diseases in the area that your animals can catch if they don't have the proper protection. Such as sand flies that can cause a disease called Leishmaniasis. I have worked with animals for years and never heard of this. They have collars that look like those stupid flea collars that are supposed to protect your dog from getting this disease. I think it is mostly for dogs that are left outside alone alot.
Hope this helps...
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