Flying Kitties?

Mine are! I'll post here the updates as they come, b/c I think it's awesome that I'm getting updates!

Thank you AirAnimal! My final review is that the cost was well worth the peace of mind. Thank you for all the updates and for getting our kitties to Korea safe and sound!

4/2/11 6:48am EST (7:38pm Korea)
Email from Shannon: "Both the kitties are fine. As soon as I opened their kennels both were VERY excited to see me... then promptly went to explore their new home. I showed them both their liter box and both have used it once already. I also gave them food and water but they seem to be sharing each others right now. Lizzie prowled around to find a good hiding spot and sat there where I couldn't find her for a good long while. And Bella after loving on me for a while decided to go sulk under the bed for a while but eventually the queen found her throne on top the bed. I attached some pictures to make you feel better. :)"

Bella sulking!

Prowling Lizzie!

Queen Bella!

4/1/11 8:35am EST (9:35pm Korea)
Email from AirAnimal: "After having a drink, meeting new friends, and learning a little German, I see they are in Seoul. I'm sure Maya will send us an update once she gets a chance."

4/1/11 7am EST (8pm Korea)
Shannon got a call from Korean agents: "The cats made it to Seoul. I have been told they are safe and sound for the night and will be taking a flight tomorrow to Busan and then should be arriving to me about 5 or 6pm"

The Seoul Royal Palace... kitties are touring everywhere!

3/31/11 10:30pm EST (11:30am Korea)
Flight 712 arrives in Seoul, Korea

3/31/11 1:15pm EST (6:15pm Frankfurt, 2:15am 4/1/11 Korea)
Flight 712 leaves Frankfurt, Germany -> Seoul, Korea

3/31/11 10:06am EST (4:06pm Germany, 11:06pm Korea)
Email from AirAnimal: "They are in Frankfurt having their comfort stop. All is going according to plan."
Shannon's email response: "Comfort stop? Do they get little kitty massages and mamosas?"
Lol! I hope so!

So Charming! If only they were here during Octoberfest!

3/31/11 1:35am EST (7:35am Germany)
Flight 403 arrives in Frankfurt, Germany

3/30/11 5:50pm
Flight 403 leaves Newark -> Frankfurt, Germany

3/30/11 2:09pm
Email from AirAnimal: "They are all checked in and waiting to get their wings. The flight is scheduled to depart on time. I'll send you an update in the morning."

Since they have a lot of times between flights, the kitties decided to tour.

Not much to see in Newark I guess...

3/30/11 9:42am
Flight 3360 arrives in Newark

3/30/11 9:21am
Email from AirAnimal: "Everything went according to plan this morning. They should be landing in Newark any minute now."

3/30/11 8:15am
Flight 3360 leaves Pittsburgh -> Newark

3/30/11 5am
Pickup at our door in Pittsburgh

3/30/11 4:30am
Put frozen water bowls in Kennels and Kitties followed soon there-after. Bella settled in immediately, lying on Shannon's t-shirts, dazed that I had made her get up at 4:30am and put her in a cage. Lizzie was not a happy camper, it took a lot of persuading to put her into the kennel and then she kept pawing at the door trying to open it. Sneaky kitty!

Bella was resigned early on.

 Lizzie was trying to kill me with her laser eyes. (She was upset)

The prisoners... (Notice Lizzie looking forlornly from her cell in the back)

Kat Kennels

To expand on my first post about shipping cats to South Korea. Here's the kennel requirements as outlined by our shipping company, AirAnimal Inc.

1. The flight kennels should have at least 3 inches of clearance around the cats inside while sitting, standing or lying down.
1. We bought 2 kennels for this. The shipping company would have provided loaner kennels for $90/ea. We bought these for $65/ea.
2. The kennel dimensions: 28Lx20.5Wx21.5H inches
3. Kitty dimensions: 14Hx20L
4. So the kitties should be very comfy!
2. Ventilated on all 4 sides.
3. Bolted Edges (None of the easy access clasps)

Pictures of the kennel from front and back. Note the ventilation and wingnut bolts on the sides.

Set-up Requirements (I haven't done these yet):

1. Shredded Paper along the bottom.
1. I'm going to use our shredding machine and shred up newspapers for this.
2. T-shirt or small towel
1. We're going to put old t-shirts in with them that smell like us to cuddle with.
3. No Toys inside! (poor kitties...no toys?!)
4. 2 water dishes that attach to the door filled with water and frozen.
5. 2 ziploc baggies with food secured to the top of the kennel

Here's a picture of our kitties, already asuming something bad is going to happen.

Lizzie's such a ham and Bella likes to pretend the camera isn't there and deliberately turns away. (Bella's on the left, Lizzie's on the right)

They had a vet visit last night to get their health certificates signed. Those were mailed express to the USDA and a copy to AirAnimal, Inc. The ship date is still March 31st. They'll arrive in Korea on April 2nd.

Wish the kitties good luck!

Shipping our Cats to Korea

Both our cats are coming with us to Korea. Rather, I’m shipping them from the US, my husband will receive them in Korea.

We went through an IPATA certified shipper.   http://www.ipata.com/   We went with Air Animal Inc. I’ll give them a more thorough review after our cats get to Korea. http://www.airanimal.com/   Before I hired them though I looked into what would be required to get our cats out of the US and into Korea. Korea’s requirements aren’t that bad.

1.       Need to have a rabies vaccination < 1year but more then 30 days. If less than 30 days, then they have to sit in quarantine until the 30 day mark is reached.

2.       Need to have a Health Certificate by a certified veterinarian (this means the USDA certified vet for your state…. Which means you’ll have to send off for the certification, the USDA has its own rules and regs and it’s a lot harder getting a straight answer from them)

An IPATA shipper, depending on how much you’re willing to pay them, will sort out all this paperwork for you. Pick your pets up at your front door, provide appropriate kennels and supplies, they will transfer your pet (make sure they don’t get lost at an airport), get them through customs, and deliver them to your door at the end.

Because I had so much trouble finding out costs before I did this, I’m going to provide our breakdown here for anyone who might be using this as a reference for their own move. And let me just say, Thank God Shannon’s company is paying for this.

$350       Residential pickup/airport delivery

$403       International health certificates with USDA endorsements

$500       Domestic Cargo

$350       Airline Transfer

$950       International Cargo with Insurance

$1200    Customs clearance, duties fees, and residential delivery

$945       Pet Move Management Fee

_____

$4698    Total

I probably could have done this for cheaper (they call this the VIP treatment). It was worth it to me to have them take care of everything so I wouldn’t have to stress out about this. A month on my own trying to figure out from the USDA certified vet what we needed to do (they gave me 10 year old documents about what’s required by Korea and then contradicted that information on the next page, not to mention pricing charts that had farm animal information instead of pet information) convinced me that it was worth any price to have someone else figure it all out and get my pets safely to me. Also, they’ll have someone who speaks Korean escorting our cats through clearance at the end.  (That’s why customs clearance is so expensive!)

My experience thus far is I would recommend this route to anyone who can take it. I’ll let you know if I still feel that way in April.