miss_morph

hi Paularn

Do you think you saved alot by doing it yourself? and how did you know that you weren't going to forget to do/sign/get copies of anything, there seems like so much to think about!

Sarah

Kayelem

Hi. We are sending our dog in June and I am very worried about how she will cope. We are using petair they are very polite, our quote is £1240 but we pay for blood tests and quarantine. Also to point out it was going to cost an extra £400 for them to colect our dog and board her overnight, so we opted to drive her to the airport ourselves. My advice is when you know you are going bok well in advance as quarantine gets booked up quick, our dog was booked in in January, altough we don't know when she is flying the quarantine will give or take a day or so.

Also DO NOT let your dogs have the lepto vaccine anymore if you are defo going to OZ as dogs cannot go if the levels are so much in their blood. Our dog was given it and the I told the vet we were emigrating the look on her face was sheer horror as she told us that she wouldn't ahve given her the Lepto jab if she had known. Hopefully the vet thinks she will be OK. As long as the second blodo test comes back and shows the levels are dropping.

Bermudashorts

That looks like the airpets quote I have. I am sure it is fine to take your pet down yourself, the pick up is just an additional service, some people might not be able to make the drive to Heathrow as there is so much to do at this time.

I moved my cats to Bermuda with Airpets and got them to pick up. To be honest it is quite a relief to hand them over and have something taken care of. The animals need vet check just before they fly (for ticks I think) so Airpets will organise this the day before if they have then for 24 hours before flying.

paularn

Hi Sarah

I just followed the paperwork in order of the steps to be done. It did and does seem overwhelming and because of that I think I procrastinated ALOT because I had a difficult time wrapping my head around everything that needed to be done.

What I did ....

October -
**Vaccines (to be done within 12 months of moving) and microchipping
**Rabies Titre Test (which you may not need to do since you are in the UK - I was in Canada).

November -
**Took Rabies test result (took 2 weeks to get back) to a Canadian certified vet for signature

January -
**Applied for import permit - received it about a week later
**More bloodwork (to be done within 30 days of moving) - this bloodwork was expensive!

February -
**Booked flight
**Flea and tick treatment (within 4 days of flying)
**My dog's vet filled out the paperwork of Certificate A
**Took ALL paperwork to the Canadian vet for signing and they needed to fill out Certificate B. I also arranged for them to meet us at the airport for sealing of kennel.
**Took dog to airport - Canadian vet met us there, scanned microchip and sealed kennel

As someone else mentioned do NOT get the lepto vaccine.

I didn't actually get a quote of how much it would have cost for a petmover, but I figured it would have cost probably $2000 Canadian and that was money I needed for the move. You add that cost on top of all the other stuff ie. vaccines, bloodwork, microchipping, flight, quarantine and it adds up. As I said I know others that used petmovers and they didn't have to do the running around and had it all done for them, but I'm glad I did it myself and looking back on it now, it still seems like alot of work (and it is), but it is doable, you just have to put the effort into it.

bananalana

Crikey - that is a lot to do, and over such a long period.

I am glad mine only had to come from NZ.

We moved over in March while are 4 and 11 year old dogs remained at a friends until they arrived in June (the older dogs 12 birthday). I did the organising of a carrier and a vet but my friend did all the running around.

Which required:

> My dogs were not vaccinated so they had to be done (just for regular shots) which entailed a vax one month before flying and then a booster 4 weeks later. At this point when they got their vax's they also had a check up (where the vet stated the older dog needed to gain weight - she had fallen ill since we had left), he deflead them, wormed them and microchipped them and took bloods to check for Lepto and something else (which NZ doesnt really have anyway)

> A declaration to be filled out by the sender and signed by a JP stating they werent one of four vicious breeds and they werent under a certain age.

> Then a pre flight check within 72 hours before flying to confirm they were fit to fly - at which time they received their boosters.

Then my mum picked them up from Napier on the Saturday morning and drove them up to Auckland to the kennel - who was also the carrier - where they stayed for 2 nights befor eflying over ont he Monday.

We met them at the airport on Monday and brang them home 2 hours later. No quarantine from Napier thank goodness otherwise we wouldnt have had any quality time with our old girl.

Turns out the weightloss, while partly to do with the stress of not being with us - was also cancer (she was terribly thin when she got here, skin and bones, and I was a bit peeved my mate hadnt told me about it). 3 weeks after they arrived she became very sick and after 6 days of illness and some vet visits and a bit of research about her cancer, we opted to have her PTS.

It cost me all up about $2500NZ including vet and crates and boarding etc.

I was gutted we only got 3 weeks with her after 3 months away from her but I wouldnt change it for the world. My only regret is that we didn't get her here sooner to spend more time with her before she left us.

I personally cannot fathom how anyone could leave an old dog behind, my girl was very depressed while we were absent and she was sooo rapt to be home.

Anyway - good luck with it all. It sounds very tricky and logn winded coming from other countries. NZ to Oz was really very simple.

miss_morph

So sorry to hear about your girl Bananalana, such a shame you didn't have more time together. how has your other fur-baby settled in?

I had another quote, this time from petair coming in at £2627, so a whole £1000 cheaper than airpets for exactly the same service. (i.e. everything except vaccinations/quarantine fees & bloodwork)

Can anyone else recommend pet 'relocation' companies?We would be going from Heathrow.

Many thanks

Sarah

bananalana

Yea it was a shame, but made the right decision in regards to relief for her.

Our boy settled in really well but he didnt have any yucky quarantine to go through so dont know what that would be like.

He does get really hot though as he is black (in fact - I havent seen that many dark coloured dogs around) and has a double coat. We have to hose him off most days lol

The dogs have a paddling pool but he is a wuss and wont use it...our little hand bag dog loves it though lol