marietuluse

Has anyone recently moved pets back to the UK from Canada?
We brought our cat with us last year from the UK, she is microchipped, had rabies vaccination ( expires 2013) and has a pet passport & travel kennel.
So far we have had quotes from Animaltravel: £1,500!! & Ladyhaye: £795.

It cost £360 to bring her here ( Thomas Cook ) that included her flight and an agent booking her on the flight, so seems to be very expensive to take her back?

Can anyone recommend a company they have used?
We will be travelling from Calgary to Manchester.

Thank you

Guinness

we are also shipping all our pets from Canada to the UK in Oct. We are planning on using Ladyhaye. The cost is around $4,700, you should probably also look into what shots etc the cat might need. As your cat has a pet passport you might be ok. As we have to wait 6 months before entering the UK. Not srue if anyone else has any into on this

marietuluse

Have had an email from DEFRA this morning, the only thing she needs to re-enter the UK is tick & tapeworm treatment 24-48 hours before the flight and a fit to fly certificate, she has all her other paperwork and rabies vaccine doesn't expire till 2013.
Ladyhaye seem to be the cheapest so far, waiting for a quote from Boomerang.
She would not have been able to re-enter the UK until six months had passed from her rabies injection, but it will have been 14 months by the time we go back so that's all fine

Guinness

That is good news from DEFRA, I spent months looking for a pet carrier, but Ladyhaye was my choice mainly because they fly into Manchester and we can all be on the same flight. i found huge price differances between companies. I got quotes from World Wide pet, Animal Airways and one other company sorry can't remember their name.

zednought

I recently (in January) flew two cats back to the UK from Canada. I used Ladyhaye. I would certainly recommend them, they know the rules inside out. From recollection the cost was around £600, but about £250 of that went to Defra for their processing at the animal reception centre (there's no avoiding this).

Just to be precise. If your cat has a pet passport there should be no issue. However, the six month exclusion period starts when blood is drawn for the titre test (which needs to be positive) and NOT from when the rabies injection is given.

marietuluse

Thank you. Was that £600 each cat or for the two? who did you fly them back with?
Yes titre test was done and all ok before we left UK last year and all relevant stamps and signatures to verify this are all in the passport.

zednought

I've just checked the actual bill. It was £585 for them both. They flew Thomas Cook in a shared crate (this was marginally cheaper). Oh and I supplied the crate as well which reduced the bill a little bit further.

Thomas Cook seem to have a good reputation vis-a-vis animal wellfare. As you're flying Calgary-to-Manchester your only choice is to use Thomas Cook anyway -- so all should be well.

zednought

Just stumbled across the bill whilst looking for something else. The actual processing fee applied at Gatwick airport was £380. My assumption is that this is Defra's cut for the disembarkation and administration.

Nice little earner that.

windsong

How much does Lady Haye charge for one cat? Does this include everything - flight, DEFRA etc?

PS - Sorry I see someone quote £585 for two above. I am assuming that is the airfare. So there is a DEFRA cost of around £300 (for two cats) that we have to pay to DEFRA on arrival in the UK. Is that right? Does this mean we get all their shots and DEFRA "pet passport" stuff, pay the airlines to fly them over, and then pay DEFRA when we arrive and pick them up in the UK. Is this how it works?

zednought

Yeah, you're right the £585 was just the airfare (for two cats). The £380 was an additional charge for "airport clearance". I'd assume this charge would be £190 for one cat. If you're collecting your cat from the animal reception centre yourself I guess you'd pay this directly at the airport.

johnh009

Here are the rules. Be careful to observe the timing of the tick and tapeworm treatment before departure as this is critical (between 24 and 48 hours before pet check in). Also, a specific type of vaccine must be used for this treatment (active ingredient must be praziquantel), make sure your vet understands this. In Canada at least, this is not always the case as some vaccines do not contain this ingredient. All of the Pfizer products do and you can phone their help line in Toronto if in doubt.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/

For tick and treatment, see:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pet...ers/parasites/

For Pfizer, see Animal Health Product contacts:

http://pah.pfizer.ca/animalhealth/ab...er/contact_us/

windsong

Okay, so roughly $1,000 for two cats plus all the shots, tests and DEFRA prior to that. That's fine. I just had to have an estimate so I can plan the budget for the move.

Actually, that's not bad at all . . . considering.

Thank you

marietuluse

Thank you for that....that's very helpful

Welshie82

Hiya!

I'm in Calgary too and am preparing to ship my cat back. I've been using Boomerang, they're local here in Calgary! Email them and ask for Karen, she's been wonderfully helpful.

http://www.boomerangpetcarrier.com/

Best regards,
Michael (& Onyx )

reeni

I have recently read that Air transat is now on the approved list by DEFRA. But you have to call them for a quote it cannot be done online.

My little Ruckus is coming over in October. Still working on all my stuff for him tho.

Good Luck

reeni