Cost of Taking Pets

For those of you who have taken your pets with you, what was the general cost break down?  And does anyone know what the cost of quarantine is?

Dh & I used a Pet courier service that did everything for us. from the littlest thing to biggest like getting my cats to the airport & then delivering to our door in the UK. I will tell you this much it wasn't cheap! I want to say between $2000-$2400 thats everything though, also this was in March 2005. the essential paperwork, an Airline approved cat carrier per cat, each cat's plane ticket, flying my cats from Indiana to New Jersey then to Gatewick then delivered to our house. but worth every penny to us. when my cats got here I felt a bit more settled. not everyone cant afford this I know, that was our honeymoon fund. I would tell you bit by bit what everything cost but I don't have the paperwork for the service we were charged, but we don't have it right now. that paperwork along with alot of other Important papers are at the Home Office with my ILR application. whenever we get that back I can tell in details what everything cost in a PM that is if you would like to know. I don't know how much Quarantine costs here in the UK. sorry I cant help you with that.

Like a few other have said I would never allow my cats to go into quarantine here in the UK. if possible I would do my best to find someone you trust or a nice kennel to put them in for the remaining time left, before they come over here to the UK. than put your pets in to quarantine over here. I have heard to many horror stories about them here not to mention the outstanding price tag it would be as well.

I spent about $2800 on bringing my dog over here.  Airline ticket from SF, vet bills, crate.  I did everything myself, we both flew over on the same flight. 

I would never ever put my dog in quarantine, so cant help you there.

Good luck!

I stay ignorant and didn't add up all the expenses, but it was well over $1,500.

There is a thread in here somewhere about quarantine in France that was much cheaper and way more humane than quarantine in the UK. Check it out.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=27266.0

Getting my cat here was cheap because i did it with a Canadian Airline who at the time, only charged me $300 CDN for her flight.  And we had no other charges at the Heathrow end. For us, all told, it was about $800 CDN. But that is not typical of what others have experienced. 

I also did not add up all the expenses - I have 4 animals and I'm sure that would have caused a nervous breakdown - but I know that it cost easily around $1500 per animal including all the various vet visits etc...

I did the 6 month thing in the US where you have so many appointments you have to attend, in a certain time schedule, and then you don't have to quarantine them when you get here.

One word of caution.  Be sure that the ID chip they insert is one that is on the UK approved list, and I would also be extra careful and call the airline you are flying with because they have a certain kind of chip reader that only reads a certain kind of chip.

Short story long.. we ended up having to buy the chip reader off of our vet the day before flying ($750) because we got the wrong chip inserted!

I also did not add up all the expenses - I have 4 animals and I'm sure that would have caused a nervous breakdown - but I know that it cost easily around $1500 per animal including all the various vet visits etc...

I did the 6 month thing in the US where you have so many appointments you have to attend, in a certain time schedule, and then you don't have to quarantine them when you get here.

One word of caution.  Be sure that the ID chip they insert is one that is on the UK approved list, and I would also be extra careful and call the airline you are flying with because they have a certain kind of chip reader that only reads a certain kind of chip.

Short story long.. we ended up having to buy the chip reader off of our vet the day before flying ($750) because we got the wrong chip inserted!

Call the Animal Reception center to see if they have that chip reader.  But better to go with the DEFRA recommended chip in the first place.

I did it all myself and had no problems.

I paid $564.00 to fly our dog over.(he left a week before we did) He only had to stay in quarantine for two months and the kennel was just over 1000.00 pounds. I used Par Air Services who are in Essex. They got the dog from the airport and then phoned us in America to let us know he arrived safe and sound. You might want to call around to different places and see if they charge by the size or weight of the animal. I would recommend Par Air because they helped me through the whole process and patiently explained any questions I had regarding the forms that needed to be filled out and sent. Good luck.

Here is a thread where I broke down my costs:
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=28372.0

I stay ignorant and didn't add up all the expenses, but it was well over $1,500.

LOL, that was my strategy too. Ignorance is bliss. Besides, I was going to do it no matter the cost, so why stress out about it. I know it was over $1,000.

LOL, that was my strategy too. Ignorance is bliss. Besides, I was going to do it no matter the cost, so why stress out about it. I know it was over $1,000.

That was exactly it for me...I was doing it come hell or high water and damn the cost!  I couldn't live without my girl!  Now I am working out how to get her back to the states with me in June.  It's much easier going back thankfully!

as much as i wish i had another option, i'll be putting my dog into quarantine next month. it's going to cost about 1400 pounds for the six months. that price is based on her size, so bigger dogs will cost more. there's also going to be some vet charges.

i know it's way more if you'll be in or near london. (i'll be boarding her in bristol at this place: http://www.overhill.co.uk/quarantine/quarantine.htm) you can check that site to get an idea of the prices you'll be charged if you're going outside of a major city.

Hey Jen, I live in Bristol... will you be moving here or just boarding doggy here?

Jen252

Do you have anyone in the states that she can stay with for the 6 months? If so, it can be less traumatic for both of you. If not, on the upside, you can visit her in the kennel. Good luck

When I looked into it four years ago, quarantine was going to cost just over £3500 for both my cats in a facility near Heathrow.  I was so glad the pet passport scheme opened up.  I probably spent about $200 getting all the right vaccinations and paperwork in order. I even bought a chip reader off our vet just to be on the safe side. That cost $75.  The 2 kennels I bought were $35 each. And the ticket for both cats to fly on Northwest airlines into Gatwick was $500 total.  I had no extra "handling" fees or anything like that.  So I guess that comes around $900.  A LOT cheaper than quarantine.