Moving Cat to the UK

[kygirlinlndn]

Originally Posted by Minuvweyna

If you are taking the ferry as a car passenger I actually think you HAVE to leave her in the car, so the soft sided carrier should be fine. I was a foot passenger so she had to go with my suitcase, so it needed to be hard sided.

You should be fine, disregard the hard carrier.

Good luck!
Elizabeth

You have been really great! Thanks for all your help! It's a shame you are in one part of the country and I am going to be in another.

Best,
Susan

[Aby]

Hello,
I recently moved to UK with my cat, a who was 10 1/2 at the time and I too was very worried about putting her through the travel. If you haven't already read about the Pet Passport on DEFRA, the steps are their website under UK - Animal health and welfare - Pet Travel Scheme

You have to start this process about 6 months prior to your travel date to avoid the quarantine, then once obtained you have 4 months to travel.

This is how I did it and about what I paid, from Phoenix.

1. Bella was microchipped (about $100). This must be done first as all subsequent steps require the chip being scanned, then the action performed.

2. Bella received a rabies vaccine. As the UK has no rabies this is required, even if your cat lives indoors. (don't remember cost but nominal)

3. Following 2 weeks of the vaccine, Bella had a blood test to ensure the vaccine took. This test was then sent off by the vet to the only approved laboratory in Kansas. Again I cannot remember the cost but I believe under $100.

4. Within a month, test results return, and if negative, then you can proceed. It is important to remember that the 6-month travel ban (basically the quarantine period you undertake by remaining in the US) begins on the date the blood test was drawn.

5. About 2 weeks before your travel date, you need a certificate from the USDA. This part wasn't obvious on the DEFRA site when I went through it and my vet wasn't familiar with this at all. Call your local USDA office as their turnaround time and prices may vary. In Phoenix, the office has 72hr turn around time, the cost was $70 I think and payable only by check.

6. Within 24-48hrs prior to travel Bella got treated for parasites/worms/fleas/ticks. This was a spray-on treatment and an injection. I think the cost was around $150.

7. The flight--from the US you really only have the choice of flying BA into Heathrow. There is a list of where you can fly from and where on the DEFRA site. Also, not sure where you are flying from but check beforehand to make sure they are allowed to fly animals during the month you want to travel. I was very lucky as Bella went in December because BA cannot fly animals during the summer due to temperatures in the cargo hold. Also there are restrictions on the transport crate, it must have about 5" above your cat's head when standing up and have room to turn around. You also need to have food and water bowls reachable from the outside (common sense, no?). I was lucky and found a crate on craigslist but be prepared, this could run you $75. Worth it, but still, an unexpected cost. I dropped her off at the BA cargo office. Yes, it was heartbreaking for me as she was terrified and shaking and crying but this was the only way to get her over and I was not going to leave her behind.

Bella flew unaccompanied on BA to Heathrow for $850. Unfortunately her passport came through before my visa so she went ahead of me and my partner picked her up. BA has a special pet reception area and they took very good care of her on the flight. All the animals fly in the front of the cargo area and their crates are secured, the area was heated. I packed her crate with my pillowcases and nightshirt. When she landed at LHR they brought her through the DEFRA vet checks quickly.

Alternately you can fly in the cabin and then pick up your cat following the flight, there were several people who did that with their dogs.

There is no way around the stress, going to vet so often upset Bella and I know the flight was scary, but she recovered quickly.

As a side note, my vet strongly discouraged sedating her, he even said she would probably wear herself out meowing and go to sleep.

I wish you luck and I won't say don't worry because I know I did!

[runamonk]

Howdy,

I recently moved to the UK (April of this year) and brought my dog and two cats with me.

After completing all the chipping, testing and paperwork (I had the best vet in the US they had done this process hundreds of times in the past and they made is painless for me).

After my visa was approved, I booked all our flights. I was just like you and very nervous about putting my little monsters on loud noisy plane to say the least. Anyhow I checked around and finally found a direct flight from the US to the UK that had special live animal areas in the cargo hold. In fact when checking with several pet transport companies they all recommended BA or Continental as they are both very good at taking extra special care of pets.

So I go to the airport about 5 hours before my flight so I could take my monsters to a special cargo terminal just for large shipments and live animals where I had to check them in, go over all their information, copy everything again and get them ready to go. This included them securing the crates all closed, adding food and water dishes and wanting to pull out all of my hair before heading to my own terminal to check in.

It is not recommended that you sedate your pets for international flights in fact my vet advised against it and the airlines did not allow it. They assured me it was for the safety of the animals that they have these rules in place.

Once I landed at heathrow my fiance (wife now) and I headed over to the special place near the airport to pick up the monsters. Be prepared to wait, we had to wait a couple hours. It took about an hour to get them off loaded and then transported to the pickup location and they of course had to go over all the customs documentation, check through all the paperwork and test the chips to make sure the animals matched all the documentation.

They all did fine and made it through and were quite happy. Although I suspect the ladies at the receiving area wanted to keep my little min pin (Bruno) he was out of his crate straight off and one of them was walking him in their little grassy area haha.