Shipping a cat to Australia

[Hannah Chedzey]

Hi,

We're moving from the UK to Australia in the middle of next year. We have a cat we would like to take with us. Does anyone have any recommendations for animal shipping companies? Also, how well looked after are pets during the travel/quarantine period?

Thanks.

[Marisawright]

Pet Air

 

[paulhand]

21 hours ago, Hannah Chedzey said:

Also, how well looked after are pets during the travel/quarantine period?

Somewhat better than their owners in the current environment, by many accounts.

[Amber Snowball]

My experience is from a while ago but in quarantine they have their basic needs met and are safe. It’s a quarantine station not a homestay pet hotel. Back in 2005 my dog had to do a month there, it’s only about a week or 10 days now isn’t it? My dog was clean, fed and reasonably happy when I visited and finally collected her. She was back to herself within hours. I would say they did a good job given the number of animals on site.

Back then the cats were in a quiet area away from the dogs.

Petair are on the forum here and can offer different levels of service for transportation depending on how much of the process you want them to complete. Haven’t heard any negative feedback about them!

I used Airpets back in the day as I lived near Heathrow and knew the owners family. 
good luck!

[Hannah Chedzey]

10 minutes ago, Amber Snowball said:

My experience is from a while ago but in quarantine they have their basic needs met and are safe. It’s a quarantine station not a homestay pet hotel. Back in 2005 my dog had to do a month there, it’s only about a week or 10 days now isn’t it? My dog was clean, fed and reasonably happy when I visited and finally collected her. She was back to herself within hours. I would say they did a good job given the number of animals on site.

Back then the cats were in a quiet area away from the dogs.

Petair are on the forum here and can offer different levels of service for transportation depending on how much of the process you want them to complete. Haven’t heard any negative feedback about them!

I used Airpets back in the day as I lived near Heathrow and knew the owners family. 
good luck!

Thanks for this, very useful. 

[Amber Snowball]

4 minutes ago, Hannah Chedzey said:

Thanks for this, very useful. 

Sorry it’s not recent experience! I found moving animals the most stressful part of the process. I took a dog to Australia and shipped a cat back to the UK.

It’s worth it though as they are family. I used a pet shipping company in both directions. Must admit I wouldn’t use the Melbourne to Heathrow company again. Expensive and multiple errors that I was lucky others sorted out so the cat arrived in the uk ok.

Give petair a look. They are vets and very experienced. Worth it for peace of mind. Also with the rush likely to ensue when the border opens properly you’ll need to book quarantine well in advance I would imagine. Can’t start prepping too early!

[MacGyver]

3 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

My experience is from a while ago but in quarantine they have their basic needs met and are safe. It’s a quarantine station not a homestay pet hotel. Back in 2005 my dog had to do a month there, it’s only about a week or 10 days now isn’t it? My dog was clean, fed and reasonably happy when I visited and finally collected her. She was back to herself within hours. I would say they did a good job given the number of animals on site.

Back then the cats were in a quiet area away from the dogs.

Petair are on the forum here and can offer different levels of service for transportation depending on how much of the process you want them to complete. Haven’t heard any negative feedback about them!

I used Airpets back in the day as I lived near Heathrow and knew the owners family. 
good luck!

Just to add to this - owners are no longer allowed to visit their pets while they are in quarantine, with rare exceptions (eg a pet refusing to eat and becoming unwell). I agree the quarantine period is horrible for the humans waiting outside, our dog seemed completely unfazed though.

Edited October 18, 2021 by MacGyver

[Hannah Chedzey]

4 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

Sorry it’s not recent experience! I found moving animals the most stressful part of the process. I took a dog to Australia and shipped a cat back to the UK.

It’s worth it though as they are family. I used a pet shipping company in both directions. Must admit I wouldn’t use the Melbourne to Heathrow company again. Expensive and multiple errors that I was lucky others sorted out so the cat arrived in the uk ok.

Give petair a look. They are vets and very experienced. Worth it for peace of mind. Also with the rush likely to ensue when the border opens properly you’ll need to book quarantine well in advance I would imagine. Can’t start prepping too early!

Pet Air seems to be the best bet, thanks. Definitely agree with the prepping early you need at least 7 months before you go to organise the rabies vaccine I've just found out.

[Hannah Chedzey]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

Just to add to this - owners are no longer allowed to visit their pets while they are in quarantine, with rare exceptions (eg a pet refusing to eat and becoming unwell). I agree the quarantine period is horrible for the humans waiting outside, our dog seemed completely unfazed though.

Thanks, just hope that cats have short memories!

[ali]

It's a long time ago for us but we brought our cat.  As hubby said we'd had her longer than the children and couldn't leave her behind unless the vet said it wasn't in her best interest.  Like Amber at that time it was a 30 day quarantine - when we collected her they gave us the crate she'd travelled in and it was very roomy and had her cushion from home in it.  She was healthy but a little quiet on picking her up but was fine within a couple of hours.  She'd been well cared for whilst in quarantine and we didn't have any issues.  

[Hannah Chedzey]

1 hour ago, ali said:

It's a long time ago for us but we brought our cat.  As hubby said we'd had her longer than the children and couldn't leave her behind unless the vet said it wasn't in her best interest.  Like Amber at that time it was a 30 day quarantine - when we collected her they gave us the crate she'd travelled in and it was very roomy and had her cushion from home in it.  She was healthy but a little quiet on picking her up but was fine within a couple of hours.  She'd been well cared for whilst in quarantine and we didn't have any issues.  

Thanks, that's really reassuring.

[Nyxkat]

We just brought our 2 cats over in August and we used pet Air. They were great and communicated well with us the whole time and responded to emails very fast their organisation skills are very good and they give you lots of options.

Our cats both lost a fair bit of weight along the journey. The boy could stand to lose some as he is on the chonkier side. The girl cat was very skinny when we got her back and we were a bit concerned, but she put weight back on pretty fast when back with us and our new local vet said she was doing well, had a couple of mouth ulcers probably from stress but otherwise fine. She is a very picky eater too and we suspect she was refusing to eat due to stress ulcers and incorrect kibble (cats tend not to eat much when stressed) rather than it being anything the quarantine and travel process had done.

They were obviously a bit scared by the whole thing but have bounced back very quickly and settled into live here very well. The girl cat plays so much more than she used to, she loves our shiny tiled floor so bats a piece of litter around it most evenings and the boy cat has got more vocal and chatty.

[Hannah Chedzey]

2 hours ago, Nyxkat said:

We just brought our 2 cats over in August and we used pet Air. They were great and communicated well with us the whole time and responded to emails very fast their organisation skills are very good and they give you lots of options.

Our cats both lost a fair bit of weight along the journey. The boy could stand to lose some as he is on the chonkier side. The girl cat was very skinny when we got her back and we were a bit concerned, but she put weight back on pretty fast when back with us and our new local vet said she was doing well, had a couple of mouth ulcers probably from stress but otherwise fine. She is a very picky eater too and we suspect she was refusing to eat due to stress ulcers and incorrect kibble (cats tend not to eat much when stressed) rather than it being anything the quarantine and travel process had done.

They were obviously a bit scared by the whole thing but have bounced back very quickly and settled into live here very well. The girl cat plays so much more than she used to, she loves our shiny tiled floor so bats a piece of litter around it most evenings and the boy cat has got more vocal and chatty.

Thanks for this, it's a very reassuring reply.

[Quoll]

Be aware of the restrictions that may apply wherever you move to - cats aren't allowed out around here unless on a lead or into a "catio", some states have more draconian requirements  than others. Then there is the issue of finding accommodation with an indoor pet, some landlords are OK with them, others are not. If you have a cat who is used to coming and going through a cat flap they could find it rather unusual. 

Edited November 27, 2021 by Quoll

[Hannah Chedzey]

39 minutes ago, Quoll said:

Be aware of the restrictions that may apply wherever you move to - cats aren't allowed out around here unless on a lead or into a "catio", some states have more draconian requirements  than others. Then there is the issue of finding accommodation with an indoor pet, some landlords are OK with them, others are not. If you have a cat who is used to coming and going through a cat flap they could find it rather unusual. 

Thanks, we're looking at Adelaide which I think allows cats out in the day, but they have a curfew. Renting does seem to be a problem, thanks for the heads up.

[Marisawright]

34 minutes ago, Hannah Chedzey said:

Thanks, we're looking at Adelaide which I think allows cats out in the day, but they have a curfew. Renting does seem to be a problem, thanks for the heads up.

Cats are much less of a problem when renting than dogs, because they don't bark and they're not boisterous.  If you have an indoor cat, you can probably not even mention it when you're looking for a rental place and you're not likely to be found out (just be sure to hide the cat and all its stuff during inspections!). 

Lots of Australians have cats but on the whole, the attitude to cats is different here.  It's not that we're not animal lovers, we are, but we love our beautiful birds and tiny marsupials and we're devastated at the damage done to them by introduced animals, including cats.  That's why councils prefer you to keep them indoors and why, as an animal lover, I hope you'll do so:

https://theconversation.com/one-cat-one-year-110-native-animals-lock-up-your-pet-its-a-killing-machine-138412

https://www.recreatingthecountry.com.au/blog/cats-and-wildlife-an-australian-dilemma

Edited November 27, 2021 by Marisawright

[Tulip1]

42 minutes ago, Hannah Chedzey said:

Thanks, we're looking at Adelaide which I think allows cats out in the day, but they have a curfew. Renting does seem to be a problem, thanks for the heads up.

How does that work then as cats can’t tell the time

[Toots]

There are two cats who live next door to us.  They never seem to stray far from their house and are in at night.  All cats here must be desexed and microchipped at 4 months I think it is.  The other cats I see in the area all hang around their own house/garden.  Cliff and Bowie (neighbour's cats) used to come into our garden but Harry our dog soon saw them off.  They have now reached a mutual respect thing whereby the cats sit on the fence posts looking into the garden but never come in anymore.  There used to be some feral cats up around the lighthouse but they were all caught/trapped and desexed and I haven't seen any there for a while.

[rammygirl]

We are in SA and it depends which council area you are in. Generally people have indoor cats or have an enclosed outside space (not easy in a rental). In our area we have a curfew so you need to ensure your cat is inside, they must also be desexed and registered now like dogs.

You will need to check the rules for the specific area you live in.

[Nyxkat]

Ours have made the transition from outdoor roaming cats to indoor cats with part of the garden to go out into that we have sectioned off with netting so they cannot go far or get out. 

In this suburb/ Council area cats have to be spayed/neutered and chipped (ours are 5 so already were), are not to roam past the garden boundaries unless they wear a collar with a special ID tag that they sent to us.

We obviously don't want them roaming and getting lost, run over, or decimating the wildlife here so we managed to make them a nice space to sit outside as a compromise (in a covered area).  Though our boy cat despises the fact he has to have sun cream put on his white nose and ear tips now. He is getting better at accepting it now though and I get less of a death stare every day lol.

Edited November 28, 2021 by Nyxkat
typo corrected and added a bit

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Nyxkat said:

  Though our boy cat despises the fact he has to have sun cream put on his white nose and ear tips now. He is getting better at accepting it now though and I get less of a death stare every day lol.

I forgot to mention that.  A friend's dog got terrible sunburn on his nose, poor thing.  It had never occurred to me.

[rammygirl]

3 hours ago, Nyxkat said:

Ours have made the transition from outdoor roaming cats to indoor cats with part of the garden to go out into that we have sectioned off with netting so they cannot go far or get out. 

In this suburb/ Council area cats have to be spayed/neutered and chipped (ours are 5 so already were), are not to roam past the garden boundaries unless they wear a collar with a special ID tag that they sent to us.

We obviously don't want them roaming and getting lost, run over, or decimating the wildlife here so we managed to make them a nice space to sit outside as a compromise (in a covered area).  Though our boy cat despises the fact he has to have sun cream put on his white nose and ear tips now. He is getting better at accepting it now though and I get less of a death stare every day lol.

Is that special cream for cats? I assume he would just clean it off and ingest it!

[Nyxkat]

2 hours ago, rammygirl said:

Is that special cream for cats? I assume he would just clean it off and ingest it!

Kids stuff as it has less ingredients and is safer. Vet advised to use it.