Markstone492

Hello again all, and thanks to those that have helped with my previous questions / threads, especially Pulaski and FlaBound OneDay.

We have two dogs (Collie and Labrador) and a Cat that we would want to take with us when we immigrate.

Does anyone have experience / company recommendations / costs of relocating pets from the UK to East Coast USA in recent years?

I know we will need the Pet Passports, and have spoken to our local vet about organising those, but it's the other costs that I am interested in, mainly flights.

We fly regularly with Virgin, and they offer the service, but i cannot find example costs anywhere on the Net.

Many thanks!

Mark

cottlefish

Hi Mark

We're in the process of booking this for our cats, and have found Pet Air UK, which seems like a really nice option! They've been great about chatting through the process with us. I think they offer a little extra service than other suppliers (we've had other quotes and not been very impressed by the tone etc of other companies) - they quoted us £900 for our two cats to go from London to Boston, Mass.

http://www.petairuk.com/

Hope that's helpful! They basically handle everything for you.
Also I don't *believe* you need a pet passport if you're traveling outside the EU/not bringing them right back to the UK.

Hope that was helpful? (Though bet other people have already done this the full way through so can share thoughts!)

Weeze

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Bringing_Pets

This is a good starting point.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=687493

And this thread detailed our costs to Houston.

NatashaB

We used PetAir UK as well - I would recommend them. You don't need a passport for your pet, but you will need to get a fit to fly certificate from a vet (PetAir will arrange this for you for a fee, or we did it ourselves to save money) and our cat also needed a rabies shot.

HartleyHare

We moved to NJ 6 weeks ago and brought our dog (Cavalier) over with us. We used PetAir too and the cost was around £1300, flying with Virgin into Newark. The price will depend on the level of service, weight & dimensions of your pet & crate. The service we received was excellent, we even had to change our flight date a couple of time all with no issues. Before we left the UK we had the rabies vaccination and our dog already had a microchip. We also organised a pet passport as you will need it if you come back to the UK. Pet Air will be more than happy to supply a provisional quote based on the different levels of service.

Just a heads-up regarding dogs in the US. Each state has it's own laws regarding dogs so you will need to check regarding licences etc.. More importantly though (especially with the breeds that you have ), in NJ all dogs are to be kept on a leash at ALL times. Unlike the UK, you cannot allow your dogs to be exercised off leash. This can only take place either in your own garden, or in "dog run" areas of the park. Not all parks have a dog run and you will have to search to find your nearest one. They vary in size and facilities, but your dogs are basically in an enclosed area with other dogs which can sometimes cause problems. There is no opportunity for the dogs to go walking through woods, fields, fetching balls, or swimming off lead. I have checked the websites of several of the State/National parks local to us and all say dogs must be kept on a lead (that extends no more than 6ft in some instances), and in some parks the dogs must wear a muzzle too. I just wanted to make you aware of this so you can investigate the requirements in the state that you are moving to.

Our dog has settled in well. She does not require long walks and has no interest in playing with other dogs or fetching things! A successful walk for her depends on whether she has managed to find any scraps of food along the way. She is quite happy on the lead, especially as she's a little timid

jaffy23

We took the Queen Mary 2 across which cost £350 for one dog. I think it was more for a cat though. The greatest advantage was being able to take as much stuff with us that would fit in the room. Our dog was pretty happy with the situation too!

rpjs

We used Pet Air too and found them pretty good, although it was more expensive to ship our cat than the two of us!

As to a Pet Passport - depending on which state you're importing to you'll probably need to have the pet given rabies jabs and be able to document that. Our vet said that the easiest way to do this was to create a pet passport for our cat, and it did add the benefit that it would be much easier to bring her back to the UK if we should need to. (Although sadly last year she succumbed to cancer.)

Poppy girl

Hi Mark



Flew my cat with Virgin last year and no passport is required just correct paperwork, call them direct at Virgin Cargo, super nice people and they will forward all the documents to you and pricing

Virgin Atlantic Cargo, Number One Cargopoint,

Bedfont Road, Stanwell, TW19 7NZ, UK

Tel: 0844 873 8000

Ext: 32773

Fax: 0844 209 8306

Email: [email protected]

http://www.virgin.com/cargo

FYI dropped Kitty off at Cargo myself felt more comfortable doing that and he was less stressed.

Markstone492

Thanks very much everyone, that is really useful info.

mrsmaccmoo

Hi,

Really interesting to read your experiences of taking pets to the US.... I will be taking 2 dogs from manchester to NY early 2014. I think i'm OK with the actual logistics, but i am SO worried about one of the dogs who is a real softie and gets very scared very easily (he's a rottweiler/ lurcher cross, the sweetest dog)..... has anyone else transported a very nervous animal? Petair have said most dogs just settle down and sleep through the flight, but I can imagine my dog may well get so stressed he gives himself a heart-attack. Have spoken to my vet about this, but although he has helped pets go overseas, nobody has ever given him any feedback once they have arrived, so he doesnt how well (or badly) the whole experience was for the pets.

Can any owners of nervous pets provide any reassurance?

Thanks.

Flabound oneday

mrs m...your concerns are the same as every pet owner and although everyone will say 'it will be ok' you will still worry

we bought our 130lb mastiff with us and my wife was as bad as anyone can be with worry...when we dropped him off at pet airs kennels I asked the girl 'how many animals do you move every year'and the answer was thousands...I then enquired 'when did you last lose one (death not misplace) and she said she honestly couldn't recall.....so statistically they are safe.....BUT you will still worry.

we used Virgin and -being typically British- I would only trust them or BA,,,there have been some bad reports about some of the American airlines

the best advice we had was to fly a day before Marley. the person who told us said it was a) because if our flight was bumpy we would worry more, b) we wouldn't know what his flight was like so would worry less and c) we could land clear immigration etc without being stressed that we had to get him asap, go pick up a car, our bags, get to a hotel have a good nights sleep then be nice and relaxed when he arrived the next day. I really recommend this approach..........................even though we had a slight hiccup as we flew out LGW-MCO on a Tuesday as it started snowing and Marleys flight the next day was cancelled due to the snow...he ended up flying Thursday to Mia instead , which is a s*** hole for animals but we finally got him and the only trauma was he had gone hoarse from barking so much................he was over it in 2-3 days...and Pet Air were superb all the time looking after him.


BUT you will still worry............so good luck

GrandUSA

Hi,

First post from me, but I moved to the USA this year, and bought over a very nervous dog. We used Virgin Atlantic, and they were absolutely fantastic.

We too followed the advice not to fly on the same flight as the dog - my wife is a very nervous flyer, and was very worried about the dog, so we thought that she would be twice as bad on the flight, if she thought he was below her feet in the hold, and distressed.

So we flew a day before the dog, and a friend was able to drop him off at Virgin's Cargo facility ourselves, they made a big a fuss of him which helped to reassure my wife, when she heard this.

The dog then flew the day after us, and we were able to pick him up from JFK airport. You go the Virgin Cargo facility, pick up the paperwork (and you can see your dog at this point!), then drive to Customs about a mile away. Once they have stamped your paperwork, you return to the Virgin facility and take your dog. An hour after he landed, we had him the car with us, on his way to a new home.

I am sure he didn't like being on the plane - he was very pleased to see us! Apart from being a bit smelly, he was totally fine. The Virgin staff said that the humming of the engines soon makes them settle down and go to sleep - even if they are crying initially.

If you have any questions about the pet passport / paperwork, then please let me know - it was surprisingly straightforward, and the dog seems no worse off for the experience.

Settling him into the new home was a different challenge, and probably another thread in its own right, but suffice to say, he is now as happy here as he ever was in the UK, and is now totally settled.

Poppy girl

Yes we flew VA and fantastic experience I could not recommend them more highly for pet transport.

mrsmaccmoo

Thanks for your comments, really helpful.

heather123

We moved over to Florida in June and flew our Dogue de Bordeaux with us, we also used Virgin and they were fantastic. We just contacted Virgin directly and surprisingly the whole process was very straightforward. We also went for the pet passport just encase we had to go back to the UK. Good luck with ur move� ����� ����