bringing my dog over to USA
 

Hi all

I am in the process of moving to USA and I have spent the last week investigating pet transport companies to bring my dog from UK to USA. I now have 5 quotes to compare!!

So now I have the quotes, obviously I need to pick one. And I have searched this website for recommendations, but I haven't seen all 5 companies mentioned, but that might be because they haven't been used or (more likely :( ), my rubbish use of keywords for searching. So it would be really wonderful if I could get some help from anyone here to pick the best company to ship my very precious dog over.

So the ones I have got quotes from are:

Airpets UK
Transfur Animals
PBS
Ladyhaye
Jets4pets

Many thanks for any help

Cheers

Becks

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

Airports and ladyhaye are both mentioned in this one;
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hlight=Airpets

Jets4pets is in this one;
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ight=JEts4pets

PBS this one;
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=Pbs

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

Hi Weeze

Thanks loads

Cheers

Becks

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

No problem. Good luck with the move. What sort of dog is it? We brought our Border Collie over with us.

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

If you're coming over with KLM it's pretty painless to do it yourself with them, and significantly cheaper. We got quotes with a couple (I can't remember who) and scoped out doing it ourselves. All the front end organization had to be done by ourselves anyway, so it was a case of either having a company pick Sam up or taking him to the airport ourselves.

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

We used PetAir - utterly excellent - can't recommend them enough.

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

Hi

I looked at doing it myself, but because I am already in US and don't have anyone reliable to pick her up and deliver her to the plane, a company seemed the best option. I know its more expensive, but I can't come back to collect her.

BTW - she is a long haired Weimaraner and absolutely gorgeous and I am so missing her - if nothing else I need her to get me fit again!!!! :thumbsup:

Thanks loads

Becks

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

Hi

Ahh PetAir - yes I saw them recommended - only reason why I didn't get a quote from them was that they had a power cut at their head office on the day I sent out emails, so couldn't get an email address from them. I am trying desperately not to spend too much on phone calls to UK, so am trying to do everything by email at moment.

But thanks for reminding me - I will sort a quote with them too. I have already dismissed some of the 5 purely on cost

thanks for replying

Becks

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

Hi Becks,

PetAir weren't the cheapest, or the most expensive. The care they took with our 3 Papillons was outstanding. Customs was a breeze with paperwork, and considering the length of journey, they were in unbelievably good form...

Good luck with it all.

Cheers

Harry

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

Hey - we used Airpets - our animals arrived on Thursday.

They were brilliant. One of our cats got diarrhea and the vets wouldn't sign her off to fly on the scheduled date. We were really worried we would have to pay again, but they just booked them all in again two days later and gave her some medicine.

They only charged us an extra £50 for two nights extra boarding . It cost us £2300 for 3 cats and 1 dog, with collection from our home and initially boarding for 5 nights (we wanted them out of the house while we were packing to avoid stress).

I give them a massive thumbs up - with Justine in particular being unbelievably helpful and reassuring.

Funniest part of the whole thing... one of the cats couldn't make it without going for a number two (quite understandable really). I have never smelt anything like it, and we got stuck in rush hour traffic through Chicago on our way home. We couldn't open the windows as the dog was trying to jump out!

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

@bobbedford - excellent news! We had the same excellent service from PetAir, and on the basis of us coming nearly 18 months ago and having only 1 night of boarding, that price looks about right... I hope the car is smelling better!

Having your pets out of the way whilst you finish up packing & moving is critical in our experience.

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

We brought our dog over on the Queen Mary 2's sailing from Southampton to New York in December. He had a heart condition and wasn't fit to fly. I highly recommend this option for a number of reasons, if it fits with your time frame for moving. Our cabin for one week, with unlimited luggage and all meals etc included cost less than the price of a one way air ticket. It was around 450 pounds each.

Depending on the size of your dog, you may have to reserve 1 or 2 kennels at a cost of up to 500 pounds, however I've heard from other travelers that the price is negotiable. They are treated so well on board with excellent visiting hours. You'd have an excellent trip over as well.

Having said all that, space is limited and they may already have booked up their spaces for the year. You can try contacting them via the website, cunard.com or by emailing (I think) [email protected].

While researching our move, I also think American Airlines has good rates, possibly less than $200 for pet passengers.

Good luck with your move!

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

We used PBS in Sept 2011 from Manchester UK to Newark NY. They were fantastic, couldn't recommend them enough.

Re: bringing my dog over to USA
 

@cy1982 - thanks for the info. I think bringing her over on QM2 would be a wonderful experience, but I don't think it is likely that they will allow a dog on ship alone, and I can't afford to pay for someone to go with her. If I could wait until I next return to UK to bring her back with me, I would love to sail back with her. But I have to bring her over as soon as I can and for all sorts of reasons, I can't go back and collect her. But the unlimited luggage has certainly got me thinking for the next time I visit UK

Many thanks

Becks