September 2006

PET & TRAVEL TO BG

Well, not an awful lot to report since our decision to make Bulgaria our permanent home as soon as possible, except it probably is not going to be as soon as we’d have liked.

We have someone interested in our house, so much so she has even put her house on the market at £5000 less than she has been advised to do just to buy ours and if she misses out on ours she will take hers off the market. 

Her dad has offered to buy it cash as has practically completed on his house sale and would just need a bridging loan on the difference to afford ours until hers is sold.

Anyway to cut a long story short, nothing has happened!!

Our agent says now the kids are back at school things will pick up, we hope so as it is very frustrating not being able to go ahead with anything. 

We are out to BG next week and were hoping to be able to book our appointment with the BG Embassy in London before we go for when we came back, but it will have to wait by the looks of it, unless a minor miracle happens this week.

You never know!

Usually by now we have our suitcases down, but we are not overly excited as it is just like a prelude to the real thing!!

I sound like a right moaning Minnie!

Well, I did sort one thing out, I took Kassie to the vets for her rabies jab, she wasn’t impressed.  She has advanced arthritis, was diagnosed at the age of 5 last July.  Every month to 6 weeks she has to have a cartrophen injection to encourage the growth of cartilage in her 2 front elbows, so wasn't so keen on the vet when he pricked her twice this time, little does she know there is worse to come.

I was devastated when I found out, as I used to take her for 5 mile walks almost daily down the beach, plus her short walks to the park, but she can now only manage the short walks before she starts to limp.  I couldn’t help thinking it was me who caused it in the first place as me and Kassie have always been together.

One time we went for a lovely walk down the beach and then sat on a bench with the slats.

She came up on the bench with me to take in the lovely view.

I got up to go, and she jumped up to follow, unfortunately leaving her rear leg in between the slats, and yelped like a big baby until I could release her.

She couldn’t walk on it, and so I had to carry her, bearing in mind she is 20 kgs and a solid little Staffie I found it very difficult to carry her for long and without a mobile or car was starting to panic as she didn’t look right to me at all.

I was crying every step of the way, on the main road to the vets tears were streaming, but not one car stopped to help me.

I was so upset that I went up the wrong road toward the vets and found it was a dead end, unable to carry her any further I had to put her down, and she couldn’t put any weight down on it, so hobbled, I kept calling her to keep up, but after about 10 mins she just lay down and refused to budge!

I picked her up and managed to get her to the residential home that I worked at then.  My friend Glyn was on duty thank goodness.

Matron gave her permission to take me up to the vets.

I cried the whole time, and couldn’t speak at the vets.

She hadn’t broken it though, just torn something, I can’t even remember now.

I think I was the bigger baby out of the two of us!

She has a small white line of fur against her brown exactly where the damage was done.

I love my Kassie, and I know you will all think what a soppy cow I am, but I don’t care, animal lovers will understand, I know that much.

Anyway, she will need to have this injection in Bulgaria too, so I asked the vet for the details of it to take to a vet in Yambol when there next week.

I phoned Defra this afternoon to be told she also has to have a blood test for Brucella Canis, this is for dogs going to Bulgaria from the UK.

This needs to be done within 60 days prior to the export of the animal.

You can get more info on this from this www

http://www.ivis.org/advances/Infect_Dis_Carmichael/shin/ivis.pdf

Some tips

Your dog or cat will need to be micro chipped

They will need a rabies injection which has to be done after the microchip has been fitted; if it is done before the micro chip has been fitted it will need to be redone.

This is to make sure the pet has correctly been identified and documented on the paperwork when vaccinated.  The rabies vaccination needs to be done no less than 30 days and not more than 12 months prior to the proposed date of export.

It also states that a dog will need an injection against canine distemper and a cat a feline panleucopaenia on the UK to BG Health certificate.

I have a feeling these are the annual ones we get, I am glad I had them done.

And within 60 days of the export it says the animal, so cats and dogs??? Has to have been tested with broad spectrum anthelmintic effective against Echinoccus Multiocularis.

Have no idea what this one’s all about, but will let you all know, or perhaps someone could enlighten me!

Then they will need the blood test 3-4 weeks after the rabies jab, to see that the rabies vaccine has worked.  Also the Brucella Canis can most likely be done then, although I will let you know if different.

Some people have said that it takes 6 months for the pet passport stuff to be done, this is not so, the 6 month rule applies to pets coming back to the UK only, after spending time in another country.  There has to be 6 months clear from the date of the blood test being ok’d.  Also if you want to return to the UK your pet must be treated against ticks and tapeworms and has to be done by any vet in any country before returning, you cannot do it yourself and it has to be recorded as identified with the chip on the passport.

You will need a pet passport to travel across Europe and/or to return to the UK, but not if flying to Bulgaria.

You will also need an export health certificate signed by a vet to state the animal is fit to travel which will be done 24 hours prior to travel and includes an parasite check, and free from clinical signs of infectious or contagious disease, and is fit to travel.

If your pet is under 3 months old, the rules are different, and you will need to contact your local DEFRA office for more info.

I am just going to take the forms I was sent from my local Defra for my vet to give the once over and send me the bill.

Easy peasy.

Bulgarian Embassy in London has now updated their site here

Transporting our goods.

We have decided one thing for sure.

After the terrible stories of a removal firm who let down several forum members I decided for sure that we would ship our stuff over with a firm called John Good Shipping.  They have a 20ft or 40 ft container which will take approx 33 days to ship from Devon to Bourgas at a cost of £1130, from Devon to Varna at a little over £1200.

They are a reputable firm who have been going for 30 years and Mike and Helen have used them and can assist with the customs clearance, help to translate the lists you will need to do and transport back to your place. 

It may be the longest way so not ideal for everybody, but the heartache caused by 2 Brits is enough to convince me that it is the best way apart from doing it yourself.

Now we have to decide how WE are going to get there.

I want to travel by land as it will be fun, and Darren wants to fly, but I can't get hold of BA about flying Kassie, and we can't find a LHD which we want to take over, so will work this out next hopefully.

Night all.

xxxx