Destination: New Zealand
Taking Pets to New Zealand
Taking Pets to New Zealand
New Zealand is the furthest place possible to fly pets to from the UK, but many thousands of pets make the journey to New Zealand each and every year. The list of rules and regulations are complicated and take a bit of time to get used to, so it’s always sensible to give us a call or drop us an email. We can chat you through the pitfalls and help you fly your cat or dog to New Zealand safely and correctly with our pet transport service. Here’s everything you need to know about New Zealand pet travel.
Step 1: When do you want your dog to travel? More than 18 months – do nothing. Between 18-6 months – start the rabies work. Less than 6 months – start the rabies work fast and give us a call as there will need to be an amendment to your plans for our pet transport service to New Zealand.
Dogs and cats being imported to New Zealand from the UK need to have a primary rabies vaccination at least 6 months before they fly and then a rabies blood sample at least 3 months before they fly. The rabies vaccination does need to be within 12 months of the flight date.
Step 2: Get a flight booked. Call us at PetAir UK and we can get a flight booked for your pet to Auckland or Christchurch. This then puts a date in position for us to work from.
Step 3: Book a quarantine space. Dogs and cats have to land in quarantine and serve their time of 10 days in either Auckland or Christchurch. Before taking a pet to New Zealand, there are many forms which need to be filled out and signed by you: registered breed declarations to confirm your dog is not a dangerous breed, value declaration to confirm your pet is not going to attract import duties, customs import declaration and others. Once you have booked the quarantine space, the quarantine station will give you a letter to confirm the space – you will need this letter to confirm quarantine space for your cat or dog.
The quarantine stations are below:
Pethaven Quarantine (Auckland) – 71 Homestead Road, Mangatawhiri, 2471. http://www.pethavenkennels.co.nz/
Qualified Pet Services (Auckland) – 150 Airfield Road, Takanini, Auckland, 2582. www.qualifiedpet.co.nz
Canterbury Quarantine Station (Christchurch) – 1360 Highfield Road, Christchurch, 7671. http://www.canterburyquarantine.co.nz/
Step 4: Get an import permit. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) (http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/ website is very helpful. You need to download the import permit application form. This form asks for details about you in the UK and you in New Zealand and details about your pets who want to enter New Zealand. This form also includes an Official Veterinary Declaration (OVD) and so you will need to find an Official Veterinarian in UK to complete this OVD. Send application form, OVD and the quarantine confirmation letter to NZ MPI and they will ask for any information they are missing and then issue the import permit.
Step 5: So, you have the flight booked, rabies work done, quarantine booked and permit applied for. Now is the time to apply for the DEFRA export paperwork. You need to email DEFRA in the UK (Petexports.carlisle@ahvla.gsi.gov.uk) and ask them to issue you with an application form and EXA 1 forms. You can fill these out and apply for the DEFRA export papers and these will be sent to your vets within 7 days of the flight date.
Step 6: Plan the vet work! Work back from the date of flight to get a timescale of vet work. The below schedule is devised by the PetAir UK vets and allows time to rectify any positive results. There are schedules which make things slightly easier, but they give us no room or time to rectify errors or positive results prior to using our pet transport service to New Zealand.
Day 26-28 before the flight – date of first vet appointment. If you have dogs travelling to New Zealand, then this appointment is the time to take the first blood samples for Leptospira and Heartworm and treat your dog against ticks and internal parasites. If you have cats being imported into New Zealand then this first appointment is to check them over for ticks and to treat them against worms and ticks.
Day 14-16 before the flight – dogs only – second vet appointment. At this appointment, your vet needs to take bloods from your dog for Babesia and Brucella. Cats travelling to New Zealand do not need this middle appointment.
Day 0-2 before the flight – cats and dogs. Both cats and dogs travelling will need UK DEFRA export paperwork completing and so your vet will need to give your dog or cat a full check over, treat them for worms and ticks again and then complete the paperwork. This document must fly with your pets when they travel to New Zealand
Step 7: Head down to the airport and get your pet checked in.
Step 8: An airport vet will double check your vet’s paperwork and make sure that it is all perfect and correct.
Step 9: Plane takes off and off your pet travels on their incredible journey. The quarantine staff will be at the airport to collect them and bring them back to the quarantine station to get them some well deserved food and rest.
Step 10: 10 days later. The pets are released from quarantine and are now fully fledged New Zealand Citizens.
Please do bear in mind that PetAir UK can help with as many or as few of the above stages as you wish as part of our New Zealand pet travel service. We can offer parts of the process or the full process, just ask us.
Related Locations
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Millie to Auckland
I am writing to thank you for providing such a trouble-free service to get her from our home in Hampshire to our new home here is Auckland. In particular, many thanks to Emma Chalmers who handled everything so efficiently and managed our last minute panics – change of collection details less than 24 hours before we were due to fly out and our realisation that we should have left Millie’s vaccination card behind to travel with her. All our issues were dealt with calmly and promptly. Emma really is an asset to your company and you should be very proud of having her on your staff.
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Jet and Tilly flew to New Zealand – March 2021
We used PetAir UK’s Gold service to help relocate our dog and cat from the UK back to New Zealand. They took the stress out of what seemed like a very daunting and complicated process, especially when we had the rest of the family and possessions to relocate in a pandemic. So thank you PetAir and Rachel especially from the Elliott family and Jet and Tilly
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Maisy and Murphy travelled to New Zealand September 2020.
I just wanted to send you my absolute gratitude and thanks for the amazing service you provided me during such a horrible year! My situation is and has been a nightmare this year and a lot has gone pear-shaped BUT thanks to your help my fur babies were the easiest part of organisation for my unplanned move. Please pass this thanks on to your boss/manager and know that I am so grateful for your excellent service and support. Maisy and Murphy are heading to my parents at the end of their quarantine and it’s just me they are waiting for now. They travelled very well.
Again- many thanks and please take care. Blessings – Mel, Maisy and Murphy
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Melly went to New Zealand
Just wanted to let you know I collected Melly from quarantine today and brought her to her new home. Her tail has not stopped wagging. Thank you so much for making this possible, even through a global pandemic. You’re amazing.
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Frankie flew to New Zealand – February 2021
PetAir have been fantastic. They helped us with the move of our Jack Russell Frankie from the UK to New Zealand. We were given great advice from the get go which gave us confidence in their service. They were so knowledgeable and gave us the best options during the current pandemic. We had regular updates and pictures – even in SIngapore(was very impressed with this!) They also recommend an amazing quarantine kennels in Auckland called Pethaven, who bathed and played with our dog as if she was their own. We would highly recommend to anyone looking to fly their pet overseas!
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Archie flew to New Zealand – September 2018
Archie was looked after SO SO WELL. Such a personal service from start to finish. We went for gold and it made the process so straight forward exporting him to NZ – it is very complicated and you don’t save money if you just try and do the other bits yourself. When he was picked up the guy was so kind and understanding, let us make sure he was safely in his crate. Archie got a stop over in Singapore where they let him out the crate – I couldn’t find another company that allowed this. Liaison with the Quarantine was also facilitated. Everything went so smoothly and we were so happy to be reunited with him 10 days later. PetAirUK were also very reasonably priced – you might find a service that saves £100-200 but it won’t be nearly as good. It’s worth it for peace of mind for what is a stressful long and complicated process.
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Fuzzy and Diablo to Auckland
“Hi Linsey
My apologies for not getting in touch after we reached Auckland. Everything was a bit manic with trying to find houses, jobs and making sure the cats were ok.
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for relocating Fuzzie and Diablo for us. Communication was prompt, you obviously had the cats needs at the top of mind when making the arrangements and we really appreciated the fact that this part of the relocation went completely smoothly.
I can’t recommend you highly enough and have already recommended your services to other people we know who are relocating.
Thank you again for all your hard work – a great job.
Many thanks
Exxxx”