Hi!
I'm new to forums, so please bear with me! I know this is a British forum, but I'm really struggling to find the info I need on any Irish site, so thought I'd give this a bash! We have 2 cats who will be moving with us to Australia (Brisbane eventually after quarantine), and the only possible way (and least stressful) seems to be taking them over to the UK and shipping them with a pet shipping company. (Ireland is rather behind in this area.....). I've had many quotes from various companies, but only 1 company has mentioned the requirement of residency in the UK for 6 months prior to exportation (for the DEFRA vet cert.). Has anybody had any experience shipping pets from Ireland? The more I research it, the more confused I'm getting. I can't leave the girls behind - I would rather cut my wrists!
Any advice would be most welcome.
Thanks,
Mel.

try and find michelle and john or irish aussie teen...

they brought a dog over!

just look up members list!

hope that helps x

They'll only get eaten by huntsmen anyway so you'll be saving yourself a small fortune by leaving them behind

Thanks a million..... Will check it out.

Scottishcelts be nice lol U forgot about the snakes lmao.There might be some company in northern ireland that might help

Hi there!
I'm in the same shoes! I've been living in Brisbane since February, but my fiancee and our kitten is still in Co. Tipperary, Ireland. We would like to live together again, but it is a difficult task, as it seems.:curse: Actually you are more experienced in this case already, so I have to ask you to share your experiences with me, please. I would like to know which company is the must reliabe and what means "the requirement of residency in the UK for 6 months prior to exportation (for the DEFRA vet cert.)". If you have any question about living in Brisbane, don't hasitate to ask me!

Thank you in advance,
Nolies

Glad to help you out if I can... We have decided to take our kitties to the UK and ship from there. We will be using Golden Arrow Shippers (www.goldenarrowshippers.com), and taking the cats to them via the ferry. You or your OH will need to apply to AQIS (http://www.daffa.gov.au/aqis/cat-dogs) for a permit to import firstly - or Golden Arrow can do that for you. As for the 6 month requirement, apparently you apply for a certificate of equivalence (but Golden Arrow can do that too!). Basically, you just need to make sure puss is microchipped and vaccinations up to date. Cost wise, for 2 cats it's costing us £1450 - but that doesn't include the AQIS import permit, as we applied for that ourselves. (I sound like an advert for Golden Arrow......)

MultiCargo here in Ireland do ship pets from Dublin, but they charge a bomb, and they told us our 2 cats had to go in separate containers..... Far easier and less stressful for us to go via UK. They spend 30 days in Quarantine in Sydney, and then can come home!

Many thanks for the offer of info on BrisVegas, but I'm actually from there, so if there's anything I can help you with, just shout!!!

Hope this helps - will keep you posted on how we go.....
Mel.

We moved our two cats over here and the expense was increadible - about 5000 AUD when all was finished. I left my german shepard over their with a good home. I'm glad I did that as a pet, especially a dog, is a big liability here when renting. It has since moving here cost us much more. Both cats have developed breathing problems that require daily medication to control from the funguses and other allergens that are common here. One nearly died from it last year.

Also, if that weren't enough... I don't think either cat likes living here. They're both afraid and very jumpy of everything out side now as pretty much everything here that walks on more than two legs is venomous and gives a very painful sting. And the drivers treat them like targets on the road... So do both you and your cats a favour, leave them there.

Gosh mic n mat - sounds like you have had a real rough trot of it - I just wonder where you're living to have so much trouble with the cats I am sorry to hear that you advise others to leave their pets behind. For us, it would be like leaving children behind, but, each to their own.... As for them being targets for drivers, well, perhaps you should look at keeping them indoors or confined to the backyard with a cat-proof fence. This also has the added bonus of saving a lot of the native wildlife

hey .yeah there is a pet export company in Belfast, he sends dogs to oz nearly every week , unforunatly we had to find a good home for ours because it was goiing to cost us just over 4000 pounds stirling ill see if i can find the name of the company

Hi,

We used Airsea to fly our dog out to Australia.

http://www.airsea.ie/PetMovies.asp?pid=78

My husband organised this, so I'm not sure of the cost but can find out and you can get in touch with them for a quote. Unfortunately for our dog we are heading back to Ireland next week and he has to spend 5 months in quarantine (he flew back to Ireland on Tuesday) We had nobody here to leave him with for the 5 months so had no choice but send him back. Good luck.

Dor

Hello,

Thanks for the useful advices. It is undeniable, that relocating pets is an extremly difficult and expensive task. On the other hand, our kitten is a family member, just like a child. I could not leave him there or "give" him to someone. People do not do things like this with their children...normally. I am going to move with my little-naughty-chickenleged-tiger. However, I must focus on my visa process first.

Cheers,
Nolies

Hi Mel

We shipped our dog from Ireland, the company we used were Airsea (airsea.ie), we were very lucky to have a fantastic friend who arranged it all for us as the vet messed up our dog's vaccination and we had to leave him behind for about 6 weeks after we left.

Airsea arrange the flights through to Sydney quarantine, can't remember the exact cost, think it was around E 3000 (that was in 2007). I think you need to book quarantine yourself when you know what flights are available. Seems like a distant memory now but at the time it was a nightmare! Just make sure you check on the AQIS site for the vaccination requirements etc so you don't have any added stress.

Good luck

Many thanks for the info Shears. It looks like we are going the UK route though - works out a bit cheaper for us that way. The Brits offer far more options than here in Ireland.
Cheers,
Mel.