Your dog or cat to Estonia: the EU passport is enough, registration depends on your municipality

Yes, your dog, cat or ferret can come to Estonia on the ordinary EU pet passport, and Estonia sets no extra requirements. The Estonian Agriculture and Food Board PTA lists the EU rules: a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination and the passport. The finding is in the list of the Estonian customs, EMTA: a treatment against the tapeworm Echinococcus is only needed for dogs heading to the United Kingdom, Malta, Ireland, Finland and Sweden, not for Estonia itself. The pitfall comes after arrival: whether your animal must be registered is up to your municipality, and in a city like Tartu it is mandatory for dogs and cats.

What does my animal need for the journey?

Requirement	What PTA and EMTA ask
Microchip	ISO 11784, readable with an ISO 11785 reader; if not, you bring a reader yourself
Rabies vaccination	with a recognised vaccine, the first at least 21 days before arrival in Estonia
Age at the first jab	at least 12 weeks
Passport	the EU pet passport with your details, the chip number and the vaccination
Tapeworm treatment	not needed for Estonia
Number of animals	at most 5 dogs, cats or ferrets per journey, unless for a competition or exhibition

The animal may travel up to five days before or after you, if that is part of your move; keep your own boarding pass or ferry ticket as proof. If the animal travels without you or with more than five, the rules for trade apply, with veterinary checks.

With a puppy or kitten, count the age. According to PTA the rabies jab may only be given from twelve weeks, and it only takes effect 21 days after the first vaccination: an animal vaccinated at twelve weeks can therefore travel to Estonia at fifteen weeks at the earliest. Younger, unvaccinated animals with a chip and passport are admitted by Estonia if they have not left their place of birth or travel with their mother, but many other member states do not allow that — so for the journey there, the strictest stopover counts.

Does my dog have to be in an Estonian register?

That depends on your municipality. The Estonian system works with two registers: the pet register LLR, which many municipalities have joined, and the Eesti Lemmikloomaregister, which is linked to the European Europetnet. According to PTA a microchip alone is not enough: the number must be in a register, linked to you as the owner. In the municipalities that have joined LLR, the rules for keeping dogs and cats oblige you to register your dog or cat.

Municipality	What the city asks
Tallinn	the city enters microchipped companion animals in its central register; registration is free, the chip at the vet's price list
Tartu	registering and microchipping cats and dogs is mandatory; the vet can do it

According to PTA you can enter a microchipped animal in LLR yourself, or ask a municipal employee for help. At the vet the animal can be entered in the Eesti Lemmikloomaregister.

If you want to take the dog to Helsinki, reckon with the Finnish clock. Tallinn and Helsinki are a ferry ride apart, but Finland asks for a tapeworm treatment for dogs. According to EMTA it must be given at least 24 and at most 120 hours before arrival and be entered in the passport by the vet. So a weekend in Helsinki starts at the Estonian vet.

May my animal's medicines come along?

Yes, within EMTA's limit: without a permit at most five different products for an accompanying animal, of at most three packages each, in the original packaging. If you want to bring more, you apply to the Estonian medicines agency for a permit. What applies to your own medicines is in your household goods to Estonia.

What do I arrange in the first weeks?

Find a vet in your new town, have the chip number checked and put your animal in the register your municipality uses. The vaccination stays valid until the date the vet entered in the passport; an Estonian vet repeats it in time. Where the pet fits into the rest of the move is in the step-by-step plan.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Estonia or go straight to step 3.3 in the open plan.