Hi there

We live in Cape Town and my husband is currently in the process of applying for the HSMP visa. I would like to know whether anyone has relocated their cats to the UK and how the flight and 6 months quarantine affected them? Any advice on would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Pat

We brought 4 cats to Spain from the UK, we travelled overland and they were no trouble at all. To take them back into the UK they need a rabies jab and blood tests then they have to wait 6 calendar months before they can travel. Google DEFRA for information.

There's loads of threads about this subject. Try the search facility located in the pink bar at the top of the page. Go to advanced search...put in 'taking pets back to the UK' or 'DEFRA' etc. Search in the Moving Back to the UK forum. Alternatively you could just go down the list of thread titles in this forum.

There's a mine of info in these threads...it's worthwhile taking the trouble to locate them. Give me a shout if you require any help. BTW welcome to BE.

Edit: This is what a quick search for 'taking pets back to the UK' come up with. It may be time sensitive...so by the time you click on the link you may not get any info...sorry.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...searchid=93314

Thanks for the advice and I have just been searching through tons of threads.
Although many have been very informative regarding transport and flights, I have not been able to find any posts about actual experiences with cats in UK quarantine. It seems most have relocated pets from PETS scheme approved countries. As we are from South Africa our cat has to be quarantined in the UK for 6 long months and the PETS passport travel scheme unfortunately does not apply. I would like to find out whether anyone has had a cat in UK quarantine and how their cats managed as i have heard some horror stories....if anyone has had a cat in quarantine I would really like to hear how it went.

Many thanks
Pat

Of course not all countries are included in the PETS scheme...didn't think. To be honest I can't recall seeing anything on here regarding people returning from SA.

It may be a long shot but if you don't get any joy here perhaps try the BE SA forum. There just may be someone whose moved to the UK and still posts on there.

Beats me why they still have this 6 month quarantine thing going on. In this day and age, a few simple tests would declare an animal fit or not. Immagine if there was such a "hold" period for cattle (BSE) etc, there would be an uproar! Absolutely "bogue: if you ask me. Maybe someone in the know, can enlighten me!
Terry
Canada

I haven't done this myself but when we last lived in the UK (7 years ago -so not exactly recent !) - my neighbour brought her cat through quarantine from Singapore & I knew someone who brought a number of breeding cats in from the USA(who all did quarantine too). Cats were absolutely fine. I understand your concerns as I gather some of the quarantine kennels are pretty dire (but I do think there are some good ones out there too). Have you got any friends/family who could physically go & check a few out - & report back to you ? Somewhere there's bound to be a list of approved places -& remember, it might not always be the most geographically convenient that are the best.Might be worth speaking to some pedigree cat breeders in S.Africa to see if anyone has exported any to the UK - they might know which are the better facilities.
If it's any small consolation - my cat came to Oz from the UK & had to spend a month in quarantine - was absolutely fine,fat as butter & came into season about 2 days after being released (which they don't do if really stressed). I really do think that cats cope pretty well with being incarcerated in catteries - much,much better than most dogs in kennels.
Good luck with the move.