OZSpur

What is the process with taking dogs back to the UK? We do not own one yet but are looking. BUT if we go home then how easy is it?
Thanks

ladyofthelake

You've got some reading to do....

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm

You need to allow roughly 7 months from the start to when they are ready to arrive in the UK.

OZSpur

CHEERS!

whisky

Its a bit of a pain and expense. I brought mine out with me and she will be going back with me too, but if you are thinking of moving in the near future i would seriously consider waiting to get your 4 legged friend when you get back.

Whisky

hudd

We brought our cat back from Canada and it needed micro chip, rabies testing etc. It cost us then about $300 to get the jabs, test and paperwork. We left it with a friend for the minimum quarantine of 6 months, but it ran away. He was found 3 months later.
We got him to the UK 9 months after leaving Canada at another cost of $900- flight and clearance costs.(Promised my youngest son we would bring the cat to England, so cost was not in the equation in his mind)

He only 3.5 years old and seems to have settled in the garden with have in
Oxfordshire. The strange thing he seemed to know who we were and the vet said he will member who you are.

The cats sitting at my feet while I am on the pc. So he pretty happy with us.

ladylisa

Ah when he went missing I wonder if he was looking for you Glad you have him safe and sound with you now.

ladylisa

The cost to ship my dog to the UK from Chicago is $1500. That is shipping and taxes alone. All the other processes to get to this point have also been a little pricey. If you think you will go back you may want to wait, having said that if you get the dog I would get most of the process done anyway just incase you decide to leave without much notice. Not forgetting the travel scheme takes 7 months to get to the point of shipping. That way when your ready to go you just have to get the travel certificate and your all set, at least that would spread some of the costs.

ladylisa

Whilst I remember I thought this may be of use for those going through the agony of the pet travel scheme and worried about your documents being approved at Heathrow. My dog is flying BA and I called them recently about another matter and whilst asking I found out this great piece of information. Apparently when your pet travels into Heathrow the animal handling company is called James Cargo. If you fax them your pets travel documents they will check over them for errors and call you to let you know if they are okay. I faxed over my dogs documents and they called me within 2 days to give me the green light. Call them first to let them know what you would like and then fax over the documents with a header sheet explaining and also give a contact phone number. I'm assuming James Cargo deal with all the airlines but just in case you may want to check with your airline.

pm me if you want there contact info.

Mally Lass

I would save the expense and just get one when you get here instead

dunroving

I think Virgin uses a different company. While I was waiting for Suzy to be cleared at the Animal Reception Center (5 hours from landing to clearance!), several people went through and were dealt with by a different person. I think BA pet-shipping charges are "all-inclusive" (i.e., they pay James Cargo), whereas these other guys who flew Virgin were writing a separate check on the spot for the folks who were clearing their dogs.

I'd also suggest you wait until you have a better idea of whteher you are going home before you decide to get a dog. There's not just the cost of repatriating a dog ($2,500 in my case), but the potential stress of flying for the dog.

killie

well by the time we have paid quarantine kennels the six months it will total £3000 :scared: so make sure you want a dog that badly ,my advice is like others wait till you get here.as now i,m going back and oh staying here so he will have to look after him!! but cant praise little acres kennels ,you find them on their web site and they got licenses ect all done in 3days they were totally amazing.good luck anyways

ladylisa

$2500 is alot I thought my quote of $1500 was loads. My dog is a springer spaniel and weights 40 lbs her crate weighs 20 lbs and is quite large. What breed of dog do you have?...are you sure you didnt bring a Shetland pony in for that much? Also why does it take so long to clear customs for your dog? is 5 hours the usual amount of time? We will be flying into Heathrow terminal 4, will we have to drive to the animal reception centre and if so do they have parking?

dunroving

$2500 includes everything - all the 6-month stuff, and then the flight was about $1600, I think. Suzy is a 55-pound Labrador.

The only screw-up was that Suzy's crate was too small (supposedly not high enough) - but she has flown with BA across the Atlantic in it twice before! Luckily, someone had abandoned a wooden crate at the DC British Airways cargo area and they let me use it for nothing. Otherwise, I would have had to buy another crate from a local pet store!

Apparently, the 5-hour wait at the ARC was due primarily to the Customs process, and yes that is the typical time it takes from landing to clearance of your dog. The James Cargo rep (or whichever company you will use) has to stand in line at the airport customs area and wait like all the other importers, I guess. So don't sweat getting to the ARC, take your time, have soem breakfast, whatever. The ARC doesn't have much of a waiting area, and no cafe (just food/drink machines), and you getting there earlier won't hurry anything up.

Yes, you will have to drive to the ARC, and they do have parking. It's just outside the airport perimeter, takes about 5 mins to drive there from Terminal 4, I seem to recall. Also, there is aalways a stack of abandoned pet crates out back that they only throw away so if you know anyone who needs a dog crate you could pick one up while you are there!

Good luck with it - look for some threads on this stuff from about 2 or 3 months ago. I was posting quite regularly on the pet travel process.

Basil Brush

We're shipping our dog from Vic, Oz and it's costing a total of about AU$4000

There are a number of pet carriers and it's well worth getting a few quotes as I saved a good few hundred dollars by shopping around.

The dog will need to have a rabies shot, which is followed by a blood test. Once this blood test result is given, the dog must then wait 6 months before he can fly back to the UK. You can fly sooner, say after 4 months, but then the dog will have to make up the remaining 2 months in UK quarantine.

We tried to arrange the shipping ourselves, but came up against a brick wall. The PETS scheme insists that Qantas is the carrier and Qantas insists that an agent is used for insurance purposes, so we couldn't get out of paying the $4k....

I agree that I would wait until I was back in the UK before getting the doggie (if you were planning on returning anytime soon). We did exactly the same thing 3 years ago as we knew in the back of our minds that it was highly likely we would return to the UK, but we reallly wanted a dog too, so we got him. No regrets though cos he's worth the $4k

Sue

The subject of moving back to the UK with dogs and cats comes up quite a lot and I would love to be able to include an article about this in our article section. I think it would be really helpful for others.

If any of you who have already move back are up to the challenge please pm me and let me know. It doesn't have to be fancy. You could just list the stuff you had to go through and perhaps some hints and tips.

In the meantime thank you so much to all of you who have already moved back but still visit this forum to offer advice and a friendly ear to those who are in the process of moving back. In some ways I think moving back to the UK is more scary than moving abroad in the first place and I know your help is much appreciated.

Sue