Share your experence in Traveling with a Pet from USA to UK.
 

Currently I am starting the process of taking a pet to UK. :confused: I would love to hear from those who had travel to UK with their pet, the tips you can give me in, the steps I need to take and any advise or information you can offer.

Thanks!

Welcome to Flyertalk, ysk. I am moving this thread to the FT Travel With Pets Forum.
Please follow there...
Thanks,
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

I brought both of my cats from the US to the UK when I moved here in Jan '04. What would you like to know?

I have just started the process with my Boston Terrier. I am grateful that an alternative to Quarantine exists. I am going to have to rent a scanner for his microchip since it isn't the International Avid Chip. I just don't see the point of removing the chip he has now and doubt that a dog can have two chips. The most frustrating thing so far has been dealing with the vet. I was concerned about the only option being cargo originally, but I think Delta may let him be under the seat. At least I hope so! For those who have made the move recently under the pets scheme, was it pretty easy to get through? Things you wished you had done differently? Do they allow pets in carriers on the public transportation?

It has been a couple of years since I brought my cats - so the info I have may be out of date - but at that time, even though the airline might allow you to fly the animal in the cabin, to comply with the PETS travel scheme regulations they have to go in the cargo hold.
Also, yes an animal can have more than one chip.

I will have to investigate it further then because there is no way I would ever be cruel enough to place an animal unattended in Cargo. I have several friends in the industry that wouldn't trust their own animals to be placed in Cargo which is enough for me not to. Although many animals get to their destination without incident, there are many that aren't so lucky. Not going to gamble with mine. I guess if things work out, I will get another microchip for him in England.

For me cargo was the only option. I had a friend who works for an animal rescue operation and she helped me with some of the ins and outs/dos and don'ts for shipping animals in cargo. As I was moving to the UK, there wasn't another option for them.

As for getting another microchip in England - why bother at that point. Wouldn't the point of getting another microchip be so that you didn't have rent a scanner to take over there?

All the records, both rabies titer, three years rabies shot, etc. have to match the microchip, otherwise they void the travel scheme and you have to start over. I get titers every year through the Kansas State lab which luckily was the UK lab of choice in the U.S. I will be moving within six months as long as I can take my dog in cabin so getting an international chip wouldn't make sense. The only reason to get one is for when he is in the UK for if he ever did get lost. They don't use the Avid scanners. :(. Why microchips have to have so many brands is beyond me. It just over complicates things. I work in dog and cat rescue as well and the organizations I work with refuse to ship animals due to some pretty bad experiences. I can tip the person I drop my dog off to so that they keep an eye on him and take care of him, but what can you really do to ensure nothing bad happens to them after departure? The pet travel scheme simply states which carriers they approve - BA which I will never fly only let's you put them in Cargo whereas Delta is also approved and there is no indication of cargo being the only option. I am flying out of Atlanta. If cargo ends up being the only option, I will not take the job. Maybe it is a stupid thing to be the deciding factor.

I think the Brits are pretty specific in the PETS travel scheme (or at least they used to be when I moved over here 6 years ago) that (unless it is a service animal) it has to travel by cargo. You might want to double check - I took a quick glance at http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pet...nfo/routes.htm and it said "Pets travelling to the UK by air will travel as cargo, unless they are a registered assistance dog entering with an approved airline, on a route that permits them to travel in the cabin." Of course there is always New York to Southhampton on the Queen Mary 2, but even with that (if I remember right because I looked into it at the time) the animal has to be kept in the kennel and wasn't allowed to roam on the ship.
Best of luck to you.

P.S. My cats didn't have Avid chips either but the vet over here had no problem reading them with her scanner....

Only one of my three cats had an Avid chip. I contacted the Defra arrival facility at Manchester (I much preferred arriving into a smaller airport over Heathrow) and was able to confirm that their readers would be able to pick up all three chips, which they did without any difficulty.
The arrivals people also suggested I fax the completed documentation over to them a day or two before the flight and they checked it over and confirmed to me in an email that everything was in order, which really took a load off my mind.

Thank you for the tip. Were you able to carry your cats in cabin or did they go in Cargo?

Puppenstein, I think those saying that your pet has to go cargo are correct.

The UK is concerned with animal health - that's why we had quarantine for so long. We are not going to risk someone bringing an animal into the UK in a cabin and then 'forgetting' to inform customs they had arrived (many customs points are essentially unmanned now) and allowing an animal into the UK without ensuring that their paperwork, innoculations and everything match up. By having the rule of 'cargo only' for pets, it ensures that no owner might try and sneak an animal through which doesn't meet the requirements for entry to the UK - and given that the UK still catches a number of animals attempting to be smuggled in every year, even with that rule and the passport scheme in place, that I'm afraid is unlikely to change anytime soon. We'd need to be able to guarantee that 100% of animals imported are checked - and we can only do that by bringing them in as cargo.

The Defra website on the PETS scheme is crystal clear:
The use of the word 'will' means there is no other option on this.

While you might be concerned about the health of your pet going cargo, Defra is concerned about the health of all animals in the UK, and the potentially devastating effect that the introduction of rabies, or other pet diseases not currently present in the UK would have.

cargo
 

pets MUST travel cargo
they can have more than one chip
best is to get someone on the UK side to all the work to pick up the pet from animal receiving cost is around 300GBP, takes around 2-3 hours in LHR
was a piece of cake as long as the paper work is done
Just follow the instructions on the pets travel scheme website
you do need a government aprroved vet to certify everything on the North american side, not just your regular vet.

I am wondering if there is any way around it by traveling to another country and taking a flight from that country like say France for example and not having all the hassles of Cargo. I know that Air France allows dogs of the appropriate size to fly from the U.S. to Paris to fly in cabin. The chunnel doesn't allow dogs, but there has to be some other creative option. :D