KK85

An update:

I have just spoken to Virgin Atlantic, who have demystified the entire cat-shipping process and rid me of all confusion and anxiety! They have offered me a quote that is significantly cheaper than any I've received from any of the pet-shipping companies (less than half of what I was expecting to pay!), and have reassured me that all I need to do is get Ted an Export Health Certificate from his vet within 10 days of travel, decide whether or not I want him to receive a rabies jab (this is apparently a personal choice when shipping a cat to the USA) and make sure he has an adequately-sized travel box, according to their regulations. There is nothing more to it than that.

From what I understand, these things can vary from state to state, but as far as flying him into Newark or JFK goes (they do not fly animals to Philadelphia - their list of destinations is actually quite small), it is, evidently, extremely simple.

For anyone reading this who had the same questions/concerns as me, regarding how/when to go about booking pet (cat-specific) travel when you don't yet know precisely when you'll be flying yourself: as far as Virgin Atlantic operates, the price does not change whether I book Ted's ticket right now or six months from now; it only increases if I book with less than 7 days notice. And there is nothing I need to do ahead of booking and paying for his flight, aside ensure he has his certificate of good heath. I have been advised that once my visa is ready and I know when I will be travelling, to call Virgin Atlantic in advance to check for space on the aircraft for a cat, then book my own flight, and then call them back immediately afterwards to book Ted on it, too. That's it. That's all there is to it. And there is a mere £50 change-fee if I need to switch his flight for any reason.

No pet passports, no scary documents, no trillions of jabs - it sounds like it should all be a breeze! I've just saved myself hundreds of pounds, it seems, by going directly through an airline. Thank you again, The Moose, for the recommendation!

Also, for anyone wondering: the prices they quote are dependent upon the time of year you wish to travel and the size of the travel box (this is standard across airlines/shipping companies, from what I understand). The minimum I should expect to pay, based on travelling in ~August with the smallest regulated travel box, is £422. Flying at the same time of year with one of the largest available travel boxes would cost £748. They also have prices ranging between these figures for mid-sized boxes. (For comparison, the cheapest quote I received from one of the pet-shipping companies was £768! Or I could pay £1,156 for their gold service, which included a night's boarding, the vet certificate and the cost of the travel box.) The only other expenses I will have, doing this through an airline, are the cost of the travel box and the $60 US import charge. I will speak to my vet about the cost of the Export Health Certificate.

I hope this information helps someone! I will report back again once everything is booked and will let you know how it all goes/went.

The Moose

I'm so glad that the service you received was as good as that I received!

You are right in that the destinations they fly to are limited - but the pets go on the same flight as the people so they will only take pets to where they take their other living, breathing cargo!

When we bought our lovely Jake to the USA I did 3 further things:

1. He had his rabies jab
2. He got his pet passport
3. We got him a non-spill travel bowl as well as the one that came with the IATA travel box

1 & 2 were because if we ever wanted to take him back to the UK it would be much harder without those 2 things and in the grand scheme of things they're not too expensive. 3 was because it was a long flight and I was concerned the water in the other bowl would spill and he'd be left with nothing. It wasn't necessary and he probably didn't need it, however it made my wife feel better!!!

KK85

Thank you so much, The Moose.

I think I will be getting Ted the rabies jab, simply because my understanding of rabies is limited and I'd rather be safe than sorry! There are a lot of stray cats in the neighbourhood where we'll be living - can't be having Ted mix with the dodgy sort and pick himself up a dose of the VD.

You raise a valid point, too, about the pet passport. I will look into this as well.

It sounds as though your wife and I might both be affected by similar cases of Only The Best Will Do For My Cat. Off to research no-spill bowls and comfy travel boxes I go!

The Moose

Yes, she suffers from that disease also!!

This is what we bought:

Travel Kennel
Travel Bowl
Brackets

Trust me when I say the small bowl is big enough - we went for the large initially...he could have swam in it!!!

KK85

You have been a fantastic help. Thank you so much!

princesspolly

I just want to give another recommendation for the Virgin Atlantic team. I bought our cat Samson over with us to California when we moved from the UK 4 years ago. I was all ready to get into it with a professional pet transport company and had convinced my husband that £1200 was a bargain for Samson's comfort, until I called Virgin Atlantic directly. The guy I spoke to totally calmed all my fears, confirmed that they had a 100% success rate and that although Sammy would probably loudly object to being transported in the hold, it would be a special area lit and heated for his maximum comfort and that once he realised no-one was coming, he would nap for the duration of the flight.

When we got to the Pet Reception at LHR to drop him off, the greeting was wonderful, the staff were so awesome with him and made a huge fuss over him. We had to wait while he was x-rayed (because of drug-smuggling - I nearly collapsed into tears at the thought of it) but after that we left him there to check in for the flight. Once we were on board, the cabin crew found me to confirm Sam had been loaded into his special area with fresh water and we were off! (Apparently sometimes the Captain will give a name-check to the furry friends on-board, but we didn't get that, sadly!)

Once at SFO we drove around to the Cargo arrivals unit, confirmed he was in one piece and took the paperwork around to Customs, where my hard-won paperwork (passport, vet's letter of approval for travel, rabies certificate) was all basically waved through and merrily stamped almost as an aside while me and the Customs agents exchanged pictures and stories of our pets. We drove back to the Cargo place with our stamped paperwork to collect Sam - he was fine, although he had pee'ed in the crate, but hey, who can hold it for 10 hours?

If we have to take our boy back to the UK in the future, I won't think twice - Virgin Atlantic are my go-to. I am confident you'll have no problems at all, and hope everything goes really well for you!

KK85

What a wonderful experience you had, Princesspolly! I love the idea of a little shout-out to the furry friends on board.

Thank you for the good luck. I am feeling so much more confident and reassured about this part of the process now.

Another thing of note, for anyone else reading this who's researching cat relocation: my (Ted's?!) vet does a package deal for the passport, rabies vaccination and Export Health Certificate, which is going to set me back £65. I am sure this varies from practice to practice, but I hope that gives a ball-park estimate of what to expect to pay. I was very surprised by how small that number is!

KK85

Ted, as you can see, is utterly thrilled with his passport.



All went extremely smoothly at the vet - he had the rabies jab, was given a general once-over and then we completed the paperwork for his passport, which took no more than 20 minutes. It cost less than I was originally quoted, at a mere £57 for the lot. Everything was then linked up with his microchip, and now we just wait! Within ten days of travel we'll need to go back to obtain his Export Health Certificate, and until then it's just a case of waiting on my visa so that I can book our flight, which I still intend to do with Virgin Atlantic. The vet advised me to keep an eye on protocols for pet shipping as it can change very quickly, so we'll make sure to keep checking the rules regularly between now and when we leave.

I purchased the exact same carrier that TheMoose recommended! It's four times the size of his usual little carry-crate and I'm leaving it out and open so that Ted can become acquainted with it. So far he doesn't give a single damn that it exists.

I hope this thread will be of reassurance to anyone else going through this! It has been a lot simpler than I ever anticipated, and I did a lot of worrying over what turned out to be nothing horrible. I'll continue to update the thread as and when anything of pet-shipping note occurs.

The Moose

Sounds good. Well done!

Our Jakey got a Gecko this evening. Not quite like mice - they bite back!!

KK85

My husband would have wanted to keep it!

I doubt very much Ted will find many geckos in central Pennsylvania. Squirrels, on the other hand...

He's quite the proficient hunter. He once carried an enormous hare into our back garden, and the landlady's labrador ate it! I shall be cautiously anticipating the day he comes home with a possum.

Nutmegger

An important thing to remember: in the US there are a lot of animals -- to say nothing of birds -- that won't think twice about eating him, and many of them could be carrying rabies. Don't be too keen on him getting back to his hunting career.

KK85

Save for fitting a collar and bell (Ted has never taken well to wearing a collar - for a number of reasons, this is going to have to change, somehow, once we're stateside) is there anything that ought be done differently in order to protect domestic cats in America versus the UK? Ted is so outdoorsy, it would be verging on impossible to turn him into an indoor cat, and damned if I know he's exactly the kind of character who'll get himself into a mischief, trying to befriend the wildlife.

lizzyq

Smokey would be totally miserable as a purely indoor cat. He loves living in central Pa and we are lucky to live in a quiet subdivision where traffic is pretty light and nowhere near as fast as on our local road in the UK. There are a few other indoor/outdoor cats around.

In January we had a possum come to visit our peelings bucket a few evenings, it and Smokey completely ignored each other as they passed on the back steps. The squirrels are generally too fast and get to the trees too quickly to be caught (but they do stop about 10 feet up and harangue him ).

I do however see chipmunks in your future! Warning: they are very fast if brought in alive, so I recommend a pair of gardening gloves and a bucket. The best defence against having them brought into the house is not to leave the doors open.

I also recommend keeping the rabies shot up to date (in Pa it is mandatory I believe) and being very strict about applying a flea & tick prevention product such as Frontline. Smokey has had a couple of ticks which have shown up on being combed which is an important part of disease protection and needs to become part of his/your routine.

KK85

Thank you so much for this, lizzyq - you are always so kind and informative.

One of the things I intend to tick off the list ASAP once we're Stateside is getting Ted registered at a local vet, and see what services they can offer. I pay £10 per month to our vet here and it covers his monthly flea and worm treatments (we use Advocate, which has never let us down), plus yearly boosters for his vaccinations - I'd like to see if I can find something similar Stateside. Thank you for the tip re. the rabies jab, too - I'll make sure we keep that one up to date.

The closest I've ever come to a chipmunk is in a zoo. And the only possum I've seen so far was dead on the road. It's going to be a culture shock, that's for sure! Must be quite exciting for a transatlantic cat, discovering all this new meat.

Beaverstate

Hmm... cats.. Don't pass up this rare chance to ditch them,.