Starting a new life in the UK seemed impossible without our cats. Bojack and Olivia are two domestic cats (pusakal) we adopted from a friend of mine. These two kittes have been envied by everyone I meet because they have moved with us to the UK! Both are now settled to the English life but getting here was no walk in the park. Here's some snippets of our experience and tips for other furrparents.
1 | Contact a Local Broker
Since there is a ton of paperwork involved, we opted to get agencies with expertise on transporting our cats. With the expenses involved and the precision needed with papers and timing, DIY-ing your pet's transport seems borderline crazy. We contacted Gold Pet Transport to handle the PH side of processing and James Cargo for the UK side. From here, both will aid you in arranging for your pet's transport.
I highly recommend Gold Pet Transport for any Pinoys moving their pets anywhere. They have a wonderful track record of moving pets of all sorts to and from the Philippines, and even just within the country. Gold Pet Transport will do all the leg work for you and (literally) all we had to do was hand the cats over to them and they took care of all the needed actions. They took our cats 2 times prior to the flight for a check-up and deworming (both are included in the overall fee), the last time they took the cats was for the flight. They also provided the travel crates (including food and water!) for Bojack and Olivia. Five stars all around for Gold Pet and their friendly staff!
2 | Never Miss a Vaxx + Microchip
If you want to move your pets from the Philippines to the UK make sure their vaccines and shots are all updated. Having a pet microchip is another essential. Complete vaccines and the microchip is a must and non-negotiable.
3 | Titer Test
The first thing we did for our cats was to get the Titer test so they can be cleared to enter the UK. If I'm not mistaken, only one clinic in the Philippines is accredited to do this test and that's the Animal House in Makati. Again, I could be wrong but this is what we last read. Best to consult with your pet broker on details like this. The Titer Test takes a while to process because when we checked the cats' results, it looked like their blood was also checked in Australia.
4 | Be Financially Prepared
I often joke that having an actual human baby and traveling with the baby to the UK would cost less than our two cats. I assume that the pricing would differ for the type of pet you have and its size but we paid P80,000 per cat to Gold Pet Transport. But that includes the following: airfare, all the processing, deworming and check-ups, airline-approved crate (with food and water). It's a lot but I think you get your money's worth with the service they offer. They really did treat Bojack and Olivia like they were their own pets! Highly recommended!
For the UK Broker, we aid an estimate of GBP 700-800 (P50,000~). The UK Broker's job was to process the arrival papers in the UK and ship the cats to Tom's Grandma's house. There was also a P30,000 miscellaneous fee from the airline was charged to us last minute. Basically, be ready to spend! Again, this will differ on the type of pet you have, the size, the destination, etc.
5 | Their Journey
Bojack and Olivia flew with Emirates with the following flight plan: Manila - Dubai - Gatwick. Flying with Emirates meant that the cats had vet support in their 9-hour layover in Dubai. Upon arriving in Gatwick, the cats were delivered to Tom's Nan's house where the two kitties arrived safely despite smelling like wee and poopoo. This is understandable given their journey in a tiny crate. Olivia in particular had a lot of poop bits stuck to her bum. Olivia adjusted instantly despite the long journey but Bojack refused to leave the cage and didn't even eat and drink until we arrived 2-3 days later.
6 | Adjustments
In order to get them settled in our new home, Tom purchased a lot of cat toys, a cat tower, and some catnip. Olivia, again, had no issues on adjusting to the new environment. Bojack was a bit skittish and still chose not to leave his cage when we got to our new place. I had to walk him around the house to get him acquainted with the new space. He eventually warmed up to our new home but now he's jetlagged, which is yes! A real thing that happens to pets especially when they travel to the West.
*Note that this is our personal experience with moving our pets to the UK and some details may change depending on the type of pet you have. Always consult with your pet broker on what's best for your pet.
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