jane blakely

Can anyone help with advice on how to transport our 4 dogs and 2 cats to the UK from Canada? We've had quotes from pet relocation companies but they charge ridiculous amounts. Has anyone gone through the process of vet checks, airline checks etc. and moved their pets themselves? Any help would be greatly appreciated. We're hoping to fly them from Calgary to London in January.

dunroving

There are stacks of personal experiences in threads on here, so you might find information quicker by using the Search feature (see top of the page). Use the Advanced Search feature - I recommend using a term like "pet", "dog", or "DEFRA", and searching initially primarily only in this forum (because regardless of where people return from, most of them post on here).

Things are going to be a lot simpler than when I brought Suzy here in 2000 and 2006:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=723046

Good luck - I'm sure you'll get some more specific responses, but if you need lots of information relatively quickly, using Search is your best way to start (then you will also know what specifically to ask )

p.s. I'd also suggest when you search, clicking the button to show results as threads, not as posts - then you can tell which are relevant to shipping pets back (otherwise you will end up with stacks of responses that are just people mentioning their pets in threads about other things).

1chumly

Both times I moved overseas I have shipped my pets myself, the first time with 2 cats, a dog and a parrot. With the new DEFRA regs it should be a whole lot easier as far as paperwork, waiting times etc. The problem is some airlines insist on using a Pet Shipper so the best thing for you to do is check with the different airlines to see what their policies are. When I moved back to the UK I used BA but leaving the UK, BA now requires you use a shipper (or did last year). I used KLM via Amsterdam instead and my dog travelled as excess baggage for just over £300, a huge difference to the £1600 odd they wanted to charge me via BA!
As Dunroving said there tons of threads about it on here so have fun searching!
Good luck.

reeni

My kitty flys on Sunday if all goes as planned. We paid Ladyhaye £1179 (about 1900 cnd) for the flight and onwards to our home in the UK from Toronto Canada. We had to get a new carrier to make sure we conformed to Airline regs. That cost me $79 CND.

The vet stuff was pricy, because we had never gotten him mircochipped, so we started from scratch there. The vet stuff pertaining to the flight was $165 for the forms and health check, the gov't wanted $20 for certifying it, and the Tick and Tapeworm was $35.

So minus the Microchip/neuter/rabies - it was $2200 for our 1 cat.

After what Ihave just gone thru I shudder at the thought of 6 pets. But I can recommend Ladyhaye - they have been awesome!!!!!!

reeni

callé

Hi. please see my postings about the QM2. It seems expensive but it works out much cheaper as the pets are cheaper. I brought my 2 dogs and cat over on it, and it was well worth it. Would recommend it to anyone. Such a lovely experience in itself. Only thing is you need to ring them early as they book quickly. My pets loves it too. They got totally spoilt by the brilliant staff.
calle

dunroving

I think I've seen it posted on here a couple of times that the QM2 is fully booked (pets-wise) for 2012, but that they have a waiting list.

jane blakely

Thank you everyone for you helpful replies, I shall try to find out more on here. Does anyone know about vet checks at the airport? I think I read somewhere that this has to happen aswell and I don't know how to arrange it. Is it done through the airline?

sallysimmons

And recently someone posted that the 2012 waiting list is now closed.

Bluegrass Lass

Not sure if its different in Canada, but in the US, I haven't really heard of a vet check occurring at the airport. We flew our 2 cats with Continental, and we were required to obtain a fit-to-fly certificate from our vet in the 10 days prior to flying. This was basically a certificate saying our cats were healthy enough to fly. The person checking them in just barely glanced at it and said nothing about it. This was separate from DEFRA's paperwork requirements. If you wait until after Jan 1st, the DEFRA rules are relaxing quite a bit, and it won't take near as long nor will be as complicated to bring your animals over. But it will still be just as pricey..esp since you have 6 of them!

Perhaps you should start calling around to airlines about their requirements. You will also be limited as to which airlines you take into certain UK airports, and limited to certain gateway cities. For example, my final destination was Manchester; and from my location in the US, Delta and Continental were my only airline options, which meant my cats could only leave the US through Newark. On the DEFRA website, look up the Non-EU air routes to see what restrictions you could have. This may tell you right away what airlines you are limited to.

Guinness

I can certainly vouch for Ladyhaye, we shipped all 4 using them, as stated in other posts the DEFRA regs in Jan will make it easier, I would also look into Air Transat as an option as they are very reasonable.

reeni

When I was organizing my Kitty's return - I called air transat directly. They informed me that they only do it thru their registered travel agent to avoid problems and mistakes. Fortunately Ladyhaye is their travel agent. :-)

reeni

PS my kitty flies tonight !!! I am so nervous!!!