Moving back to UK with pets

[Deborah Downunder Salmon]

Hi All Its been a while since coming on here as 2 years ago just over I up sticks and moved to Perth, now after some time and a marriage breakdown I am looking at shipping myself and my 2 cats and dog back to Blighty.

 

Wondered if anyone had any advice on shipping pets from Perth and what the general costs are ? I assume its going to be anywhere between $5/7k :arghh: God that's a frightening amount of money. Anyway also would love to know how people have settled back into life over there as I have been away from the UK for such a long time as before Perth I was living in Europe. Would love to hear what people think and any ideas to make the process smoother would certainly be very welcome. Hope to hear from you all soon.. enjoy the day guys wherever you are in the world :tongue:

[Sapphire]

Its not cheap, but we wouldent even consider leaving our babies behind

Probably best to give a couple of the companies like Jetpets and Animal Travel a call and get some idea of prices

Good Luck with everything

[loumish]

Hi All Its been a while since coming on here as 2 years ago just over I up sticks and moved to Perth, now after some time and a marriage breakdown I am looking at shipping myself and my 2 cats and dog back to Blighty.

 

Wondered if anyone had any advice on shipping pets from Perth and what the general costs are ? I assume its going to be anywhere between $5/7k :arghh: God that's a frightening amount of money. Anyway also would love to know how people have settled back into life over there as I have been away from the UK for such a long time as before Perth I was living in Europe. Would love to hear what people think and any ideas to make the process smoother would certainly be very welcome. Hope to hear from you all soon.. enjoy the day guys wherever you are in the world :tongue:

 

Im with you Deborah... im thinking of moving over this time next year.... had a look at some pricing for my 2 staffys and i almost fell over when i heard the pricing! I had no idea it was going to be that much.

saying that theres no way in the world i could leave them behind.

Best of luck and start saving x

[vidtek]

Im with you Deborah... im thinking of moving over this time next year.... had a look at some pricing for my 2 staffys and i almost fell over when i heard the pricing! I had no idea it was going to be that much.

saying that theres no way in the world i could leave them behind.

Best of luck and start saving x

 

I'm with you guys about the cost of the animal transport companies, we have 2 cats to return and have been quoted $3640 !! That's almost as much as 2 business class 1-way seats for us! I've been researching the possibility of doing it myself, and there isn't that much to it. There are 3 areas of logistics which must be attended to before it will work:

1) AQIS the Australian quanrantine service requires vaccination certificates and health checks as well as an export permit for each animal.

2) The airline's have varying rules for carriage of pets, decide your airline and flight before you start the procedure.

3) UK's receiving facility at Heathrow expects all paperwork to be 100%.

 

The first step is deciding flights. Purchase a crate - I found an IATA approved one on ebay Puppy Power

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130806983909&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:AU:1123 for $72.00, now reduced to $65.00.

Heathrow (and all ports in the UK) will only accept pets as manifest cargo, not accompanied baggage.

 

This means you must deposit your pet at the airline's freight depot some 4hrs before the flight and present AQIS with the correct paperwork.

Although this is more bothersome and more difficult to do than accompanied baggage, where you check-in at the check-in counter and the airline weighs the crate and animal and you pay the excess baggage fees (which are considerably cheaper than manifest cargo where you pay by volume not weight) the stress imposed on the animal is considerably less as the freight personnel are skilled in pet handling and put them in a monitored quiet area before the flight.

The airlines have various policies dealing with pets, choose carefully your carrier keeping this in mind. All these details can be found on the airline's websites. Some will only accept pets transported by their nominated pet freight company, avoid those.

On arrival in the UK at Heathrow, you collect your pet from the freight depot of the airline after collecting your baggage. Once again, all entry permits, vaccination certificates rabies certificate and pet passport (or other documentation) must be 100% for them to release your pet.

 

I must stress, I haven't done this yet, but it is a pretty straightforward procedure and I don't forsee any problems. I don't want to pay $3640 for 2 cats, that is just a big rip-off.

 

Australian requirements DAFF and AQIS here: http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/live-animals/companion

 

For further information on how to prepare your pet for export to the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS), including listed countries, documentary requirements and approved routes and carriers, please see the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/pet-travel-information-for-pet-owners

 

If someone has done this before me, please post and tell me where I've gone wrong. Cheers, Tony.

[karabumble]

We have just flown our jack Russell back to the UK with All Care Pet Transport. They were very helpful and it was far easier than bringing him here with no quarantine in the UK. They charges $2670 for everything.

[ruthwin]

I took our dog to the UK many many years back. ( and then brought her back with us a few years later) I did all the running around and paperwork as vidtek has told you about. I bought the dogtainer through jet pets, and rang all the government departments and vets ( vets are extremely helpful in getting all the right jabs/health checks etc.) Although there is no quarantine in the UK we had to get our dog Rabies injections, so that took 6 months ( we actually started the process, went to the uk, found jobs and somewhere to live and then I flew back and go her....the money I saved from doing it all myself is what paid for my 4 week trip to pick her up)

 

the biggest cost is the airline ticket, which was then, roughly 2 x a normal adult one way ticket. The price is based on the weight of the animal. Our dog was 21kg and she cost just over $2000. The vet and paperwork added up to around $800 all up. I imagine cats would be a lot cheaper.

 

Now , it is pretty straightforward, but there is ALOT of paperwork , lots of running around, calling departments etc. At one point I got so utterly sick of AQUIS asking me why I wasn't just using a pet transport company I screamed at them. They really hate dealing with the ' general public' but I did it and she got there. It was much easier bringing her back, but then she had 6 weeks in Quarantine which cost a fortune.

 

Any way, good luck with it. It can be done by yourself if you want to save money. But prepare for some head aches.

[ruthwin]

oh and when I say it was much easier bringing her back, that's not because of Australian AQUIS, but more from the UK end. The people at the Heathrow pet reception centre were utterly amazing when she landed too. I loved them. So very nice and helpful.

[Zack]

I'm with you guys about the cost of the animal transport companies, we have 2 cats to return and have been quoted $3640 !! That's almost as much as 2 business class 1-way seats for us! I've been researching the possibility of doing it myself, and there isn't that much to it. There are 3 areas of logistics which must be attended to before it will work:

1) AQIS the Australian quanrantine service requires vaccination certificates and health checks as well as an export permit for each animal.

2) The airline's have varying rules for carriage of pets, decide your airline and flight before you start the procedure.

3) UK's receiving facility at Heathrow expects all paperwork to be 100%.

 

The first step is deciding flights. Purchase a crate - I found an IATA approved one on ebay Puppy Power

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130806983909&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:AU:1123 for $72.00, now reduced to $65.00.

Heathrow (and all ports in the UK) will only accept pets as manifest cargo, not accompanied baggage.

 

This means you must deposit your pet at the airline's freight depot some 4hrs before the flight and present AQIS with the correct paperwork.

Although this is more bothersome and more difficult to do than accompanied baggage, where you check-in at the check-in counter and the airline weighs the crate and animal and you pay the excess baggage fees (which are considerably cheaper than manifest cargo where you pay by volume not weight) the stress imposed on the animal is considerably less as the freight personnel are skilled in pet handling and put them in a monitored quiet area before the flight.

The airlines have various policies dealing with pets, choose carefully your carrier keeping this in mind. All these details can be found on the airline's websites. Some will only accept pets transported by their nominated pet freight company, avoid those.

On arrival in the UK at Heathrow, you collect your pet from the freight depot of the airline after collecting your baggage. Once again, all entry permits, vaccination certificates rabies certificate and pet passport (or other documentation) must be 100% for them to release your pet.

 

I must stress, I haven't done this yet, but it is a pretty straightforward procedure and I don't forsee any problems. I don't want to pay $3640 for 2 cats, that is just a big rip-off.

 

Australian requirements DAFF and AQIS here: http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/live-animals/companion

 

For further information on how to prepare your pet for export to the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS), including listed countries, documentary requirements and approved routes and carriers, please see the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/pet-travel-information-for-pet-owners

 

If someone has done this before me, please post and tell me where I've gone wrong. Cheers, Tony.

In Queensland,You are not allowed to select a airline.You have to use Quantas.I did all the checks to send our two mini foxies,and the difference of doing it myself,and the professional i chose wasn't that much difference.Plus you have to have a certified vet to do the rabies ect.It's a total rip off.