Moving to Wuxi with a cat

It was never a discussion in our family whether or not our cat would be joining us on our move overseas. He has lived through my husband's bachelor days, our dating, marriage and two other moves...so he was most definitely going to move to Wuxi with us, old age and all. We often joke that he may not make the return trip home with us, as he takes Senior cat status to a whole new level being almost 14 years old. To be honest, I was worried that because of his age, and the stress of the move, that he might not survive the trauma of a long flight and a stint in the mandated quarantine.

I spent many hours scouring message boards and pet relocation companies prior to our move. The laundry list of paperwork,
vet visits and clearances seemed too much for us to handle on our own. The allure of door to door service seemed most appealing, but at nearly $5000 USD, it was out of our reach. After a bit more research, and we found a vet in China who would assist us with only the tasks we needed help with ( translating paperwork into Chinese and chaperoning our cat from the cargo area to quarantine, and eventually to our home in Wuxi). The fees were fair, the vet spoke English, and even checked our documents via email before we left the States to make sure we had completed everything satisfactorily for customs clearance in China.

In preparation for bringing our cat to Wuxi, we completed the following requirements for shipping our cat as air cargo from the USA:

Two months prior to departure:

1. Rabies shot (must be within one year of departure, but no less than 30 days prior).

2. Booked airline tickets.

3. Ordered cat crate to meet airline specifications. Here's a link to the formula we used to select ours.

4. Made appointment with our vet for 10 days prior to departure  date for health certificate completion.

5. Secured pet relocation services based on our arrival date into Shanghai. 

One month prior: 

1. Brought crate into the house for cat to get accustomed to it. Lured him in with an old blanket and food.

2. Prepared crate: Put "LIVE ANIMALS" stickers on crate, and filled out identification labels. I also bought an airline kit with a large soaker pad for the bottom of the crate from Dry-Fur. Your cat crate must have spill proof feeding dishes (accessible from outside the crate) due to airline regulations.
 

10 days prior: 

1. Another visit to the vet for completion of a health certificate.---VERY IMPORTANT---The name on health certificate, vaccination record and name of Consignee must match the name on your passport. Also, when traveling, the original paperwork/certifications/ vaccination record MUST be traveling WITH your pet. (A Ziploc bag duct taped to our kennel worked fine).

2. Drove to the closest USDA office which was located near LAX airport with our completed health certificate in hand. (Note: take ALL of your paperwork with you). There was a fee of $30 USD for the USDA office stamp.

3. Faxed all completed paperwork,airway bill and our Chinese contact information to Dr. Jenny Yu for review.

4. Confirmed completion of proper paperwork.

5. Confirmed drop off location for cat at LAX.

Day before departure:

1. Stopped feeding cat 12 hours prior to flight. Water only.

2. Made copies of ALL paperwork.

Day of flight:

1. Dropped cat off at cargo area in his carrier. Loaded extra food in a gallon Ziploc taped to the top of his carrier. Left all ORIGINAL paperwork and contact information in Ziploc bag taped to cat crate. 

2. Said goodbye and crossed our fingers.

Upon arrival to Shanghai:

1. We collected our luggage and headed to a Shanghai hotel for the night.

2. Pet relocation company agent met us at the hotel and took my husband's passport overnight to process our cat through customs and into the mandated quarantine (Consignee’s original passport must be provided for custom clearance use)

Day one:

We stayed in Shanghai waiting for my husband's passport to be returned. The vet called to say that the cat had been processed into quarantine and was not eating, but otherwise well. After many hours passed, an agent from the pet relocation company arrived at our hotel with my husband's  passport and we were finally off to Wuxi. If all went well with our cat's physical by a Quarantine official vet, then he would be released to us after 7 days, and would then need to spend the remaining 23 days of quarantine in our home.
 

He arrived, alive and well. Re-united at last.

Day seven: 

Our cat was released from quarantine. A pet relocation agent phoned to say he would deliver our cat to our home. Two hours later we were reunited. With his fur a bit matted (and flea infested), and a little rough around the edges, he arrived in one piece, alive and well.

I've heard stories of people avoiding quarantine by making Hong Kong their first port of entry, but really- quarantine wasn't the death of our cat, and I'm glad that we just went ahead and booked our flight direct from LAX to PVG. I admit, I lost a lot of sleep prior to our move worrying about our cat's well being. Seeing as he is snuggled up next to me right now, purring away, he obviously wasn't too scarred from his experience. Don't let the paperwork or quarantine scare you from bringing your family pet. It's worth the work.

Elle Lay