I read a post here saying that the vet office is not open on the weekends at the airport. I emailed BVET (Bundesamt für Veterinärwesen) and was told there should always be someone at the inspection office.

Now of course the email from BVET should be reassuring, but first hand experience confirming what they said would also be great, since someone here already said they're closed on the weekends.

Just looking for preponderance of evidence......

Take the letter/email with you. Should be no problems.

I had no idea that was allowed? As a matter of interest what kind of pet is it?
Will it travel in the hold or in your hand luggage?

Assuming you are coming into the Zürich airport, you have nothing to worry about. We came in on a Sunday and the guy at the customs desk did everything - checked paperwork, scanned for the microchip and, of course, collected the CHF 88 fee

he was so enamoured by our two white fluff balls, he actually didn't even ask me for my information - he just wanted to pet the dogs...which might not have been the best decision as they had been in their crates for 15 hours by that time and weren't the cleanest...!

Have a good flight! Just make sure you have all the paperwork and you won't have a problem.

Each time we've flown with our dog as excess baggage we've never even dealt with a customs person, she was always waiting by the luggage carousel. We only had to see then when our cat flew over as cargo.

You are one of the few exceptions.... The normal protocol is that after you pick-up your luggage and pet from baggage, you will proceed to customs. A friendly person will stop you and ask for your paperwork for your pet. They will quickly glance at the paperwork, scan your pet for a microchip and match the number on the paperwork with the chip. And, for all of their hard work, they will tell you that you must pay 88CHF...

You will need to clear customs, not the vet office, at the airport. Just go through the red channel with your pets and your documents and pay the fee there. If you have a large kennel, you can always get a porter to assist you (there is a charge though).

This is a perfect example of how a situation will work for one person in Switzerland and 10 different people will have 10 different experiences.

We've never been stopped, never asked to provide paperwork, never had to have her scanned and never paid a fee. And she travels in an XL kennel so it's not like she would go unnoticed.

I guess the point of my post is that if you are organized and have prepared ahead of time the process *should* be hassle free.

I arrived 2 years ago from South America with two cats at the Geneva airport with all "veterinary certificates" with them.

The customs didn't ask for any document and they didn't say anything about a Veterinary check or something like that, I arrived on Sunday... Of course I had to pay the 88 CHF fee.

When I flew my dog into Geneva, I was at the luggage claim and heard a bark and she had been placed in the middle of the floor in her kennel cab.

I just put her and my luggage on the trolley and wheeled her through - noone seemed interested...

thank you for all your responses! funny how i have to put so much effort into something that may not even get looked at!

i am flying my pet golden retriever in XL kennel through delta airlines. they will charge $200 extra to check her as excess baggage. i almost needed a giant kennel (until i found an expansion kit for the XL) and that would have cost me $1750 to fly her as cargo . either way, she'd be flying in the exact same place of the plane!

Ah but they can...and they might, and if you don't have them you can be sure that they will want to. In the words of Clint Eastwood: “You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?”

We arrived last July with our Golden Retriever and bunny. We also flew Delta. They flew as cargo and left the night before us (Portland to Atlanta) then we took a morning flight to Atlanta and we were all on the same flight to Zurich. Because they flew cargo (Delta wouldn't let us do anything else) they were collected from the flight by a cargo company, located within 100m of the Vet Customs offices. When we went to the cargo company we could not collect our pets until we paid a fee (I think it was around CHF 300, that we had to pay in cash) and had all of the signed and stamped documents from the Vet and Customs. Of course since we had just arrived we had no Swiss Francs and had to go back to the terminal to find a cash machine. We went back and forth a lot that morning from one office to the next until we finally had all the right documents.

Good luck!

I think the important part in this story about them "having" to go as cargo is that Delta hubs through Atlanta.

I'd done all the research on getting my dog here (only to have every effort stymied by hubby here and family there after accepting "help" ) and as I was coming from Florida, my best bet to get her here as "baggage" as opposed to cargo would have been to drive up north quite a way so that it wouldn't be too hot for her on the tarmac.

So, flying through Georgia in the summer means cargo as then there are extra things done to help keep your pet comfortable during the loading process.


Sounds like a pain in the tail.

Glad it got sorted for you in the end though!

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The Joys of Opticianry

Aren't you only allowed to import 250g of fresh meat ??

So tru. Mine was - 2 dogs to Zurich as cargo on a weekend, customs guy stopped and asked to see the papers, but no vet office visits there and no fee charged. We were flying from EU though so that might make a difference.

I am actually looking at transporting my pets as well. I was told by the Customer Service Representative for the Pet Line for Continental that Zurich does accept pets on weekends. We were going to book a Saturday flight that would have arrived on Sunday. We just changed our flight to fly on Sunday and arrive on Monday. With three kids, and two dogs we didn't want to encounter any issues. Best of luck with your move.

Just a heads-up for those newly arriving with dogs:

You will need to register your dog with your Gemeinde, and register the microchip and your owner details with ANIS.

Only a vet can do the ANIS registration, so you'll need to sort out a vet appointment. The law says that you have to do it within 10 days, but there usually is not much of a fuss if it takes you a bit longer to get organized. But best to do it soon-ish; it's a good way to get to know your local vet practice.

Depending on your canton of residence, you might also be required to hold dog owner's liability insurance. You can usually get it as part of your Privathaftpflicht policy. (I needed to give my Gemeinde a copy of my policy when registering my most recently acquired mutt.)

Oh, and don't be surprised if April-ish you get a nice bill in the mail - it's your annual dog tax.

Bon voyage - and I hope your doglets enjoy their time in Switzerland.

Thank you for the reminder. Our dog will actually arrive 3 weeks before my family and stay with my in laws. She's flying over with my husband though, so I'll be sure to arrange for him to get her registered before he comes back.

It's called flesh, not meat.