what are the guildelines i have to follow to ship my kitten into melbourne australia??

Question

me and my sister are moving to aussie for five years for studies. i was wondering what i had to do in order to move my kitten there too? i heard its ridiculously hard and strict! HELP!

Answer 1

Hi Kim...here are the guidelines to import pets into Australia: http://www.affa.gov.au/content/output.cfm?ObjectID=768C53F1-E1E3-47B6-A1516B834217B7F8
http://www.australia-migration.com/page/Pets_Guide_to_importing_cats_and_dogs_from_approved_countries/121

Generally, you need to do the following:

1. Cat - A health certificate from a veterinary officer authorised to issue a valid certificate by the Government in the country of export to the effect that the cat imported

a) shows no clinical sign of diseases including rabies, feline enteritis, feline pan leukopenia, leptospirosis etc..

b) has been vaccinated for rabies (in case it is more than three months of age) within the time limit recommended by the manufacturer of vaccine licensed and approved by the exporting country (name of the vaccine, batch number and the date of vaccination must be shown on the veterinary certificate)

Quarantine period is for 30 days.

All the airline carriers also have their set of restrictions so you need to check in advance to meet their requirements to transport pet animals. Most airlines also do not allow sedation as the higher altitudes affects the drugs intensity to the heart and lungs. Article by the American Veterinary Medical Assoc about this: http://www.avma.org/careforanimals/animatedjourneys/livingwithpets/sedate.asp

Answer 2

I brought my cats to central America about 7 years ago and it was hard back then but now it's even harder.
You need all their vaccination papers and your cat needs to get a medical certificate stating that it's healthy, you also need to make sure you know how they are going to ship them and where, my cats were to go with us and when we least expected it they put them with the luggage and it's very hot down in that hole, the people from the airline didn't care they said they were just cats,
make sure they have enough water and a big enough cage so that they can move around in, the flight to Australia is very long , too long for humans, imagine for a small animal.
you must have all medical forms for the cat and go to the Australian embassy to let them now you are traveling with a pet and need the necessary forms to enter into the country.

Answer 3

I don't know about procedures, obviously you need to have health and vaccination certificates, but I don't know exactly. What I do know, is that you need to find an airline company that allows you to take the kitty on board with you as carry on hand luggage (many companies do it for pets up to 5kgs. I know Olympic airways do). Don't let the cat be put in the luggage compartment, they get scared to death, bumped around like parcels, and in temperatures like -20 deg. Celcius, she can die.