So I have learnt that there are sometimes many names for the same form…. And that taking a cat across the ocean requires a lot of planning. And probably a lot of extra luggage…
For travelling to both the UK and Hawaii from the US mainland Max has to arrive cargo. Alaskan Airlines may be able to take cats in the cabin into Hawaii – but as far as I know none of the other airlines do/can. For the UK I don’t think its allowed for any airline. Turns out Max also has to come back from both the UK and Hawaii as cargo.
We are flying United – so this has meant phoning United PetSafe to book Max to travel cargo. They have been very helpful so far. They take all the details – and book it in – but you don’t pay until you drop the cat off. We are driving down to Newark when we fly to the UK – so that we can deal with a big airport that (hopefully) will know what they are doing..
For Hawaii we will break our trip at LAX so we and Max get a break from planes and we will just check him cargo from LAX. That means we need to make sure that his crate gets to LA though…
We bought Max a special travel crate. There are lots of rules for the crate – how big it has to be, it needs to have ventilation on all sides, two water containers etc. Hopefully we have followed them all. There is a nice Heathrow Animal Reception Centre (HARC) video about this
For example I had to replace all the screws and bolts that hold the crate together with metal ones. We also have twist-ties to tie the door on when we deliver him to the airline. He is not allowed any toys in the crate with him when he travels 🙁 All you can put in the crate with him is an absorbent layer at the bottom. That may be the most stressful part for Max. No humans to stroke him and no toys to play with for so many hours.
He has to be dropped off at United cargo 3-4 hours before the flight and he has to have eaten and had a drink 4 hours before the flight.
The crate we bough is 28” x 20.5” x 21” . From the rules I was a little worried before it arrived that it might not be large enough (you have to measure your pet in all different dimensions and ways and then do some math) – but there is loads of space for him. Having said that – it costs the same price to ship this one as the smaller one – as United uses a range of weights for each price – so I am glad he will have more space, more of an economy plus kind of crate, while he travels :). We have been getting him used to the crate by putting treats in it at regular intervals.
Microchip
We adopted Max and he came with a microchip. We thought this was an AVID chip – but when we did some investigating recently – turns out it is a 24hr petwatch chip. It is also not ISO compliant – which I didn’t realize until recently. That caused some stress as the UK websites all say that the chip has to be ISO compliant and if it isn’t, you need to take your own chip reader with you. However – the UK pet importing service we have to use, PBS, said it was OK and the HARC website says they can read AVID chips (and ours should be readable with an AVID chip reader). I emailed HARC several times (from their website) to check this – but with no response. In the end I phoned – even though their website said not to – and got a very helpful young woman who assured me that, at Heathrow at least, they can read all sorts of microchips and ours should be fine.
For traveling with Max to the UK – enquiring from many different sources has come up with the consensus that we need
- Form Appendix IV (also called third country official vet form and European Health Certificate) – this is a UK government form you can find at the link below. This has to be signed in a different color to the printing. It must also have the brand and product names for the rabies vaccines used and the lot numbers. It also needs to be sealed by the USDA
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pet-travel-certificate-for-movement-of-dogs-cats-and-ferrets-from-third-countries
2. Rabies Vaccination Certificate – there are lots of rules about this – it needs to have the product name, manufacturer name, lot number and expiry date of the vaccine used and the validity dates for the innoculation
3. Health form Aphis 7001 – which is a US health form (I think this is needed mainly for the airline). We had been told that this also needed a USDA seal – but when we took it to the USDA they said that they no longer seal these.
Both Appendix IV and Aphis 7001 forms need to be issued within 10 days of travel and Appendix IV/European Health Certificate also needs a USDA seal. This means you need to get the form from the vet and then fedex them to a USDA office – or we are driving them up to Albany to get them stamped as the timing is so tight as we don’t want to risk them getting lost in the mail.
Because we will put Max in a cattery for a week while we are in the UK – we also need a certificate for his FVRCP vaccinations (Cat flu) – as that is a legal requirement for UK catteries.
This was all very confusing to sort out – as initially United and PBS were using different names for the same form (the appendix IV) and United told us we needed a EU passport (that you can’t get outside the EU).
We also have to pay a UK company to clear Max through customs. We we had to use the company that United contracts with at Heathrow, which is called PBS – www.pbspettravel.co.uk
When he arrives Max will be taken here (HARC) – where they will put him in a kennel and run and feed him and let him go to the Bathroom
To bring Max back to the USA there are less requirements. Again he had to be booked cargo with United petsafe – but this time – this had to be arranged with a UK company. We are using the same one that are clearing Max through customs when we arrive. We filled in some paperwork for them and paid them some money and they make the arrangements. We then need to drop Max off 4 hours before our flight at United cargo (I hope we can find this – the address is a bit ambiguous) with a letter from a Vet, written within the last 10 days saying that Max is fit to travel. Also called “Fit to Fly certificate”. This has to be signed, stamped and dated on vets official headed paper. So we will have to find Max a London vet before we come home.
For Hawaii – you really need to plan ahead – as not only are rabies vaccinations needed – but also your cat needs to have a blood test done to prove that the antibody titre is high enough. A blood sample needs to be sent to Kansas State University and the results of this need to be obtained 120 days before you can travel to Hawaii. The nice thing is that you can log on to the Hawaiian website and check that they have the blood test results – just by searching with your pet’s chip number.
Your pet needs to have had at least two rabies injections, both while they had a chip that was read, and the second injection needs to be at least 90 days before your pet goes to Hawaii. There are good guidelines on the department of agriculture website for Hawaii http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/ai/aqs/animal-quarantine-information-page/
You need original rabies vaccination certificates for the two most recent injections – and they need to be signed in ink by your vet. Copies are not allowed. You also don’t get these back. So if you have a jet-setting kitty like Max is becoming, you may need to ask your vet for several originals of these.
We are flying direct to Kona on the big island and are doing direct admission on Kona. This meant that we had to send all of the paperwork to Hawaii ahead of time – but the good thing about that is that now we have a permit to bring Max in. So all we now need for Hawaii is that permit and a health certificate issued less than 10 days before we fly. We have also had to contract with a local vet (there are two to choose from) who will come and check Max’s chip and paperwork at the airport when we arrive. We have been working with Kelly at the Kona Veterinary service and she has been really helpful and friendly.
For internal flights within the USA with United you can book to take a pet in the cabin at the same time as you book your own flights online (there is a special box you can tick in the “Advanced search” option). United charges for this – $125 each leg of the journey. The website though is pretty cool – it knows what seats you can’t sit in if you are traveling with a cat. For example, one of the newer planes – you can only fit a cat in the space under a window seat. However the software is not clever enough at the moment to work out that if two humans are traveling with one single cat – that doesn’t mean that both humans need to have a window seat. That took a phone call to United to sort out – and it took them a long while to be able to fix it….
More new things for Max
For traveling within the US on the way to Hawaii – and maybe also traveling around the UK – we have bought a new travel bag/crate. It zips out to have two side wings – a bit like a tent. He likes sitting in this one already too (maybe because there are sometimes treats hidden in there). Looks like some toys have been carried to it as well. Max likes carrying his toys to his favorite places so this is a good sign..
Max even has a new pack-up travel litter box. This looks a bit small to us – but it packs up the size of a paperback book and other people claim it works ….
We’ll let you know…