Air travel for dogs and cats.....how does it work?

[Earlybird]

How do you transport a dog or cat when flying? What are the restrictions, if any? Is there a cost? Would like to know for both short and long flights, and let's assume a smallish (but not tiny) dog.

the dog will travel in the hold, in a specialist dog crate, dependent on where you are travelling to the dog may have to go into quarantine for a period - e.g. australia and New Zealand.

So, the dog/cat could never travel in the cabin in a special carrier? If they have to be in the hold in a crate - how are they fed or taken to the bathroom on longer flights?

DD is completely desperate for a dog/cat, but as we spend most holidays in America, the pet would have to travel too. Can't imagine having to put a much loved pet in the hold everytime.

Anyone done it, and if so, what was your experience?

Pet travel too is horribly complicated and expensive-We flew our dog and cat to Germany when we moved and it cost alot, more than our airfare.
As far as I know (my sis just moved to Aus with her dog) on longer flights the dogs are checked, given water etc but if they have to go then they go in their crate (the crate by the way is like a giant pet voyager thing, nice not like a wooden rhino thing!)
I found all the paperwork a nightmare but i think if you do it alot then it might become second nature.

Why do you need to take your dog on holiday???? Always amazes me when I see people with animals at airport. Moving - yes I can understand. But holidays???

I stress a bit when I see cats being taken on planes too as I am get asthma purely from cats. Do people take cats on holiday????

Budababe - I agree that probably a pet doesn't need to come along if the owners are away for a week or two. But typically, we're away for a month at Christmas, a month at Easter and the entire summer break. Seems far too long to ask friends to look after a pet, and the idea of a kennel for that length of time sounds expensive and unfair on the animal. I think the only way we could consider having a pet would be if it could travel with us. I'm not sure it's a viable option at all, so thought I would ask if anyone has any direct knowledge/experience.

OK Earlybird - I understand your request then!

Well, we are moving to Croatia soon and are taking our poodle with us. We got quotes from some "specialists" for around £400+ which was total bs to us - no way we were gonna pay that amount - my dh jokes we could buy a new dog for that :) Anyway, gave airlines a call, and it turns out if your dog is 9kg or less, he can come to the cabin with you - or if over, has to be handed to staff to take to "baggage" compartment - the quote is £5 for evey kg - in our case total of £60 :) The "specialists" were going to charge us £400+ for doing just that - taking him off our hands and placing him with relevant people onto the plane. So, phone your airlines (has to be done after booking I think) and say you also have a dog - they should be able to take it from there. Oh, you have to have a crate for him (certain rules apply - see iata.com) - we bought ours on ebay for £20 (usualy new from £60+)

Hope this helps

Thanks for that useful information MrsWood.

EarlyBird if it is america you travel to then unfortunately it's not that simple.

America doesn't fall into the pet passport are and therefore if you take your dog with you to America it will have to go into quarantine for six months when you come back.

Agree with SueW, cats much prefer their own teratory. tbh I also don't really think it would be fair to take a dog on regular longhall flights where that dog would be forced to spend up to 10 hours or more in a crate. As I said on a previous post though, if it's america you're going to then it wouldn't really be an option as you couldn't bring the dog back into this country without it having to go into quarantine for 6 months. If you are travelling to Europe then you can get a pet passport but even that is very involved, dog would have to be microchipped, have rabies vaxination with boosters every six months, dog would have to be certified fit to travel by specially certified vet in the country you are visiting, and this has to be done 24 hours before you travel back to this country.

Tbh if you travel that regularly then maybe now is not a good time to get a pet. I can understand you wanting to give dd the experience of having animals, could you perhaps arrange to take her to your local rescue centre where you could maybe walk the dogs on weekends - they're invariably looking for volunteers to help walk their dogs, but you wouldn't have the added problems of having to look after the dog.

Have a look at this website:

www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/pets/index.htm

I think you'll find that there isn't a 6 month quarantine with regards to the US anymore.

We had a nightmare bringing our cat back from Germany when we finally moved back to the UK-As you (at that time anyway) had to have them checked for flea ticks worms and chip checked within 48 hrs of flying (and the chip check had to match the chip number that was on all the defra documents) anyway I take her to the german vet and he couldnt find the chip, about 12 hrs later and many vets it was found, slipped under her shoulder blade God i was stressing had visions of having to leave her behind as the animals were on the flight before us our house was empty and the keys had been handed back!

On the flight home I took copies of all documents, gave one set to my dad in the UK kept one set on me and obviously the originals travel with the animals-anyway they got lost (put on an incorrect flight) and the dog and cat were held at heathrow in the animal quarantine until the documents were found or DEFRA could issue new ones.

Needles to say I dont intend ever taking them abroad again as it was expensive and stressful for me and them.

regardless of whether quarantine is needed though, is it really fair to keep a dog in a crate for an extended period? even if the flight were 7/8 hours, the dog would be required to be in the crate way before boarding, and probably for some time afterwards, considering it would just be for a couple of months and then the same on the return journey, it's really not fair imo.

My parents brought two dogs back when we came back from South Africa, and they did spend 6 months in quarantine, and although the kennels were lovely and the staff were great, I would never, ever do it again as it was horrible.

Earlybird. Disagree with some of the posters here. We did it on the cheap. Dog shipped to USA. You can send them only with certain airlines and one certain flights. However ours went excess baggage on BA flight to Denver cost us only 200 pounds far less than our flights did :o. You need an export certificate from your vet no more than 48 hours in advance and the dog needs to be vaccinated according to where your going, flea and tick treatment. The certificate is all you need and you own vaccination record. The crate is a special one and the dog needs to be able to stand up and turn around. Heathrow recommend that you don't feed to close to travel - water is all that is necessary and you can buy special water bottles that won't leak. You can treat the dog with Bach Rescue Remedy which will keep it calm and its allowed as it is homeopathic. You want any more information as this is a long post email me on alison dot smits at btinternet dot com.