[TonnyTessa]

Yes I know it's been asked a lot before, but unfortunately the search engine doesn't do three letter words, so searching forcat/dog/pet is hopeless. So here is another one of those posts:

1 Which company did you use to get your cat to NZ?

2 Were you happy with their service?

3 What did it cost?

4 Anything to be aware of?

Thanks so much!

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi,
If you try searching cats, pets, dogs etc you should find most threads will come up

[mikey39]

We used a company in Colchester, i think they are called Par Air, i will have to check on that. Price was £1200, this included 3 weeks boarding, they done all the necessary checks, and the flight. No complaints whatsoever with them.

Our cat arrived in good health,and he looked a lot better on arrival in to the country than we did :D

[Gemini]

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21523&highlight=cats

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13799&highlight=Airpets

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=110&highlight=cats

We used Airpets who were really great with our two cats. They advised us to have the cats fly out two days later so we would have time to get over the worst of any jetlag.

They cared for them really well and they flew out via LA, (apparently less stopover time for the cats). It cost us £1555.00 to Airpets and then the charges here were $78.65 for MAF fees, $33.75 handling fees for Air NZ.

They made a customised travel cage for the two cats and put mesh between so that they could see each other but still had their own space.

[Lara Croft]

Hi. We used Golden Arrow in Shropshire for our 7 (yes, 7!!) cats. They were fantastic, and more helpful & caring that I could have hoped for - especially since it was the first time away from home for all of them.

It cost around 4,500 for all of them, travelling in 4 boxes (3 boxes with 2 cats in, and 1 solo). The boxes were made to size, and are really sturdy - I have kept them as backup boxes for emergencies.

I can't recommend Golden Arrow highly enough. By the way, you won't find them on the internet, it's phone / fax only!

J

[Falcon_XR6]

Hi,
We used Golden Arrow (Shropshire) for our 7 moggies and the cost was less than £4000 (can't remember the exact price but less than 4 grand UK.
They were excellent and are rated (by lots of people) as the best pet shippers in England. The oldest was 13 and the 2 youngest were 2.5
All moggies were OK and still are.

Get your cats electronic chip No's registered with a local vet ASAP, before you let them out in the garden.

Get your cats shipped at least 2 days after you leave, Golden Arrow kept ours from the day my wife flew out and shipped them 3 days later, me and "the brat" (he isn't a brat really) took it easy and sailed here :nice1 .

Don't worry, your cats will be OK, they will weather the flight much better than you will :) .

Cheers
G

[Falcon_XR6]

Looks like the OH is having a quiet day at work as well (see post above mine):laugh .

Cheers
G

[Falcon_XR6]

See, she told me it was less than £4000..... just like when she buys shoes :roll !!!

Cheers
G

[SNK05]

See, she told me it was less than £4000..... just like when she buys shoes :roll !!!

Cheers
G

LOL....it's a girl thang!!

Sue
xx

[CJ22]

Golden Arrow

£1500 for two cats (plus two weeks cattery accomodation while we had a holiday). They arrived looking a little thin, but in perfectly good fettle. They settled in immediately, so they were obviously well-enough kept. This included all vets fees apart from one worming course and the cost of having them chipped (which is compulsory).

The only problem I had with Golden Arrow is that they are yet to join us in the 21st century, having no website or email communications. It's all very well being old-fashioned, but communicating with a business that is 12 hours out of synch is difficult.

[ljrobin]

Has anyone brought with them the cat trees or scratching posts? One of the moving companies we have received a quote from, is telling us we cannot bring them.

[dilanium]

If you really want the final word email customs: feedback@customs.govt.nz
and biosecurity: info.biosecurity@maf.govt.nz

[ljrobin]

Thank you dilanium, I will do that.
Cheers.

[dilanium]

no worries. :)

[Jo Jo]

Has anyone brought with them the cat trees or scratching posts? One of the moving companies we have received a quote from, is telling us we cannot bring them.

Yep, I shipped mine, and cat beds, etc. They were inspected by MAF, but there were no problems.

[Pip]

yep - golden Arrow (fab) - we also brought scratching posts, cat bed, cat toys, bowls, cat carry box (GA make theirs out of wood as part of the service and spray paint the airport destination on it in case the paperwork gets lost) etc.. just marked everything in a box marked cat stuff. MAF inspected it, but were quite happy.

[willow]

we are shipping out our dog. we checked out several shippers, but Golden Arrow has so far stood out above the rest. the service is so personal, quick and efficient. little things like the letter is hand typed on a "typewriter", not a standard document sent out to everyone. friends used them too and they were buzzing about the way their animals were looked after. the way they are with the animals is lovely our friends told us. so for us it is not just the price it is also making it as stress free as possible for our dog and us. so far Golden Arrow have done all of that!

there is no web site, but you can find the details on the forums

hope this helps

[seattle]

good to know on the cat post- i bought new beds for the cats and have put them aside to be packed separately for MAF to look at. I guess little boxes could go as long as they are cleaned thoroughly? The large covered ones can be a bit pricey- even in the u.s.!

[bilbo baggins]

Would love to know more about sailing to NZ. How long did it take? Which company? What price etc.

Many thanks

BILBO






Golden Arrow

£1500 for two cats (plus two weeks cattery accomodation while we had a holiday). They arrived looking a little thin, but in perfectly good fettle. They settled in immediately, so they were obviously well-enough kept. This included all vets fees apart from one worming course and the cost of having them chipped (which is compulsory).

The only problem I had with Golden Arrow is that they are yet to join us in the 21st century, having no website or email communications. It's all very well being old-fashioned, but communicating with a business that is 12 hours out of synch is difficult.

[CJ22]

Eh?

[JandM]

Eh?Is Bilbo Baggins interpreting 'shipping' the animals as being literally on a ship?

[Jo Jo]

I think he's referring to Falcon XR6's first post about sailing to NZ.

[Falcon_XR6]

Would love to know more about sailing to NZ. How long did it take? Which company? What price etc.

Many thanks

BILBO

It depends on which way you go how long it takes and the cost is dependant on which ship or shipping line you choose and what level of accommodation you want (all food is included in the cost of the cabin, or stateroom as they were referred to on board).
You can get lucky, like I did, and pick up a last minute cancellation... the cabin I got on the QEII had been booked since late 2005 and came available in mid Dec 2007 to sail on Jan 6th 2008... so someone’s loss was my gain and late cancellations come in at a very much reduced cost. It should have cost myself and my son around £16,000+ each for the cabin but I got it for £5,000 each and the trip took 46 days and the itinerary was : -
New York
Fort Lauderdale
Barbados
Salvador de Bahia
Rio de Janeiro
Montevideo
Port Stanley
Punta Arenas
Round Cape Horn, twice!! (it's an island).
The straights of Magellan... beautiful
Valparaiso
Easter Island... Worth the money just to see the Moai statues and to just be there... a real tropical paradise.
Pitcairn Island... only a few people on the planet have ever seen this place and we circumnavigated it 3 times at very close range.
Tahiti
Tonga
Auckland

It is not particularly easy spending 46 days away from your OH but it was well worth doing and I will probably never get the chance to do it again…. well not on the QEII at any rate, she is now in Dubai to be used a floating hotel and thus ends the career of the most famous ocean going liner in the world… but better than the cutters torch in a scrap yard I suppose.

Cheers
G

[Falcon_XR6]

A couple of things I forgot to add....

The total distance we travelled was 25,000 miles (UK to NZ twice... or 1/10th of the way to the moon).

The QEII docks at Dubai on Thursday 27th November.

If you want to check out ship transport to NZ then try here : -
http://www.cunard.co.uk/
http://www.cruisedirect.co.uk/

There are many more if you search for them.

Cheers
G

[WANZLittles]

Can't you take your pets with you on the flight. I don't mean literally in the cabin, but sending like in the laugage compartment? just curious.

[dusk]

As far as I know you are able to have your pet on the same flight as yourself (assuming they are all ready to go and there is room)

[WANZLittles]

http://www.petflight.com/?gclid=CK6V5ajyoJgCFQIvgwodJ2YElQ
great information

[dilanium]

From the US you have a lot of work to do, and it is not always possible to take the pets with you. You are not allowed to pick them up after the flight- they must go directly to quarantine.

There are a lot of rules, and I would definitely recommend using a professional pet shipping company. I recommend IPTLAX (iptlax.com) they took great care of my cat.

[M-Squared]

^^ ditto.

hehe we were wondering about bringing our ancient cats with us, we consulted our local vets too, who happened to be shippers, too!