Taking your pet cats and dogs to Australia
March 3, 2006
We have two cats which we’ll be taking with us to Australia. In reality it would be a thousand times cheaper to buy two new cats when we get out there but the cats have been part of the family for a number of years now so they’ll be making the trip down under with us.
A government department called AQIS which stands for Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, are the folks in Australia that deal with animal imports.
They have some really useful information and forms which need to be completed if your taking your dog or cat with you to Australia. The more applicable sections of the site can be found by clicking here (page opens in new window) however I thought it’d be useful to document the main steps associated with taking your dog or cat to Australia with you.
Cats and dogs may only be imported to Australia from approved countries. Conditions for importing cats and dogs from approved countries vary depending on the country of export. These conditions may involve a longer quarantine period, restricted breeds or similar.
Fortunately for us, the UK is seen as a pretty ‘clean’ country from a pet perspective with only New Zealand being viewed better where no quarantine periods are required at all.
The UK is classed as a Category 2 country so and dogs and cats being brought into Australia need to spend 30 days quarantine in Australia before you can pick them up and take them to your new home.
Other Category two countries include (long list this): Bahrain, Barbados, Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia (includes Tahiti, Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, Tuamotu Islands, Gambier Islands), Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of Ireland, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, New Caledonia, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan and Vanuatu.
I’ll cover both cats and dogs as I think these will be the animals that you’ll most likely want to take with you if your going to emigrate into Australia. There are a number of steps that you’ll need to go through prior to sending your beloved pet to the other side of the world.
Step one, you need to make sure that your dog or cat is eligible for export to Australia:
Your Dog or cats must have been continuously living in the UK or similar for a minimum of 6 months immediately prior to shipment. Your pet must not have been under quarantine restrictions in the 30 days prior to export and your pet must be at least 12 weeks old at time of export.
If your dog or cat is pregnant, they must not be more than 6 weeks pregnant nor be suckling young at time of export and finally certain breeds of dogs cannot be exported into Australia. These breeds tend to be the more fierce breeds such as:
Dogo Argentino, fila Brazileiro, Japanese tosa’s, Pit bull terrier, American pit bull or the Presa Canaria.
I know that many of these breeds make great and loving family pets but I’m afraid the Aussies don’t see it that way so If you have any of these breeds then unfortunately you’ll need to leave them at home.
In addition, under animal hybrids e.g. Bengal cats or wolf crosses are not eligible for import, unless they are proven to be 5th generation or more away from any pure-bred non-domestic ancestor.
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Thanks for the useful information! I’m actually an Aussie who emigrated to the US but we’re thinking about going back there to work, and we have three cats! I can see it will be an expensive process for them…
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Hi, just checking why you’ve quote pit bull terrier and american pit bull terrier in the list of breeds not able to inport, they are the one and same breed
Hi Wendy, yep, I thought as such. Both descriptions are listed in the official restricted breeds list. I’d assume its because they wanted to ensure that all bases are covered
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Wondering if anyone has any advice on looking for a pet friendly place to rent in the fremantle area. any advice would be greatly appreciated, such as what web-sites to check, which specific areas might be a better better to focus our search in, and so forth. Thank you!
Hi Mate
Give realestate.com.au a search here:
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?s=wa&t=ren&snf=rbs&a=sf
We’ve found in the main it’s pretty good for detailing if Pets are available but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, ring the agent to check first prior to taking the time to do a viewing.
Check out my posts on cats (some of which cover renting|) by clicking on this link: http://www.gettingdownunder.com/tag/cats
Good luck with your search
Regards
Mark
Hi jacob,
Another website which makes it easy to find pet friendly accommodation is rent.com.au. They have a great Pets Allowed search filter to make it easy to find properties that allow pets. The site also lets private landlords advertise so you get to see properties that you won’t find on realestate.com.au.
I had a quick look and there we a couple of options near freo!
Good luck house hunting.
Kristian
How much would it cost for 3 cats to go to Melbourne?
we are planning to take our dog to australia, pls quote, his dimensions are 400 mm x 540 mm x 400 mm, We are moving from Auckland to Brisbane.
Hari, you’ll need to contact a specialist pet removal firm. You’ll find links to these elsewhere on this page..
Did anyone find out where to find Veterinary Certificate’s A & B? They are not included in the Permit Application as stated in the instructions…
Don’t worry about my previous question - Vet. Cert. A & B come WITH the PERMIT, not the APPLICATION for Permit… I’m a dummy.
Can anyone advise on whether I can take my dog into Aussie on a Pet Passport from teh UK and if so for how long, is there a Govt contact to confirm regulations thereafter re quaranteen regs.
Cheers
Arthur
Arthur, if your refering to the UK pet passport which enables pets to travel within the EC countries then the answer is no I’m afraid.
Australia does not currently recognise this passport.
As well as the post we have made at getting down under, further info of interest can be viewed on the AQIS Website by Clicking Here
Hope this helps
Oh and Amy Thanks for providing the answer to your own question, we could do with a few more of those
Cheers
Mark
Dear Mark,
My wife and I would be moving to Perth with our two cats from Minneapois, USA. I am familiar with the requirements of AQIS for transporing cats and we are going through the procedure. However, what’s alarming is that on the web, I am not finding properties that allow pets. We are planning to rent for a while since property price is so high. Please could you tell us what’s it like to find rental properties with pets? Any recommendations? Many thanks for any suggestion. We are vety concerned about this long trip that the cats would have to make and then they must have a nic eplace to live with a nice back-yeard. How difficult is that?
Cheers
Peter
Hello Peter
Your correct, I’m afraid that having pets does reduce the number of properties made available to you but they are still out there.
Very often, dogs are the main concern for many landlords so if you call the agent and advise that you have a cat then you may find a few more doors open up for you.
Even if it’s a ‘house cat’, if you mention that your car will spend most of it’s time outdoors this will also help
It’s common practice to pay a ‘pet bond’ when your renting a house with pets although this is normally only in the region of $75 - $100. If it’s not mentioned then offering to pay a larger bond to cover hair removal etc will also assist you find a property.
Don’t panic just yet. You should be fine.
Good luck
Regards
Mark