Another PETS question

Thanks for  the tips phillybrat. Getting my pets there safely is worrying me silly. About the water, what exactly do you mean cups? I read you could freeze water and put in a container so it will melt in time giving them cool fresh water and also not spilling as much. Is this feasable? Also, you mentioned one of your cats getting away and having to fly later. Please tell me that she got away from you and not at the airport!!

There are cups that clip onto the front door of the cage.  For some reason, Virgin didn't want the water bottles when we sent over our little escape artist.  She got away when we had the minivan parked in the driveway.  She was fussing and meowing, so I thought I would be nice and smooth out her little blanket.  BIG mistake.  There was no way to keep her in the crate and shut the crate door at the same time, so she split.  She missed the flight with our two male cats! It cost another $125.00 handling fee, plus another day off work for my husband (to go to Animal Reception at Heathrow) and a day off for me - to take her to Newark.  PLUS another tick and tapeworm treatment, a revised health certificate, another plane reservation... ugh!  Just to smooth out her blanket!  But ... she's here now.  Just as much a princess as ever!

Oh, thats so funny . Bet she crumpled the blanket on purpose. At least she didnt escape at the airport !! My dog is such a scardy that I'm afraid if anyone opens his crate, he'll be outta there. We'll be using Virgin, so glad to hear they were caring.

Hi,

Although I am Canadian, I have found this site very useful and got some great info. I posted a message on another site about Candians moving to the UK with pets, and all I received were nasty responses. It was quite surprising, actually. I just wanted to say that the messages here are fabulous and extremely helpful. My finace and I want to move to London next year, with our two cats and two dogs. I plan to go over first with the cats and he will follow later with the pooches. I know it will be a huge challenge and very expensive, but they're our kids and we would never dare think of leaving them. So, thanks again for so helpful and a lot more polite than what I encountered.

I do have one question - will any airline allow me to put both my kitties in one kennel? They are a lot more comfortable being together in a kennel. They will be fine apart, but I would prefer to keep them together. I'm assuming, though, that it will be one pet per kennel, of course.

Thanks again and cheers!

allie

I don't know if PETS has specific rules about 2 animals in one kennel ( I suspect that it does ), but all of the airlines that I researched allowed only one. They sometimes allow more than one animal per kennel but only if the animals are very young kittens or puppies. I guess it would be best to check with your airline.  Good luck with your moving preparations!

Hi allie. I think I've read that they have to be in seperate crates unless they're very young as well. It is expensive and worrisome but no way could I ever leave mine so I know how you feel. Have you started the pets passport program yet? remember its a good 7 month wait start to finish. Good luck.

I'm confused.  I was just visiting the DEFRA site and thought that it said ATL to LGW was okay with BA as a carrier.  Am I reading the information wrong??  It's the first listing under USA.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/PETS/procedures/support-info/routes_longhaul.htm

I'm confused.  I was just visiting the DEFRA site and thought that it said ATL to LGW was okay with BA as a carrier.  Am I reading the information wrong??  It's the first listing under USA.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/PETS/procedures/support-info/routes_longhaul.htm

That's what it looks like to me, too.

yes. It's correct. It was just added on 25th April. If you go to the homepage for the pets scheme then scroll down to 'whats new' it has the latest updates.

Oh, okay!!  We only started looking at how to get my pumpkin over there in mid-late April.  I started reading this thread and getting scared that I had missed something and that we'd have to go to FL to get her there!!

On a related note, I spoke with the BA cargo person who handles the pets at Chicago Ohare-she was referred to me as the "expert" on transporting animals(has been doing it for 19 years).

She told me that the 24-48 hrs regarding tick and tapewrom treatment is deceiving, as it says "within 24-48 hours of check-in". She said the 48 hours must not have elapsed when the pet is checked in at Heathrow. So she recommended day before or same day treatment.

She also reassured my fears by telling me they are in a temp-controlled office until about an hour before the flight, and they are in the farthest cargo hold from the  engine so as to minimize the noise. She was wonderful and assured me she would personally take care of my babies.

Also BA has only had 3 casualties in 75 years(have they been in business that long, or did I hear wrong???)



I forgot to ask her-how long does it take to retrieve the animals at Haethrow once the plane lands-anyone know??I don't know whether to have Mr Snupy pick me up first, or the cats???

I forgot to ask her-how long does it take to retrieve the animals at Haethrow once the plane lands-anyone know??I don't know whether to have Mr Snupy pick me up first, or the cats???

I'm not sure how things have changed since I came over -- 2 years ago TODAY!! Happy anniversary to me! Anyway, back then, my cat still had to go into quarantine for a couple of days, just to have his paperwork looked at and for a brief health check. The quarantine people picked him up at the airport and took him directly to their facility, which was near Heathrow. After two days, I then went to collect him and brought him back to Wales with me. Fortunately, I had relatives I could stay with in London during that two days. But this was back in the early days of PETS, so perhaps there's no quarantine needed at all now. If not, yaye!! But if so, here's the name of the quarantine people I used: http://www.airpets.com/. The name of the boarding facility is Willowslea, but they operate under AirPets as they do a lot of other pet-related stuff as well. Just for the record in case you do need to put yours in quarantine, the Willowslea people were wonderful. They called me often to let me know that my cat was fine and I honestly didn't worry about him at all. Best of luck to you!

Hi Snupy.
I spoke to a friend who just went to UK from USA last month. He said he was taken to where they hold the pets for papers to be sorted, and it took about an hour and his pet was free to go. Oh... and glad you mentioned about the 48 hour limit. I have to go from Jacksonville to Orlando so we planned on staying in orlando overnight to minimize the stress on the dogs but now I'll have to get with my vet to make sure we can have the treatment just before we leave for orlando. Then again that still cuts it too close. Maybe we better not stay overnight there after all! Thanks for the heads up on that.

Did he  go through immigration and get his luggage first, and then go to the pets area, I assume??? Because I could designate Mr Snupy as a representative for me to pick up the cats and then meet me, if that will save time????In other words, are the pets ready theoretically before the humans??

Also, the website seems to contradict what BA told me about the 48 hour thing, so I'm not sure if it is JUST a BA rule?? so you may want to call the official national petsline to make sure? 888-578-4806.

he is a Brit so returning home so he didnt have to go through imigration. He used Virgin airlines and as he got off the plane they had a taxi waiting to transport him to the pet holding area. He paid the arrival pet fee and signed the papers and they then transported him and his dog back to the terminal to get his luggage. He said it was easy and his dog was jet lagged but fine.
So if Mr Snupy can pick up the cat straight away that would probably be a good idea, and you should be ready to go about the same time. How soon are you leaving?