Just curious, I am still undecided, I love my pets like my children but I don't know whether I will take them with me or not.

I left my two cats behind because I knew it would be hard to move them and because hubby only had a small place...

i put them both in good homes before I left though....

I brought my two cats with me to the USA last year.

I'll do half and half. I have two cats, which I plan on bringing with me. Truth be told they are not young (13 and 15 now), and it worries me a bit, but I simply could not leave them and due to their age, I doubt I could find them good homes. I also have two gerbils, and I will leave them here if they are still alive by the time we move (gerbils tend to live 2-3 years and mine will be just over two years when we move). That's because I don't think they could take the stress of travel, and a friend who got me into gerbils in the first place, is willing to look after them.

We have 2 budgies that came with us. It was a total pain in the derriere and spendy, but well worth it. Mind you, being childless by choice, our birdies are our off-singing-spring

If you are flying over with your fiance(e) you could probably bring your cats over in cabin from Ireland. I did this with my two last year; much less stressful than a noisy luggage hold.

I have never had a pet in my whole life but I bet you love them like your children like you said you and your children must be use to them so take them with a new start for all of you .Even with cats dogs and more ...........

I had 2 dogs and 3 cats which I left in the UK. I would have loved to have brought them with me, but they were all old (13 years plus) and I really didn't think they would make the journey very well...so I left them with my Ex when we divorced, because I moved out to a small apartment and couldn't have them there, but I had visitation rights and I used to see them a lot while I was over there. It broke my heart to leave them, and during the time I have been here , they have all since died of old age

It's true they are like your kids, but you have to weigh-up the pros and cons of moving them.

PS......I left my kids there too!!! But they are both married with kids so I don't feel so bad about that!

I have 4 pets at the moment, I'm thinking 2 of them I might leave here (one of them I don't think I'll be allowed to take into the US anyway because it is a species that comes from Mexico and as far as i know is extinct there now, though they are quite common as pets here) The other is a rabbit, and he's getting old and I don't think he would survive the trip.
I might leave the other 2 here for now and bring them over later as they are my closest pets and I have a very strong bond with them, one is my cat, Blues Clues, and the other is my turtle, Ollie. I'm still not sure though, my parents reckon I should leave Blues Clues here as he won't know about the dangers of things like snakes and scorpions and suchlike in the US and may get himself into trouble.
I love animals, hubby is quietly going crazy I think, wondering what I'm going to bring into the house when I get there I've told him I want a fainting goat, and an armadillo, and some lizards, and a snake ...

I don't have any pets so No in my case. I do, however, have a special teddybear. My MIL runs a small graphic design business in her spare time and she made a passport for the teddy, so that when he travels to the US he'll be legal! I actually have it stamped in 3 countries!!

Really? OMG that's cute!

Yeah, really - see attached pics! I took Bertie (the infamous teddybear) with me to the US the first time I went to visit my SO. My MIL mailed me the passport beforehand and Bertie has made the journey with me twice now (can't leave him behind now, can I?!) He has passport stamps from the US, Germany and NL. In NL the passport officer actually ASKED me if Bertie had a passport (totally straight face) so I handed it over (totally straight face) while his colleague gave him some REALLY funny looks. It was priceless!

I brought my cat and his flight was more expensive than mine, but what to do? I love him.

Yes we have a black Lab named Maggie and a brown /orange cat named Corey and both are coming with me.
Actually Maggie is an American .She flew with me from WA to Germany in October 2006 cause at the time James started working as a Truck Driver and the only option keeping her was for me to take her to Germany.So basically Maggie is going back home and Corey is moving overseas with my son and me.
I don't understand ppl that just leave their pets behind.Unless of course the pet/s is/are very old or has health issues.
Well ,and of course you have to leave birds behind when moving to the States which I find sad because birds like parrots can get extremly attached to their "owners".
Nat