Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Does anyone know about or have experience of bringing small pets with them to Canada?
I have four guinea pigs and am starting to look into the logistics of bringing them to Canada with us. I understand that they are a bit different from cats and dogs, and it looks like they have to go as a sort of "live freight".

Also, not certain whether I must use an agent to ship them or just book a place on Air Canada Live Cargo myself. I'm very much a DIY person as much as possible, and to keep costs down.

If anyone has any pointers, it would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/.../1331869905125

In terms of flying them I would just phone your airline of choice to see what their protocols are.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Whats the average life of a guinea pig? If its not that long then buy them over here and save the hassle of transporting them.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

You are obviously not a pet owner.

They are my pets. They are not like bits of furniture or things you get rid of and replace when they are no longer suitable.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Yes I am a pet owner. If they were goldfish would you be looking at transporting them as well.
Compared to cats, dogs and birds those types of pet imports into Canada are very rare just saying.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

When we were over we wanted to bring our pet rabbit.
Basically we had to transport him to heathrow from Sheffield, he would then be flown to Vancouver and we would pick him up there. However the timings were awful, he would have been in a crate in the same hold as cats and dogs for almost 20 hours, that excludes the travel to and from the airport at either end.
The killer... Over £3k!

In the end we had to leave the little guy with my parents, the chances of small animals surviving such a long period under so much stress is quite low, it's awful, but it is kinder to re home.

We even looked at taking a boat across the Atlantic then driving across North America as an option, but aside from a cargo ship we couldn't find a company that would let us carry a rabbit onboard.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

4-8 years,average is 5 1/2 years lifespan.

I personally wouldn't bother as another poster said the stress could kill them easily I would imagine,and the cost would be way more than it's worth.

I have been looking into bringing my collie as she is not even 2 1/2 years old yet(the most loyal,obedient,and child friendly collie I have yet owned!),luckily the cost is decent,otherwise I would donate her to my brother,or my dad.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

I am a pet owner, and brought three cats (one very elderly) and a dog with me. We left our small pets (a rabbit and two pocket parrots). Moving to Canada is more stressful than I had ever imagined it to be, just the physical selling, dumping and changing of everything you possess is quite hard enough, without the added guilt of a small animal popping it's clogs mid move. My son has seen these animals on Skype, they are probably living with a much nicer calmer family than my own one is:(. They are ultimately happy, and so are we. Best of luck.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

We had rabbit too, I wanted to bring him and talked to the vet. The vet's view was the stress of the journey could very well kill him and he would be much better off re-homed. I do know that there are some people who have successfully transported rabbits so, as everything else, its a matter or personal choice.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

I was quoted 700 pounds to transport a gerbil ! No, we didn't !

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

:rofl:

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

The Richard Gere method is pretty cheap apparently.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

That's why they're called pocket pets. Just tuck it in your pocket (coat) and board.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Not for 10 hours!

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

See a taxidermist. As an alternative, hand luggage, packed carefully in pastry.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Hmm, perhaps you should put their needs ahead of yours. Find a good home for them, the stress of the journey will probably kill them.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

We have two guinea pigs. If we move out of state, then of course, they'd be coming with us, but overseas, no, they'd have to be re-homed. I think the stress of the trip would not do them any favors and as cavy owners know, once they get stressed and stop eating, huge vet bills follow afterwards.

I heard there's a number of guinea pig rescues in Canada. I know it's really tough to think about re-homing the ones you have now, but you could adopt others who are desperate for a new home once you settle in. One of ours is a rescue pig. Someone thought of him as disposable and left him in a box in the park before we adopted him. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Really Aviator....don't you know anything about Canada? We aren't allowed to bring anything in in pastry :ohmy:

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

We left behind (re-homed ) a tortoise I had owned since I was six years old, so the guy was at least 35 years old at the time. Hard decision but the decision was based on having him hibernate for 6 months of the year.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

My girlfriend complains when I carry the hamster around in my pocket. He doesn't seem to worry too much.

Personally, while I can sympathise with wanting to bring pets to Canada, from what I've read on the subject the risk of small animals dying on the trip seems too high. In that position, I'd have found a good home for them to live out the rest of their lives in England.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Last weekend we shipped our two guinea pigs from Heathrow to Halifax. They had a two hour journey before, and another after the flight. They were absolutely fine (they're 4.5 years old!)

You'll hear a lot of 'the stress will kill them' - complete nonsense. If they're in good health, and shipped correctly, they'll be fine. Most of the journey they're just in a nice dark crate, hardly stressful for a pig.

Don't bother calling the airlines, they don't have any idea. You'll need to use a pet shipping company. I'm happy to tell you who we used in a PM.

We had quotes ranging from £1800 to £300. Total cost was around £550 all in.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

As TS00 said, we shipped our 2 guinea pigs last week and they took the whole thing in their stride and are happily settled in Canada now.

A few things that made the whole thing easier were:

• Sorting everything out with the vet early. Although you need the cert. to be issued less than 10 days before flying I booked a preliminary checkup earlier to ensure there weren't any nasty surprises after I'd booked the flight.
• Getting them used to their travelling container. I had their shipping box ready beforehand and they went in it twice a week during cleanouts. The last week they spent at least an hour in it every day. I think this contributed to them feeling safe during transit.
• Traveling them together. Our pigs are brothers and have always been together so travelling them in the same box was a must.

People assume that small animals are going to find travel very stressful, but I think they actually find it easier some cats and dogs. Their travel box is dark and familiar and they basically settle down and wait.

Staff at both airports were very good and ensured that they had filled water bottles at all times when they weren't in the air.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

If only we'd thought of just buying new ones as suggested in this thread, we could have saved a fortune. Should have checked the foum first...

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

:p

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

I kind of get it with kids having pets like guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and the like (the life span kind of works with their attention span), but it's sort of weird when adults have them don't you think?...

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

Hamsters are a lot less hassle to look after than a cat or dog. Except that he's currently playing bowling ball with my coffee mug... he can get up a lot of speed rolling around the floor in his ball.

But yeah, having to replace them every couple of years kind of sucks.

Re: Bringing small pets to Canada
 

TS00 and kasoogi - thank you so much for your advice, based on your real experience - not just opinions about our family's pets!