Crayon

I thought that with westjet i can take our cat on plane, apparently that is only for Canada flights, not Canada to EU I am devastated wanted her to be with us.

Is it any airline that allows to take pets from EU to Canada on plane preferably in cabin?

Englishmum

No idea, I guess you would need to contact all the airlines which fly to Canada from the country you are resident in.

Here's an idea (especially if you are relocating to Eastern Canada eg. Toronto, Montreal or Quebec): you could sail on the Queen Mary 2 transatlantic ocean liner....it doesn't work out much more than by flying and in fact if you are taking a dog or cat it is much cheaper than flying them. In fact it is excellent value for money....fab food, lovely comfortable beds and entertainment as well.

The QM2 often begins the journey in Hamburg, Germany before stopping in Southampton, England. It then crosses the Atlantic to New York City, but frequently continues on to Boston and to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

You could continue the journey by train if cats are allowed them (see The Man in Seat Sixty-One - the train travel guide... for Amtrak trains and trains in Canada) or rent a car to your final destination.

I have been on the QM2 and seen the kennels and pets on the top deck...they have a dedicated kennel attendant and owners can visit their pets up there as they are not allowed in the cabins. It seems to be very peaceful for them and probably less stressful than flying. No jetlag for owners or pets either!

Crayon

Would rather fly so it takes as least time possible


Looks like we will have to either fly with air Canada or use per flying company and fly by ourselves separate



It's so confusing in terms of what paperwork is needed it's doing my head in really 😑

emanef

Hi Crayon

I saw your post and thought I'd register.

We moved back to the UK from the UAE with two young kitties (the day after their first birthday!) at the beginning of April and thought I'd share our experience in case any helps.

We were advised by the company we used in Dubai that no airlines allow pets to travel in the cabin into the UK, they all have to go into the hold as manifest cargo.

The alternative option we were offered was KLM, who apparently do allow pets in the cabin, but the nearest we could have got to the UK would have been Amsterdam, and then they'd needed to have gone into the hold for the last bit back to the UK.

We decided it wasn't worth the added stress to them and would be better having the direct flight and them moved as little as necessary.

The only airports in the UK that accept pets are Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh (I think, that's from memory). As long as they have had the required rabies vaccination and their annual jabs are up to date, and the correct health permits they won't need to go into quarantine, and it takes two to five hours for them to get through customs, depending on airport. They also have to have been microchipped (before the rabies jab, I believe, otherwise a second rabies will be needed and I think they can't travel until something like 14 days after the rabies jab).

The company we used did the whole process; collected them the day before, obtained the necessary UAE and UK health permits, they stayed in the cattery overnight and they took them to the airport and also arranged for a UK company to deliver them to us afterwards.

We used Heathrow, which apparently is longer than most. We flew on the same overnight flight as them which landed at around 7:30am, and the kitties arrived at home by around 1pm. We could have waited at the airport and collected them ourselves, but we decided it would be better to get home and get everything ready for them.

For them it would have been a terrifying two days of not knowing what the hell was going on, but there's no way of avoiding that, and as soon as they got home they were happy, and were eating and playing as normal within a couple of days.

I would really recommend finding a good reliable company that you can find recommendations for on expats forums. The one we used were really helpful, even long before we paid any money, and when we visited their cattery we were shown all around to see where they would be staying and meet some of the staff, which really did reassure us.

We were fortunate because my wife's work paid for their flights as part of the repatriation, but in hindsight we wouldn't think twice about recommending paying for someone who know's what they're doing to sort it all out for you if you can afford it.

I believe the UK changed it's rules recently to make it easier, and I'm pretty sure Australia is one of the listed countries that are included (as was the UAE).

Ultimately, it's completely doable and there's no reason you can't take them home without them going into quarantine. The only thing you can't do is avoid the stress they'll go through and the worry you'll go for them until you're all home!

Hope that helps!