Bringing Cats to the US v Staying here

kwikksilva

Hi All,
Does anyone have any experience with shipping 2 Cats to the US?
My wife and i are moving to Boston for one year and were thinking of bringing them over. The other alternative is to house them in a cattery, but we have got some pretty outrageous qoutes, from €2000 (which is roughly what it costs to keep them for 12 months) to €5000.

No.1 : Does anyone know any non-ripoff trustworthy cattery's?
No.2 : Would we be right in assuming that it would be cause alot of trauma to the cats going from here to the US, and that they might not settle in (runaway etc...)

Our Vet says that our passport etc will be no problem to get, but that the shipping is more difficult as some airlines no longer ship animals.

Comments appreciated!

Thanks!

BlackCat2008

Have you read the forum on cat lost by airline yet you might get some help from there and as I posted Some cargo flights are willing to take people and animals if they are heading that direction. Wouldn't see a problem in bringing them with you but would only keep them as house cats while you were there as some cattery's are full all the time and wouldn't have the time to give your cats the attention they will need on such a long stay. Or you could try to find someone to look after them until you return. I know it takes about 6 months to organize a pet passport.

Anyway what ever the dissension you make good luck.

MsFifers

I like Martinstown cattery - http://www.martinstowncattery.com - but personally I don't think I'd like to leave my cats in any cattery for that long a period of time Even the very best have a very limited amount of space per cat and it just isn't the same as providing a home for them.

Would you be able to find a friend or relative who would take in your cats for the period instead?

Failing that, I'm sure the cats would recover from the stress of the flight fairly quickly (assuming the airline/airport doesn't loose them on the way - see previous thread on this subject). I know someone who brought their dog over from the US recently, and he was fine.

ValerieR

I pet-sitted a cat for friends who similarly went to the States for a little over 6 months. Though this 1-year-old cat wasn't a complete housecat to start with (my friends would only have allowed her in the house for an hour or two during the day), we took her to our house, 5 miles away, kept her inside for a full week (that was fun as she was a real crepuscular animal at that stage and all she was thinking about at night time was hunting, toes included !!! :-O ) and let her out after that. All went well, she became a house cat who'd go out during the day and slept in at night. When her 'parents' came back, they did the same and it worked a treat!
This solution might be better than 'imposing' the trauma of air-shipping these poor little pets ! :-)

ValerieR

boomerang

Well I can only give you the experience of someone who did the reverse... I recently rehomed a kitten with a lovely girl from Florida, who has recently settled here. She brought her cat with her from Florida, who I met during the homecheck. The cat is very happily settled and absolutely none the worse for her ordeal! I would say it would probably be far more traumatic for your cats to go into a cattery for the year, with all the upheaval that entails, than it would be to bring them with you.

kwikksilva

Thanks alot for the replies lads, we'll have to think carefully about what to do, any more comments... welcome!