Pet Relocation Made Easy

Kevin O'Brien is the co-founder and President of PetRelocation.com, the pet travel and transportation industry's leading service provider in offering full-service arrangements using pet friendly airlines for domestic and international pet transportation.

Founded in 2004 in Austin, Texas, a strong emphasis is placed on assisting companies with relocating employees who own pets.

For their corporate clients, Petrelocation offers free training seminars to corporate relocation specialists on domestic and international pet transport. The popular seminars focus on frequently asked questions about moving pets, address common anxieties about the pet transport process and are presented both online and on-site.

Expats Guide: Is there a difference between national pet relocation and international pet
travel ?

Kevin: Yes. Domestic relocations usually do not need as much notice as international moves nor do they require the extensive set of import requirements needed to enter most countries.

For example, some international locations like Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia require at least 6 months of preparation prior to your pet even departing their origin country.

Whenever you cross an international border, you must be prepared to show a lot of documents that can show your pet has cleared their required import rules.

Expats Guide: Can you tell us a little about the international pet travel procedure?

Kevin: When moving pets internationally, it's important to make sure that you not only are complying with the requirements for the country of import, but also for your country of export.

Our International Rules and Requirements pages are based of exporting dogs and cats from the US. In other countries additional documents and/or tests may be required for export - in addition to the import requirements of your destination country.

Expats Guide: What are the advantages of hiring a pet relocation company versus doing it on your own?

Kevin Every pet relocation presents its own unique set of challenges and planning, and various elements can have a strong impact on not only the final price of a customer's pet move, but also the level of stress and personal involvement in handling the situation. We are a service that take the 'pain' out of handling the process yourself and believe we have developed a great system in handling the care of our customers' pets when traveling.

Expats Guide: When someone is searching for a professional pet relocation company, what should he check?

Kevin: You should check to see if they are accredited members of the major industry associations such as IPATA and IATA. Be sure to read their client testimonials if available. If not, ask them to provide you with a few past clients. At the end of the day, you want to go with someone you can trust to take care of your beloved animal.

It's important that a company be responsive to your inquiries from the get-go. If the pet relocation company takes 2 weeks to return your phone call the first time around, imagine trying to get a hold of them when your pet is over the middle of the Atlantic!

Expats Guide: What type of animals does your company mostly handle, and do you have a story about a "unique" pet that you have handled its relocation?

Kevin: While it's true that most of our "customers" are dogs and cats, our motto is "any pet, anywhere, anytime."

We have moved 14 horses to Honduras, fifty dart frogs from Switzerland to the US, exotic parrots and other birds, rabbits, a guinea pig named Snowflake.

We even moved one Siamese fighting fish from Seattle to Amsterdam whose saga was detailed by his owner on our blog, complete with pictures.

Another story is about Jake, a German shepherd who we have moved several times (his owners work for Dell Computers).

We first moved Jake from Austin, TX, USA to Panama City, Panama, and then a while later they wanted us to move him to Tokyo, Japan. Japan is rabies free (similar to the UK), so we had to arrange to get a rabies blood test done ahead of to fulfill the import requirements for Japan.

We arranged for him to be boarded in Austin, and sent him on a flight from Panama back to Austin while he awaited his trip to Japan. We also did all the pre-export paperwork for Japan, and then sent him safely on to Tokyo.

Jake's a good example of our full door-to-door service for a client who moves frequently for work and otherwise would not be able to handle all the details of his pet's move.

Expats Guide:The Humane Society of the United States warns about pets being killed, Injured, or lost on commercial flights each year. What do you recommend to do in order to minimize the chances that this would happen to your pet?

Kevin: The Humane Society of the United States is correct in that it does happen, but not nearly as often as they make it seem. This link and story best describes this issue.

The statistics shock most that read this, rather than the myths that are online when doing web searches and the dangers of pet travel.

Expats Guide: Is there a possibility to insure your pet against any accident that might happen during the pet relocation process, and how?

Kevin: No, as accidents do happen. However, as you can tell from the story above, the odds are in our favor.

Expats Guide: Any pet air travel final suggestions?

Kevin: Plan ahead & Do not Sedate your pets! Call a professional

Expats Guide: Thank you Kevin for such an interesting and informative interview.

You can find more information at the conpany's website petrelocation.com