Bring a cat to the US

[Naes 12,205]

1) Check if your country has any legal requirements to board on the plane - this info you can get from the airline

2) check if your state has any legal requirements, most U.S states in mainland does not have it. not even rabies vaccine- although we went ahead and did it too- 

 

We used delta airlines coming from japan to california. we needed some papers ready to show good health on japan side to ride the plane, but for example normally a titer was required if the pet was coming back to japan but we decided not to because california didnt require it. So all in all we paid probably a good 1000$ for the vet who ripped us off kindly... and in california nobody checked the pets... like nobody.

 

For cabin, usually 1 month in advance is good enough try to get a soft carrier for airplanes they are usually better for kitties

 

Good luck!

 

PS_ this is specifically for cats, for dogs there are a lot of requirements depending on the state its going.

Edited August 30, 2019 by Naes

[Russel1995 163]

The US has laws about service animals.. technically they arent even allowed to ssk if it is a service animal.

 

i wonder  if theyneed to follow it for people entering the country 🤔

[Nitas_man 3,100]

16 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

Hi guys, 

ok today I have a question a little bit special . It’s for my cats lol 

we bring them in USA with us and went to the veterinary for the passport , vaccinations etc but he don’t find some info and .. now it’s up to us to find them .. 

anyway ..he is the only one around ..

so if someone can help me because I look everywhere , send mail but no answer ..
 The vet asks me to provide information on what follows:
 - What is the antibody titration required for transport to the USA?
 - what are the mandatory / proscribed parasitic suppressants according to the states.
 - what is the delay for the clinical examination before departure.

 

thank you for your help !!! 

Nobody checks the cat when it gets to the US

Your questions need to be directed to the airline

We flew KLM and they emailed us the instructions to get the howling beast on the flight

Edited August 31, 2019 by Nitas_man

[SaRy 73]

Hello,

 

I  brought my cat with me when I traveled from Morocco to the USA. I can't really answer your technical questions, but you can find some useful info from an official source here:

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel/bring-pet-into-the-united-states

 

I think it would be best if you can find another vet. Try calling a few veterinary clinics and ask if they have experience with preparing cats for flights to the USA.

My vet took care of everything, I only had to do one more step by myself (some official paperwork).

 

The funny thing is no one bothered to check my paperwork at the airport. So even though you might not even need all that stuff, get it done just in case.

 

Bon courage! 

[HRQX 4,145]

17 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

It’s for my cats lol 

we bring them in USA with us

As long as your final destination isn't a state like Hawaii then you're good.

http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/ai/aqs/aqs-info/

[SalishSea 16,746]

16 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

we already have for both of the cats the EU passport

That is fantastic that the EU issues cat passports.

[Sukie 1,439]

Your airline will have specific rules, AND, the state you land in will have specific rules.  We flew cats from Hong Kong to JFK (in the hold on our flight) and imported another cat from Australia (on a different flight from us) to JFK.  The State of New York requires cats to have a rabies vaccine on import.  Both Cathay Pacific (from HK) and Qantas (from Australia) required the cats to be microchipped as well as having a veterinary certificate citing the cat was healthy.  This certificate had to be filled out within a week of travel.

 

Please note:  the US, in general, does not require any specific shots/titers for cats.  But each state has its own rules.  In both of our cases, we used a pet transport company to help us transport the animals.  It was worth the money.

 

And, when we flew from HK, I, myself, had to insist that the customs officials sign off on the import documents.  The guys at JFK did not know what the hell they were doing.  The cat we shipped from Australia was done through Lufthansa's freight depot, and those guys knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

 

Sukie in NY

[Mr & Mrs T 778]

Hello VJ family, 

 

i had answers from Departmental Directorate of Population Protection (DDPP in France ) and they told me : 

- no antibodies titration 

to bring a cat to the US it’s  highly recommend even if the State not require it to: 

- have a cat who is identified with a micro ship ( no tattoo) 

- have a cat who has à European Paasport ( when you travel from Europe) 

- have a cat who is vaccinated again rabies.

- the vet of the DDPP recommend me to vaccinate them against échinococcose 

(Echinococcosis is a zoonosis caused by a flat worm, echinococcus.  In Europe it is mainly Echinococcus multilocularis, but there are other parasitic echinococci in almost all parts of the world.) 

- have a cat who is in good health ( the vet can or put that in the section X( ten) of the European Passport or delivered you a health certificate ) do this at the last last mn . The certificate can not be done more than 7 days before flying . If you do it 2 days or the day before it’s better .

 

then on my side my cats for sure will be treat against flees and wormed before the travel . 

Both had their teeth’s checked and one of them had his teeth cleaned from  tartar and one teeth removed after the vet saw a little infection on it . 

 

With all that we are supposed to be ok 👌 🙏🤪

[lady3jane 39]

On 8/30/2019 at 12:30 PM, Mr & Mrs T said:

we already have for both of the cats the EU passport

A cat with a passport,  just thinking about it amused me so much.  

I guess that would be one thing I would actually  not resent doing all the paperwork for,  just so I could have it. 

I hope the said passports are as endearing as they sound.

Thanks for the useful question and information, btw, much appreciated for future reference. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

On 8/31/2019 at 2:00 AM, Sukie said:

Your airline will have specific rules, AND, the state you land in will have specific rules.  We flew cats from Hong Kong to JFK (in the hold on our flight) and imported another cat from Australia (on a different flight from us) to JFK.  The State of New York requires cats to have a rabies vaccine on import.  Both Cathay Pacific (from HK) and Qantas (from Australia) required the cats to be microchipped as well as having a veterinary certificate citing the cat was healthy.  This certificate had to be filled out within a week of travel.

 

Please note:  the US, in general, does not require any specific shots/titers for cats.  But each state has its own rules.  In both of our cases, we used a pet transport company to help us transport the animals.  It was worth the money.

 

And, when we flew from HK, I, myself, had to insist that the customs officials sign off on the import documents.  The guys at JFK did not know what the hell they were doing.  The cat we shipped from Australia was done through Lufthansa's freight depot, and those guys knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

 

Sukie in NY

Who checks at JFK?  I suspect nobody.  There wasn’t anyone at IAH to check the howling animal.

[Sukie 1,439]

1 hour ago, Nitas_man said:

Who checks at JFK?  I suspect nobody.  There wasn’t anyone at IAH to check the howling animal.

Since the cats came as excess baggage, I presented their papers to the customs official as I left the baggage area.  He looked at it and did not know what the heck to do, so he called his supervisor over.  The supervisor took the paperwork and disappeared into some back room where he stayed for about 10 minutes.  Then he came back, handed me the paperwork and waved us all through.

 

Sukie in NY