Moving a pet to the UK

So, my husband moved to the UK in November.  3 of my kids and I went to visit for a couple weeks over Christmas to tour the school we are applying to, meet with the relocation lady, and just get a feel for the area.

I keep wondering whose life this is!

My question is...Has anyone taken a small dog over there and how much did it cost overall.  I have read over the requirements as far as time, and records and such but I'm not finding the cost.  I have two dogs but one I'm afraid might be too old to put through a big move so she will stay with my in laws.  My daughters would love to take our other dog but I've heard nightmares. 

Thanks everyone!

You can make arrangements to bring your dog over, absolutely! It doesn't seem to require much time, it just needs to meet their requirements with the microchips and vaccinations, but flying your pet over is where the bulk of the cost lies. there are ways you can make these arrangements yourself, several of members here have done so and they can speak to their experience. For us personally, it gave us greater peace of mind to hire a pet transport company to bring our 9 year old Small mixed breed. We went with petrelocation.com and I have nothing but good things to say about them, though it was fairly pricey, we found their service and guidance to be worth the cost. We paid about $2500 for the pet relocation company's services (which included lots of advice throughout the process and even their intervention to act as a liaison with my vet who kept insisting we needed to either so unnecessary things and on-call service when my vet filled out the paperwork since it turns out they did it incorrectly 3x!!!), booking of the flight (LA to London), the flight costs, arrangements to get the USDA stamp handled on our behalf at a super busy time, and provided updates the ought our dog's entire journey from check in, flight, arrival, and customs processing, and her stay in the Animal Reception Centre for 2 nights/3 days until we could arrive to pick her up. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again!


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The quarantine process can take about 6 months and can all be done on the US side.  It allows you to house your pet with you instead of a designated quarantine area.  It sounds like you are close to physically moving.  If you haven't started that process in time it will be difficult to get your pet moved without incurring additional expensive fees for physical quarantine unless a relative can complete the process for you.

The costs are not provided probably because it depends on the vet charges I guess.  Your pet goes through a series of documented shots but I can't recall the exact charge.  Then there is a fee for the USDA.  I'd say budget 150-300.  Wish I could remember but we moved 4 pets.  $additionally you'll want to budget 800 or so for the flight shipping.  If you do the US quarantine procedure you can pick them up on the other end straight from the airport.


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I would say the additional costs I paid were to the vet to complete the international paperwork and the shots, and that price range 150-300, sounds accurate to me. We relocated our pet on 12/20/15 and didn't have to put her in quarantine on the US or the UK side at all...

edited to include this language from the UKVI website:

You can enter or return to the UK with your pet cat, dog or ferret without quarantine if you follow certain rules. The rules for entering the UK are the same for other EU countries.

Found at https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad/overview






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The quarantine process can take about 6 months and can all be done on the US side.  It allows you to house your pet with you instead of a designated quarantine area.

As I mentioned in another thread, there is no quarantine process anymore, because since 1st January 2012, US has been included in the PETS scheme which only takes about 3 weeks or so, with no quarantine required.

See here for more information: https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad/overview

It sounds like you are close to physically moving.  If you haven't started that process in time it will be difficult to get your pet moved without incurring additional expensive fees for physical quarantine unless a relative can complete the process for you.

As mentioned, this is not an issue since quarantine is not required - the pet just needs to be microchipped and vaccinated at least 21 days before travel (plus dogs require tapeworm treatment between 1 and 5 days before travel). They also need a pet passport too.

See: https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad/travel-within-the-eu (the US is a listed country)

Also, since December 2014, if the pet is travelling from an unlisted country that is not part of the PETS scheme, the maximum quarantine is now 4 months.

Have you looked into bringing your dog on the Queen Mary 2?  My husband and I have done this three times now.  They have smaller upper kennels and lager lower ones - the lowers are more expensive ($1000 per pet - cheaper than flying your pet and much less stressful.  And you get a nice relaxing cruise to boot!), I'm not sure how much the uppers are but they're a bit less.  There used to be about a 1 year wait because the kennels were in such demand but they're adding 10 more this summer, so there should be more availability and less wait time.  Bringing a pet to the UK is simpler now, you just have to have your dog chipped and then vaccinated (rabies) and then get a health certificate.  All this has to be done 21 days before you leave.  Oh and you have to take them to the vet to have a tick/tapeworm treatment 24-48 hours before you sail.  Pets are only allowed to travel on the NYC-Southampton route (and vice versa), so you would have to get your dog to NYC.
Give Cunard a call if you want to get some more info.  Hope this helps!

I assume you are moving from US?  I found it surprisingly easy after reading horror stories. I have a 9 pound dog and I moved to UK weeks ago. I found great information on this site and the cargo company I went with British Airways was very helpful. For cost I spent about 300 with health certificate, tapeworm treatment, USDA approval crate and supplies.  The biggest expense was her flight to UK. BA included the cost of cleaning customs, Virgin added cost on in pounds.


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I assume you are moving from US?  I found it surprisingly easy after reading horror stories. I have a 9 pound dog and I moved to UK weeks ago. I found great information on this site and the cargo company I went with British Airways was very helpful. For cost I spent about 300 with health certificate, tapeworm treatment, USDA approval crate and supplies.  The biggest expense was her flight to UK. BA included the cost of cleaning customs, Virgin added cost on in pounds.

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Moving your dog only cost $300?!?  Wow, that's dropped a lot!

Moving your dog only cost $300?!?  Wow, that's dropped a lot!

Maybe that was just for the pre-flight expenses?

Yes that was preflight. Sorry I should have clarified in my post.  Flight cost depends on the size of crate and service provided. As I mentioned BA was all in one whereas Virgin was split up in US dollars and pounds.


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