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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The Richard Gere method is pretty cheap apparently.

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

Not for 10 hours!

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