02737640

I have a chinchilla Persian cat. I am bringing him to Australia with me from the uk. I understand that he will have to stay in quarantine for 30 days.

Has anyone brought their cat over? Was everything ok? Also how much in total did this cost?

eddie007

Brought over the Byford two... Cost shedloads.... Everything was fine except the grey nomads had allowed their vaccinations to lapse a couple of weeks before they were due to fly hence it was delayed.....

Ours came out after we had brought a house, and when the rules were a little different... May impact on your ability to rent, i know a lot of landlords prefer a rental applicant without pets if given the choice....

You'll possibly get a lot of flack on here... Importing non indigenous animals that will kill wildlife...blah blah blah... And you MUST be aware of the local council byelaws relating to your pet.... We were "illegal" for a couple of years... Had no idea keeping pet rat was against the byelaws in the city of shocko.... Some concils have curfews and yoyr cats rights to roam are not like they are at home.... Our boys still have to be tattoooed because they have been neutered...

Cost an arm and a leg, but worth every cent just to have my boys back with me.... Bloody waste of money according to HIM... As they were 8/9 when they came..... I cannot remember how much it cost back then... But I had to lie to HIM about it.... Otherwise he wouldnt have let me do it....

Love my baby boys.....

02737640

Hi thanks for your reply. I couldn't live without my boy so he's coming with me no matter how much. he's an indoor cat so he would never be outside. I would be too scared anyway incase the snakes or big spiders bit him! I've got a figure in my head. £3000 in total including flight. Expensive but he's my baby and he's coming with me. I've been looking at apartments and so far i can only see 2 that allow pets. Not so good

Bermudashorts

It cost about £3k to bring my two, so it would probably be more like £2k for one as there are reduced costs for second cat sharing in quarantine etc.

Rentals don't normally advertise as being pet friendly, that doesn't mean they are not. Don't bother with places that specifically say "no pets" of course.

We had little trouble finding somewhere to take us and the two cats, it might be slightly harder in an apartment because of building / strata rules. But I am sure you will find somewhere, offer to pay an additional "pet bond" or something.

Cheetah7

My Gordon isnt tattooed, probably at 10 years old, not worth getting him done besides, there is no mistaking the empty space between his fat ginger legs where ginger balls would have once proudly lived.

Cheetah7

Oh just remembered, for our rental application I typed up a 'vet record' stating he was deflead, vaccinated and would be an indoor cat (we were in a strata and neighbours had objections to cats shatting in their garden). I also said I would be happy to pay for cleaning carpets (which we had to anyway) and any damage caused.

If you have a well put together application and be organised about what you present and how you present it, it makes a difference, lots of people applied for the townhouse, we got it as we had built up a rapport with the agent when we were shown round the property which we were lucky enough to be shown around just on our own.

We had our references, everything all in order ready to give - dont know if that helped us get it but it did no harm and when we had rental inspections, it was always when our cat Gordon was a good boy asleep on the sofa. The shredding of towels and our furniture always occured afterwards.

lolcat

It might be worth checking the exact quarantine period. The regs changed in January to include a rabies check. AFAIK it'll be a minimum of 30 days, if the rabies test is performed in the UK five months previous to import.

We brought our two girls in December, and despite never having even been in a domestic cattery, they came through pretty much unscathed.
We had to send them to Sydney, due to lack of capacity in Melbourne, then fly them interstate.
Can't say they looked particularly happy in quarantine, but managed to get a purr out of both when we visited them.

It took all of about 24 hours for them to settle into our rental and kick us off our interim sofa bed.

We used Airpets for the international leg and Dogtainers for interstate.

Pomster

we are preparing to return our cat.

Firstly get a rabies jab.
A month later get a rabies blood test. And a certificate to verify this was done and by an approved vet (your vet will tell you who is approved),
The get the rabies form printed off AQIS website and get the vet to complete that- no other will do.

Apply on line (cheaper) or off line for an import permit from AQIS. Pay 400 bucks. Attach all supporting docs

Then find a transporter - 1.5 to 2 k (£)
Book into preferred quarantine station for 30 days ($1000 or so)

...and hope the little bugger is worth it.

Cheetah7

I love the bones off my cat Gordon, Ill never forget visiting him in quarantine for the first time and he was shouting his head off when he saw us, and he hooked his paws onto my clothes -

You cat is SO worth it and you know it

Pomster

I wasn't thinking favourable things when she was out in the garden being attacked by an unneutered and very aggressive tom (it even goes for people and foxes!).

I stupidly stuck my hand out to push ours cat away and darling mog bit me...Ok she was scared but cue tetanus jabs and course of antibiotics and holes in the wrist for about 6 months.
(Next time it will be my boot clad foot acting as a barrier!)

nicolac34

Our little ball of fur is currently winging her way over to Australia as I type! According to her 'frieght details' she's in Singapore awaiting the final leg of her flight to Perth.

We used Pet Air and have found them so far to be very helpful and have let me know every step of the way what's going on. I got a text last night telling me she was all checked in and settled in her crate ready for shipping.

It's cost us £1,295 for Pet Air to sort everything out (Gold Service) and we've paid $1,000 over to Perth quarantine for her 30 day stay.

She had her rabies vaccination in November 2011 and the test for the all clear in December 2011. Last week was the earliest she could fly so that she would spend the least amount of time in quarantine - I can't wait to have her out with us in Perth - she's been sorley missed!

In terms of our rental, we've got great landlords. We've just renewed for 12 months and mentioned our cat was flying over and they didn't bat an eyelid. We'll be keeping her indoors (see how that goes!) as I am also paranoid about the snakes and spiders and we do live next to six lanes of traffic!

bigCSKAman

You guys are lucky, because we are from Russia and Russia is not an AQIS approved country. That means we can't take our girl with us. I don't want to leave her or anything else. AQIS says she can stay in an approved country minimum 6 months and be eligible to bring to Australia. But how? where?

I understand their rules and concerns, however this is so cruel for pets.

Cheetah7

You export them to Australia and they remain in quarantine for 6 months, you can visit them as well.

Its often harder on the owners than on the pets, they get fed, watered, cleaned and petted - which is all you could wish for in quarantine.

nicolac34

I visted my cat in quarantine on Monday, the people in Perth seemed lovely and she's well cared for. They also said I could have taken her scratching post, bed, toys, treats etc in with me - which I didn't and now I can't visit her again until we pick her up, but is good to let others know!

Also wear closed shoes - I wore thongs and couldn't go in with these - so had to borrow hubbys trainers to go in her enclosure!

bigCSKAman

But on their site doesn't say so:

Cats and dogs must be continuously resident in an AQIS approved country for a minimum of six months prior to export. There are no exceptions to this requirement. Cats and dogs must meet all of the AQIS import conditions that apply to the AQIS approved country before being eligible for import into Australia.

http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/cat-dogs/cat6?name=Russia