Quarantine Long Haul Flight?

[peanutmaurice]

Hello, hoping some of you may be able to help me out. I'm having to move unexpectedly from Australia to the UK.

I have two guinea pigs, who I would obviously dearly love to take with me. Can guinea pigs survive a long-haul flight? Does anyone have any experience of taking them on a long flight?

The guinea pigs are young (2/3 years old) and healthy. I believe they'll also have to be in quarantine for 6 months on their arrival.

I don't want to put them through an unfair ordeal just because I want them with me.

Look forward to your answers, thanks in advance.

 

[Hitosorai]

Ok actually I'm quite certain you can bring them on the plane with you if you have an appropriate container. I remmeber seeing somewhere that you can bring one on. I don't know how happy they would be being in the hold with other animals, it'd be cold and theu would not be happy at the end of the flight..... I don't know about quarintine or long haul flights though I wish you luck with them.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

You need to contact whatever the equivalent of the USDA is in Australia and the UK and find out what it takes to transport guinea pigs. Sometimes if they are under vet care 6 months before hand they don't need to be quarantined on arrival. Sometimes they may need vaccinations. Some airlines may allow you to take them in the cabin and others may not. You will need to contact the different air lines and find out the rules. I use to work in a vet office here in Texas and we did lots of vet checks on animals going to and from Mexico.

 

[bpatters]

They can survive a long flight, but it takes an act of Congress to get them out of one country and into another. No carrier that I know of will allow them in the cabin. They have to travel as cargo, but in a special area of the plane.

The two most pet-friendly airlines I know of are Continental and Lufthansa. Continental has a Pet-Safe program that works very well, but I don't know if they fly into Australia.

They should not have to be quarantined when they arrive, I don't think. But that would be a deal-killer for me, right there. No way would I move them that distance and then leave them to some animal handler at a government-run pound for six months. Check that out and see whether that's the case.

Feylin, one of the posters at Guinea Lynx, has just moved a tortoise from the US to Germany, and it took weeks and a lot of string-pulling to get all the paperwork done. Pimpinpuji, another poster over at GL, is trying to get her guinea pigs from India to the US. My suggestion is that you go read their threads and see what you can learn from them.