With over 25 years of experience transporting animals of all sizes - including cats, dogs, birds, and horses—to Australia, we have an in-depth understanding of the process. You can trust us to ensure your pet’s journey is as safe and stress-free as possible.
We’ll support you through every stage of the process, from preparing documentation, co-ordinating blood tests, securing import permits, booking quarantine space, and arranging the Export Health Certificate, our comprehensive services cover every aspect of your pets journey.
We work with several trusted airlines offering departures from most major UK airports, including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.
All pets must arrive into Melbourne Airport (MEL) where the Government-run quarantine is located. Upon completion of their stay, we can arrange onward travel to any corner of Australia and regularly to other cities, such as Perth (PER), Sydney (SYD), Cairns (CNS), Darwin (DRW), and Canberra (CBR).
Due to a mandatory waiting period of 180 days from the Rabies Antibody Test (RNATT) before travel, planning your pet's move to Australia requires at least 6 months.
Planning ahead is essential, and we recommend beginning preparations 9-12 months before your intended travel date.
Flight costs are based on the size of your pet's crate, which we build based on the measurements of your pet. This ensures they travel in comfort, whilst meeting IATA and airline regulations.
Due to the requirement of blood tests, import permits, and quarantine costs, Australia is one of the more expensive destinations to fly to, with prices starting from around £3,000 (including quarantine).
For a full quote and price breakdown, please complete a quote form and one of our team will be in touch shortly.
All pets must have a Rabies vaccine to start the export process from the UK.
There are no other mandatory vaccinations for either Cats or Dogs; however, we strongly advise vaccinations against Leptospirosis, DHPP and Kennel Cough (Dogs) and FVRCP (cats).
Top Tip - All pets that board with us before departure will need to have the above vaccinations as a mandatory requirement.
Both Cats and Dogs will require a Rabies Blood test (RNATT) at the start of the process at least 21 days after their initial Rabies vaccination (or straightaway if already vaccinated).
The good news for cats is that no additional blood tests are required.
However, for dogs, there may be up to three additional blood tests required within 45 days of their departure date, depending on their sex and vaccination status. These are Brucella Canis, Leishmaniosis and Leptospirosis.
Australia has a strict import process that you must adhere to, and your pet will require an Import Permit, as well as an Export Health Certificate (EHC), which can be completed within 5 days of the flight.
The EHC must be completed by an Official Veterinarian (OV), who ensures that your pet meets the entry requirements before final sign-off. This accompanies your pet on their journey, which will ensure they are permitted to enter the country and begin their stay in quarantine.
In all our quotes, we include the option for our airport vets to complete this at the before departure.
All pets travelling to Australia must spend either 10 or 30 days in quarantine at the government-run facility in Mickleham.
We regret to inform you that you will not be able to visit your pet during their quarantine period. However, the quarantine facility is of extremely high quality, staffed by experienced and caring staff. Your pet will be well cared for througout.
For further information and to view the facility please follow this link!
These are acronmys for parts of the process that you may regularily come accross when planning pet travel to Australia.
A Rabies Neutralising Antibody Test (RNATT) is the blood test performed to detect that the Rabies vaccine has worked and your pet has produced the antibodies to protect themselves against Rabies. The date this test arrives at the lab for testing, is the day the mandatory 180day countdown begins before your pet can travel!
The RNATT declaration, is a specific form that is completed by a different vet from whomeverperformed the blood test to verify the result. This forms part of the import permit application and will need to be uploaded alongside the blood result during the application process.
The ID check by two OV66 vets is a new process that can reduce your pets stay from the usual 30 days to 10 days quarantine.
These must be performed at the start of the process before the RNATT, and must be completed by two diffferent vets working at different locations. i.e it cannot be two vets from the same practice. Once completed successfully, your pets import permit will reflect the required length of your pets quarantine!
We have various OV66 vets located UK wide and can refer you, if your vet does not hold the qualifications!
We use Emirates or Qatar airlines, both of which have transit stops in either Dubai or Doha, respectively.
Both have fantastic reception centres, where your pet will be offloaded from the plane, fed, watered and if time permits, given some exercise before the onward journey to Australia.
This offers multiple daily departure locations from Edinburgh and Glasgow in the North to Gatwick and Heathrow in the South. To find out more about our partners, check out our Airlines page.
Provided the correct measures are put in place, then yes, we can transport all snub-nosed pets to Australia!
Only 5% of snub-nosed pets suffer from BOAS (Brachycephalic Obstructive Airways Syndrome), therefore with the correct preparation we can ship Bulldogs, Pugs and many more snub nosed breeds, safely to Australia.
Emirates, will only allow snub-nosed transit at certain times in the year. Alternatively, Sri Lanka Airlines will allow transit via their hub at Colombo (CMB) all year round. Find out more on our BOAS (Snub Nosed) page.
There are only a few banned breeds which cannot be imported into Australia, and these are:
Unfortunately, due to government restrictions, we are unable to ship any of the above pets to Australia.
