Info: How much does PETS cost

This is one question that I could not find a complete answer to when we were decided whether or not to move.  So I kept records of all the costs that we have encountered.  Hopefully this will be helpful to someone in the future.

I am shipping 2 cats (~11 lbs each) and one dog (24lbs).  We got a 10% discount on the microchipping and physical vet exam appointments.

• January - Microchipping and rabies vaccination - $247
• March - Bloodwork - $205
• July - Enormous travel crates and absorbant pads (see below) - $278
• September 11 - Physicals, APHIS paperwork, vaccine update for 1 cat - $225
• September 11 - NYS USDA signatures ($76 plus $4.50 for each addition pet) - $85
• September 11 - Overnight shipping and return shipping for 3rd Country form to UDSA - $42
• September 13 - 3rd country form returned from USDA in Albany
• September 18 - Tick and tapeworm treatments, final signatures, new dog tag - $102
• **September 19 - Flights (see below) - $2042
• September 19 - Van rental to get pets from airport to house - £92

Total - $3226 + £92

I am flying Continental and the pets are coming as accompanied animals.  Continental charges by weight only, and they recommended that I get the largest crates I could.  I measured the cats and the dog when they were not scared and were being normal sized (they tend to cower when scared).  Continental requires a minimum of 3 inches of headroom, and my pets would have had only 2 inches of head room in the crate one size down from the size I bought.  Intermediate Sky Kennel #300 for the cats, X-Large Sky Kennel #500 for the dog (http://futurepet.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=DO00100).  Here is the price breakdown (I'll post again when I get over there to let you know what the actual flight costs were):

• Cats (10-50lb) - $539 each
• Dog (51-70lb) - $739
• Handling fee (for UK end) - $125
• Fuel/Security surcharge ($0.60 per kg) - $100 max for my pets

I also spent $12 faxing my C5 customs form to PBS International (the UK pet handling company).  They said that this would speed up the clearance process after I arrive. 

The only other thing that I can say at this point, is that you need to really know what is going on with the paperwork requirements.  DO NOT leave it up to your vet to figure things out.  Even with the DEFRA instructions in front of them, my vet was still skipping things on the 3rd country form.  They almost didn't even fill out the tapeworm section, because the specific type of tapeworm listed on the 3rd country form is not a type that they are familiar with in my area.  Eventually, after going back and forth with the DEFRA instructions and drug information they did sign things for me.  But they also forgot to write times on the forms at first too.  So know what you're doing, because in the end it's up to you to get them there safely.  (Let's hope that I have all my ducks in a row - I guess I won't really know until Wednesday morning).

Dear Carrie:

I just discovered your post from last year about arrangements for your pets to travel with you to the UK.  You were right to think this would be helpful information for someone!   

My husband and I are about to do the exact same thing you did -- relocate to the UK  with our dog and two cats this September to the London area.  We lived there a few years ago, but have moved back to the US since. 

We have done the rabies bloodwork already and are starting to get our documents ready (you are right about paying attention to the paperwork!).  I was in the process of trying to create a budget when I found your post (spooky!).  I spoke to Continental Airlines this morning and was trying to crunch some numbers. 

How was your experience with Continental?  Would you recommend them?  How did your pets do on the journey? The only thing I am confused about so far is the customs charge upon arrival in the UK. Is this the handling charge you mentioned?  I have noticed on some other posts people mentioned paying 220 pounds sterling upon arrival at customs?  I am hoping this does not mean per pet (yikes!).

Any comments about your experience would be greatly appreciated.  As you can imagine, we are concerned about our little family arriving safe & sound!

Thanks!
Caroline & Brendan
P.S. Thanks from Norbert (our yellow lab), Waldo & Meisha too......

When I flew, the Continental price included the customs fee. 

Continental was good - in reality you are just using a Continental plane and PBS International does all the handling.  My experience on the US side was really good - the PBS freight secretary lady at Gatwick was a little customer service challenged.  But once in the UK PBS people just drive your pets from the plane to Animal Reception.  And the Animal Reception ladies were really nice. 

My pets did just fine on the journey.  They were a little skittery, very thirsty and peed a lot when they got to their new home.  But they were perfectly normal within a couple of hours.  Their crates were clean when we picked them up too, which was nice.

I'll have to double check with them if they still do it this way -- I thought the rep said that there was a separate fee, but hopefully, it's included.

Glad to hear your pets did fine.  We don't think our dog will have any problem, but one of our cats is 12 and the other 17.  They are in great physical shape, but we hope it does not freak them out too much -- I know that the process is very long even after the journey.  It's reassuring that other peoples' experiences have been good.

Some people mentioned a health certificate (not the flea & tapeworm one).  Did you need this? Some people have mentioned their airline required it, but I'm not sure if this means bloodwork or just a physical exam?

Caroline & Brendan

Caroline and Brendan,
When I dropped my cats off at the PBS International/Continental desk at Newark the people were so friendly and clearly enjoyed the pets so much I was really relieved. They let me go behind the desk and hang out with the cats while he was working up the paperwork. My one cat wouldn't even look at me and the other one wanted OUT of the crate. They even asked if I wanted to give them some ice cubes to put in their little water dishes. I couldn't have been more pleased with their service. My cats are on prescription food and they let me tape a large Ziploc bag of food to one of the crates so I would have food for them when I got to England. My cats are older (11 and 12), so I was really worried, but they were fine when I picked them up. One had peed in the crate, but they cleaned that up at the airport which was nice.

I did this in January, and like Carrie, I didn't pay anything when I picked them up at Gatwick. I just signed the dotted line and that was it. Everything was paid for at Newark before I left. I do know it's more expensive if the pets come in to the Animal Reception Centre at off hours or on the weekend.

Looking through my paperwork, Continental has a check list of the documentation accompanying the pets. They've checked off "Original Health Certificate", but the only thing I can find in my packet that resembles that is the veterinary certificate (Regulation (EC) No 998/2003). It was signed by my regular vet and the USDA vet. The tick/tapeworm certificate is just the second page of this form. I'm not sure what state you're in, but the USDA vet in Maryland is extremely helpful with understanding the paperwork.  One thing I didn't know before I went to the USDA (which is why I should have called them first!) was that I needed to bring the form from my regular vet showing the request for the FAVN-OIE rabies antibody test, with the results written on it. It's the one they send to the lab in Kansas when they send off the blood. The USDA vet had to call the lab in Kansas and request this via fax. He then signed and sealed it.

Good luck!

Hello Carrie I usually frequent the Visa section of the forum however I own a beautiful 3 year old kitty named Loki and I've decided although he's stayed with my sister (who lives a mile away from me) for a year, I want to bring him with me when I move to the UK. I'm planning on moving there before he comes over and so I'm starting vet procedures now in an attempt to match up a visit to the US with when he needs to come to the UK.

My question for you is when you've written down prices like the microchip and the rabies shots etc, have you put down the price of JUST the shots and microchip or have you included the general vet fees with those? I'm wondering because I'm trying to get an idea of how soon I can start my process based on the prices. I've contacted my local USDA office and the woman said as long as the microchip, rabies and blood drawn were done in the EXACT order that I could do them in one vet trip which of course would lower the costs for me. Thanks for your help and your wonderful post. It certainly helps me get an idea of what I'm looking at to start with.

Darlithia, where are you located?  PM me if you wish.  I think I remember you saying you were near me, and if that is the case, I can tell you which vet to use and some prices.

Those prices were for the vet trips, including any "work" that we had done.  We didn't have the bloodwork done on the same day because we didn't realise we were leaving so soon when we started the process. 

Oh - I just remembered - my vet was really good and only saw us when she had to do the procedure.  When we took them back for the bloodwork, the vet techs took them in the back and drew the blood, the vet signed the paperwork and we weren't billed for vet time - only for the bloodwork. 

Hello Carrie I usually frequent the Visa section of the forum however I own a beautiful 3 year old kitty named Loki and I've decided although he's stayed with my sister (who lives a mile away from me) for a year, I want to bring him with me when I move to the UK. I'm planning on moving there before he comes over and so I'm starting vet procedures now in an attempt to match up a visit to the US with when he needs to come to the UK.

My question for you is when you've written down prices like the microchip and the rabies shots etc, have you put down the price of JUST the shots and microchip or have you included the general vet fees with those? I'm wondering because I'm trying to get an idea of how soon I can start my process based on the prices. I've contacted my local USDA office and the woman said as long as the microchip, rabies and blood drawn were done in the EXACT order that I could do them in one vet trip which of course would lower the costs for me. Thanks for your help and your wonderful post. It certainly helps me get an idea of what I'm looking at to start with.

i think you need to wait a bit for the blood draw after the shot. like 30 days or the like

Darlithia, where are you located?  PM me if you wish.  I think I remember you saying you were near me, and if that is the case, I can tell you which vet to use and some prices.

Bless your heart for that information, I have a great start now!

i think you need to wait a bit for the blood draw after the shot. like 30 days or the like

I actually contacted my local USDA branch and talked to them, the lady there said that I could go in and get the microchipping, rabies vaccination and the blood drawn all in the same visit HOWEVER they HAD to be done in that order. I asked her about the wait period in between the vaccination and the blood being drawn and her response was it was up to me but as long as it produced a satisfactory test result it didn't matter. She then went on to say to follow DEFRA's website.

I *think* what you're thinking of is this that I believe has only recently crept up on DEFRA's website.

"21 day wait

For EU countries where more stringent entry requirements do not apply, the EU has introduced a wait of 21 days from the date of the first rabies vaccination before a pet can enter those EU countries. However, if the vaccine manufacturer’s data sheet requires more than one vaccination to complete the primary vaccination protocol, the 21 day wait applies from the date of the final vaccination of that protocol. "

Personally I'm going to take the risk and hope that he gets a good test result to try to cut down on the number of vet visits. If it comes back not good enough then I'll schedule another trip. There's already enough stressful things going on in my kitty's life (living at my sister's house with her 8 month old baby at the moment AND until he comes to the UK) so I don't want to add too many vet visits onto it.

I thought I could have the microchipping, vaccination, and blood draw all on the same day, but this is not the case. Julia is right. The reason for the blood draw is to prove that there are antibodies against rabies in your pets blood. This takes about a month to show up. If your vet does all three on the same day, then it's almost guaranteed you won't have a positive test and you'll have to do the blood draw again, dragging it out an extra month. So, I had the microchipping and vaccination done one day, then had to go back a month later for the blood draw. Once the blood is drawn, that is when the 6 month countdown begins. You don't have to wait to get the results from the vet to start the countdown.

Oh, and my vet charged me for EVERYTHING! I was charged $40 for every visit, on top of any procedure I was having done. 

I noticed that they have changed the wording since I did it in 2003. Then, DEFRA specifically stated a 30 day wait. Now the site says refer to manufacturer documentation on the best time period to wait for the vaccine. I imagine if you've always done rabies shots then the titer test will come back fine. Though, they'll know the antibodies aren't from this shot... it would be impossible. Don't know if they'll care though.

the 21 day wait wasn't what i was thinking of... that's something different.

Defra told me that the wait period is the recommended length of time for the vaccine to become fully effective - allowing an appropriate build up of antibodies in your pet's blood to pass the titre.  However, if your pet is already up to date on their vaccines their titre should high enough before their "official" vaccination.

Defra told me that the wait period is the recommended length of time for the vaccine to become fully effective - allowing an appropriate build up of antibodies in your pet's blood to pass the titre.  However, if your pet is already up to date on their vaccines their titre should high enough before their "official" vaccination.

sounds reasonable