djdutts

Hello

I know there are forums on here for shipping the cat, but I just need a few of questions answered - from people that have actually shipped a cat to Oz.

We're going to live near Sydney (north shores) in about two months and have a 2 yr old hooligan cat. Golden Arrow quoted £775 and then we've got to pay $600 Aus fees. £1000 in all seems a lot for one cat.

(1) Who is the best shipping people to use?
(2) Does anyone know of any bad/good experiences from other people with certain companies?
(3) Am I right in it costing about £1000 (~$2500 AUD) just for one cat?

Does anyone know of anyone else who takes care of the animal but can do it for less than £1000?!?!

Cheers all

Chris
http://www.StandupSpeakup.co.uk

djdutts

This one's going well then!

numbers

Mate, sorry i havent shipped a cat, but like you i am also researching this. But what i can say is that in al the posts ive read, and other research I have done, £1000 is about right, i dont think youl get cheaper. Yes £1000 for a cat is expensive, but as my cat is so important to me, id pay the earth, maybe they realise us poms are madabout our pets and thus charge what they like. But for me, its a cost which is a must, almost like paying your Visa fees, i aint going without him. So i guess youl just have to tell your cat to be very grateful, or feed him Tesco Value chunks for a yr!!

Tony

Rooksie

christ, we got 2 cats and a golden retriever!!!!!

actually, ........ errrrr no we havent. errrrr..... kids they ran away ....... to a pet party and wont be back..... EVER!!!!

djdutts

Yeah - I reckon £1000 is going to be it (

You're right though, we've bundled the cost of that into our overall cost, as it is a necessity. If the hooligan was about 10 years old, I may have had other ideas, but she's only 2 so has got to come.

Merlot

This seems the norm both ways, cost us AUD$2,500/3,000 to bring out madam over to the UK! Having to pay again to bring her back. Wish I didn't love her so much otherwise I would leave her with her fav Nanna over here in the UK!

Merlot

ahoy

i know i keep saying this everytime somebody mentions this but;

i would do it myself. the shipping companies aren't actually in a position to 'look after' your little friend since, once they hand it over at the airport it is sealed into its box and not opened until it arrives in oz. even then it is handed straight to the quarantine people who do the collection themselves. so, with this in mind you could save yourself a lot of money by organising it yourself. my vet, who is lovely, has shown a lot of interest in helping us. he has done the preps lots of times and agrees that it is a simple matter for an owner/vet partnership that communicate and have a brain. this way, we get to take our little duckie and mollie (airedale terriers) to the airport, put them in their boxes after a bit of a walk, have them checked by the vet and sealed in and then say goodbye til we meet up at the quarantine station.

all the advice, info and documentation you need is on the web, the acis and quarantine station sites. there is a bit of form filling but, unless you are paying a shipper big bucks you will have to do some anyway. the vet does most of it.

i recommend you look on the web and print off the info then sit down with a cup of tea and read it through several times. i know i feel much happier being in control of what happens to the dogs. duckie in particular will need a pat on the head before she goes on the big bird in the sky.

good luck.

loberttp

We used Airpets - http://www.airpets.co.uk/

They were very efficient and made the process hassle free.

We brought one dog and one cat over and it cost £2842.

Quinkana

Must be a damned good mouser!

Stormz

[email protected]

sorted.

Don`t let your cat kill the local wildlife though.

Pipers Mummy

I was 'doing it myself' from the UK as I had arranged everything for the two cats moving from Dubai to the UK in 2000 and assumed it would be as equally straight forward. You are correct, AQIS/DEFRA paperwork etc. is very easy to complete and SOME vets are aufait with the process, the stumbling block is when you contact the airlines in the UK. Simply put, they do not want to know. BA quoted me 4000 pounds (sorry no pound sign on my keyboard) - and this did not include the airport vet checks and airwaybills - to send my Cocker Spaniel and two cats over to Melbourne! Because of all of the paperwork involved in exporting pets to Australia and the high incidence of incomplete or incorrect paperwork the airlines do not want to deal with Joe Public and slap a 30-40% surcharge on top of their freight charges.

I went with Airpets who made the process very easy - they charged approx 2,200 and that included vet checks 4 days prior to the flight, airport vet check and sealing of crates, one nights board at their kennels/cattery and two wooden crates.

Hope this helps.

Smudgo

Hi Ya

Doing it Yourself will save pounds. I did all of the paperwork, chipped them & bought a couple of lockable cat carriers then left uk, my mate then got the final jabs & took the cats to the airport. Checked them in without a hassle with Quantas.

One kitty didnt like the journey so went on hunger strike but after numerous visits to spotswood all was good. They are now warm & happy in the hills over melbourne !

ProofReader

With tongue firmly planted in cheek: www.titanticpetshippers.com



*PR ducks and runs ... fasttttttt ...*

ahoy

so how did you get on with paying for the flights? were you charged extra because you were joe? checking flight costs is the one thing i haven't done properly yet.

Stormz

Yeah it`s all easy to do yourself except when it comes to booking the flight. It`s a racket really, all sown up by BA etc. You have no choice but to pay someone they recognise/approve of to do all the things you could do easily enough yourself.