There are many good routes for taking pets to Hong Kong from UK. British Airways and Cathay Pacific would be the 2 main airlines as they fly direct and a direct flight is always better for pets. PetAir UK can advise on the best routes for cats and dogs to travel to Hong Kong. The AFCD offices at Hong Kong airport are open 24 hours per day so the pets can land any time of day or night.

In terms of veterinary preparation, Cats need to have had their full UK vaccinations (cat flu and enteritis) and dogs need to have had their full UK vaccinations against Distemper, Canine Hepatitis and Canine Parvovirus. All the vaccinations need to be given at least 14 days before the flight and not more than 12 months. This often catches people out as some parts of the UK vaccines can be given every 3 years. So the owners think that their pets are fully covered, but actually for the purposes of entry of cats and dogs into Hong Kong, all the fractions need to be given within 12 months of the flight date and at least 14 days before the intended flight date. Your pets travelling to Hong Kong must have a working microchip.

As UK still benefits from being rabies free in the eyes of the Hong Kong authorities. So the cats and dogs need to have been residing in UK for at least 180 days before the flight.

APHA in UK are the government authorities governing the export of animals from the UK and APHA export documents need to be applied for to be sent to your vets.

Cats and dogs travelling from UK to Hong Kong need to have an import permit applied for from the Hong Kong authorities. The details are at the Hong Kong government website. An import permit application form needs to be submitted along with the vaccination cards and then the permit will be issued by postage to a Hong Kong address. The original import permit must also be presented when collecting the pets. Dogs and cats flying from UK to Hong Kong do not have to serve any quarantine stay – as long as all the paperwork is correct.

Within 10 days of the flight dogs and cats flying to Hong Kong need to have a check with an Official Veterinarian in UK. The vets will check the pets over for general good health and to check they have not got any infectious or contagious diseases. At this point the Official Veterinarian will complete the APHA export documents and these documents must travel with the pets. This APHA document is produced in UK and is a copy of the health certificate produced by the Hong Kong government.

On landing, the pets have their microchips checked to ensure the paperwork matches the pet. The standard microchip for Hong Kong is an AVID chip (9 digits long) so if a dog or cat does not have one of these chips then they will be implanted with a new chip on landing. Also, if they travel from UK to Hong Kong with no rabies vaccine, then they will be rabies vaccinated at the airport and then with their new chips and rabies vaccine, they can then be issued with a new pet passport.

There’s a lot to consider with Hong Kong pet travel, but PetAir UK can arrange all of this for you from your front door in UK to your front door in Hong Kong, so if you don’t want to worry about getting all of this correct, then PetAir UK fly around 10-20 pets per month to Hong Kong and we are more than happy to help with flying your cats and dogs to Hong Kong

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