Your pet to Australia: 180 days of waiting, a titre test and ten days of quarantine

Your dog or cat can come to Australia, but this is the step in the whole journey with the longest fixed waiting time. The Australian import conditions are laid down in binding agreements between Australia and the Netherlands, and the NVWA carries them out: an import permit, a microchip, a rabies vaccination, a blood test for antibodies, and then at least 180 days of waiting without exception. On arrival quarantine follows, and whether it lasts ten or thirty days depends on one step you did or didn't take in the Netherlands. The cost depends on transport, examinations and quarantine; the fees are with the Australian department.

Can your animal come at all?

For Australia the Netherlands is a group 3 country: rabies is under control there, and dogs and cats may only come from an approved country. Five dog breeds are excluded: the Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Tosa, American Pitbull Terrier and Perro de Presa Canario, as are wolf-dog crosses such as the Saarloos wolfdog. An intact bitch may not be more than thirty days pregnant at departure and may not be suckling young. Each animal needs its own import permit and veterinary certificate, and has to meet all the conditions on that permit; that is your responsibility, not the vet's.

The chain, and why it takes six months

The order is fixed, and every step hangs on the previous one.

Step	Requirement	Deadline
Microchip	not nine digits, no number starting with 999	before the identity verification and the blood sample
Identity verification by an official NVWA vet	before the blood sample for the titre test	decides: 10 days of quarantine instead of 30
Rabies vaccination	inactivated vaccine, animal at least 84 days old	valid from before the blood sample up to and including export
Rabies titre test (RNATT)	blood taken by a Dutch vet, result at least 0.5 IU/ml in an approved lab	valid 12 months from the blood sample
Waiting period	from the day the lab received the blood	at least 180 days, no exceptions
Tests for Brucella canis (non-neutered dogs) and Leishmania	negative, with test methods accepted by Australia	within 45 days before export
Leptospirosis	test within 45 days, or a full vaccination at least 14 days before export
Ticks and fleas	start treatment and continue until departure	at least 30 days before export
Worms	two treatments, at least 14 days apart	within 45 days, the second within 5 days before export
Clinical inspection and certification by the NVWA	animal free of parasites and signs of disease	within 5 days before export

The identity verification is the step everyone misses. Have an official NVWA vet or NVWA inspector read the chip and sign the declaration before the blood for the titre test is taken, and your dog qualifies in Australia for ten days of quarantine. Skip that step and it's thirty days, with no way out. The declaration stays valid indefinitely as long as the chip can be read.

The titre test measures whether the rabies vaccination has worked: a result below 0.5 IU/ml means vaccinating again and testing again. From the moment the laboratory receives the blood, the waiting period of at least 180 days runs, and between that blood sample and departure the animal has to have stayed continuously in countries approved by Australia. The result is valid for twelve months; whoever leaves later starts over.

Count back from your flight date, not forward from today. The 180 days only start running once the lab has the blood, and the test is valid for twelve months. The window in which your animal can travel therefore lies between six and twelve months after the blood sample. Whoever has the test done too early loses it; whoever has it done too late shifts the whole family's move.

What the last weeks ask

The last 45 days before departure are busy: the test for Brucella canis for non-neutered dogs (a neutering certificate from the vet saves that test), the test for Leishmania, the worm treatment in two rounds, and a tick and flea treatment started at least thirty days before departure, with day zero as the starting day. In the final days comes the clinical inspection by the certifying NVWA vet, who checks everything: import permit, identity declaration, RNATT declaration, the vaccinations in the passport and the chip number on every document. Every page of every document gets an original signature, a stamp and a date, because Australia demands it.

Australia also advises a vaccination against distemper, hepatitis, parvo and kennel cough that covers the whole quarantine; the NVWA doesn't check that, you are responsible for it. If the dog has ever been in Africa, a treatment against Babesia is added.

What this means for your planning

This is the reason the pet step in the journey is already open in the documents phase, well before moving. Applying for an import permit, choosing a laboratory, engaging a pet transport agent (the Australian government recommends one) and booking the quarantine all have their place in the calendar of the journey to Australia. In the right order your dog or cat is home ten days after arrival; in the wrong order you wait an extra half year.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey, step 2.7: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Australia or go straight to step 2.7 in the open plan.