(How) do people emigrate their pets to distant countries?

[WeWillAllGoTogether]

Train of thought started by a farewell party for colleague moving back to Australia. There was some "take me with you in your suitcase" banter, which then got me thinking that I couldn't possibly leave my beloved cat.

Which then got me wondering whether people actually do move their pets such great distances. Not just the very long flight times, but presumably there's months of quarantine once they arrive? (Australia for example being a country where you can't even bring in a wooden spoon). Is it really practical for the pet, is it perhaps rather cruel, or don't they mind?

I moved a cat back to the UK from NZ in the 90s and he was in quarantine for 6 months and was totally miserable there despite me visiting twice a week. It cost a fortune back then - about £4k in total due to special crate, paperwork, rabies etc. it’s a lot simpler nowadays!

A mate of mine moved from the uk to nz recently. They opted to go with a specialist company who handled everything in terms of sorting the transit and quarantine, which was 10 days I think. I believe it cost them around £5k but I may be mistaken. They also managed to let the dog loose in one of the airports on the way over. It was all a bit traumatic for everyone involved I think but had to be done. They sent him ahead so he came out of quarantine a day or two after they arrived/moved into their new home.

I have often wondered about this @WeWillAllGoTogether as well. Also are very rich people who fly in private jets allowed to have their pets in the cabins with them? If this is allowed and I win the lottery it would be private jets all the way for me. I don’t think I could bear to put my dog in the hold of a plane.

About 10 years ago I was due to adopt a pet rabbit from an Australian family. They'd brought her with them to the UK for a three-year posting but when the time came to return to Australia they weren't allowed to take her home with them.

So my lesson learned is if you're going make sure you can bring them back!

Yes you CAN fly into The UK on a Private jet with pets
There is a company that coordinates sharing the costs between a few pet owners so its not as eye watering

We have just adopted a cat from Dubai. He flew into Heathrow as live cargo on an Etihad passenger flight along with 11 other kitties. As PP has said he wasn't allowed to be sedated and was just provided with an ice cube for hydration. They are all quite calm on the flight usually though as they just shut down and sleep. It probably wasn't the best day he ever had but they do seem to get over it quite quickly, although he definitely had jet lag for a few days. On arrival he was examined by DEFRA at Heathrow and had his paperwork checked and has just finished his two week indoor quarantine with us. The relocation companies are brilliant and really look after the cats.

Do you have a pet wooden spoon?

Could you not just get a new pet spoon when you get to Australia? I appreciate it will not have the same personality or character, but there are a lot of abandoned wooden spoons in Australia that are desperate for a new life, and you could rescue one of them.

My daughter did from UK to US for a cat. That was 2011. It was costly.

I am looking at the same situation in a couple of years. A cat, a rabbit and an ancient tortoise to Japan.

It is expensive and bureaucratic but not actually difficult. You have a lot of paperwork that needs to be completed. We have moved our pets across the world a couple of times.

I have a rescue cat that was originally brought by her owner from Seattle to the UK. She is an incredibly nervous cat and I do wonder if some of that is due to that journey, though I’ll never know.

My DIL brought her cat over from Thailand to the UK. The animals need to pass lots of health checks and make sure all vaccines are up to date. You have to provide the correct size container for the animal. It's an expensive business bringing in animals from abroad. I think all in it was around £2000.
The cat couldn't travel on the same flight and had to be in an animal centre at Bangkok until the flight to the UK. The cat was taken to the animal relocation centre at Heathrow until it was collected. Animals aren't sedated on flights.

Out of interest, why? Did it cost you a lot? I get it for a beloved pet but for one you’ve never met it seems mad to me…

I had a friend move their cat to Aus from UK about 20 years ago and it was around £1k

Re rich people, anyone remember the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard debacle with their dogs? Nothing pisses Aussies off more than flaunting their border rules...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/15/johnny-depps-wife-amber-heard-to-face-trial-over-dog-smuggling-drama

Oh! Now you've reminded me, yes I remember the fuss at the time!

Our daughter moved to Bergen in Norway about 7 years ago and arranged for her cat to be flown out. She used a specialist company. Dd returned home last year after her relationship broke up and had two cats transported back to the uk overland! I think she said it cost her £4000 . Thus we became a 4 cat household! The cats had pet passports and had to have some inoculations to travel.

Also I ended up going down an Internet rabbit hole with videos of people flying with their cats in the cabin of commercial flights. Looked rather fun (for the owners anyway, and I personally would be utterly delighted to sit next to a cat on a flight because I adore cats) but I wonder what the other passengers think e.g. if they're allergic to animal dander.

It's very easy. There are pet transporters that fly your pets over , or you take them with you when you fly in the cabin of they're small enough

I’m allergic to cats @WeWillAllGoTogether so definitely wouldn’t be happy with a cat in the cabin of a plane. Although I suppose the cat is contained in it’s carrier so not depositing cat hair everywhere.

My sister took her cat when she went on an expat assignment for a couple of years from the US. She used a pet transport company, as I recall. On the return home, she received a message from the company that "Oliver missed his connection in Chicago and will be on a later flight." This conjured up pictures of Oliver sitting in an airport bar, having a couple of cocktails while ignoring flight announcements. As it happened, the flight was actually the next day, and the pet transport company made arrangements for someone to have him overnight.

We brought our pets to the UK 20 odd years ago from mainland Europe (but we needed a flight). We had a pet trasnport company who were brilliant and they were in quarantine for 6 months.

But we are planning to move from the UK to Australia within the next 3 years. We have two cats. There are a bunch of rules to get through here with officially approved vets, then on the Oz side they stay in quarantine for 10 days.

However the thought of my dearest kitties being in a plane for that long horrifies me. One in particular is timid. I understand there are shipping options on some cruise ships where you can take pets but I have not yet looked into this too deeply.

Its not allowed in The Uk

I’ve done it from South America and to and from Europe. It’s expensive and lots of paperwork but do-able (many places a don’t have quarantine). Lots of pet transport companies do it for you and are great.

It’s that or rehome your dog, which wasn’t and wouldn’t be an option for me as long as the dog was robust enough for travel.

It's 20 plus years now, but the quarantine our guys were in in the UK was fucking dreadful. Filthy. We chose it without viewing because it was closest to where we were going to live. It was on a sort of hobby farm and the quarantine bit was a side hustle. The dogs were in a shed on concrete floors and the cats were in a tiny pod that was narrow but very tall. It had the floor space of about two toilet cubicles (DH and I could not be in it at the same time) but was about 8 foot high.

I very much doubt that would be regulated nowadays. It was distressingly disgusting.

But they all got through it and lived with us another 13 years plus.