Cost/effort of relocating cat from US to Dubai... and back to US two years later??

Why don't you leave your cat with your parents? You'll miss him, but we have seen too many animals abandoned here as people bring their pets in (can't live without Fluffy!) and then find they can't afford to take them out again (oh well, guess we'll just have to leave Fluffy behind!). Since you're only planning a 2 year stay, it would be more sensible to avoid his stress and save the money. If you miss a pet once here, volunteers are always welcome at the various animal shelters! Feline Friends always needs fosterers.....

ya, well one of my dogs is small (she weights about 15lbs) and it still cost a lot.... you need to add in the fee for vets, proper carrier, ticket, paper work that will need to be done, and use of a relocation company... i cant wait to move out of here though, even with the cost of taking my dogs with me!!

it cost about $3000 (coming from Canada) for each of my dogs, so $6000 total. I am staying 3 years however (and they arent cats) so of course i brought them with me. If your cat is happy with your parents, then i would leave her there. It is a LOT of stress on an animal which is not crate trained to be put on the plane for that long!

I have done it both ways ie. transported animals to new country and,on other occasions, left them at home when I had family to look after them. You must always think what is best for the animal. Seeing you are only going to be in DXB for 2 years and you say your cat is not used to crating,it might not be a good idea. Our last posting in DXB was meant to be 8 years plus but due to unforseen circumstances we only did 2.5 yrs. I am now so glad that I left the furries at home, even though they have travelled to so many times( are well seasoned" jet setters" LOL....)it saved us all so much drama and stress. I did miss them terribly though. Trust your gut you know what is best for your kitty. Hope all goes well for you. Best wishes :)

Call the airline you would use to transport the cat. Give them the dimensions of his crate (has to be IATA approved and provide enough room for him to stand comfortably and turn around) and approximate weight (including the cat). They can give you a quote (for free) on what it would cost to transport him as cargo or excess baggage (which can be cheaper if the airline transports live animals as excess baggage). The other costs, as mentioned are the chip, vaccinations up to date and a Dept of Agriculture vet inspection cert (in Canada about $100 or was several years ago). You will also need a UAE import cert issued by the UAE Dept of Agriculture (and they will need scanned or faxed copies of all the other docs before they will issue it - my PRO at my employer helped in this step) as I recall it was less than AED200 (again, several years ago). Most if not all airlines will require the chip, all vet certs and the import permit before they will accept the cat for transport. Personally, I recommend KLM - they have transported my pets 5 times and have been great for looking after them and me (my mommy nerves!) to the point where the air crew checks to make sure they're on board and the stopover in Amsterdam I can call the KLM Pet Hotel (they get checked by a vet, watered, access to litter box etc) from the Information Desk to check on them. You don't need a pet relocator - you can pick them up yourself at the cargo village - but you'll need transport and some patience running from counter to counter and then getting the UAE vet to inspect them before they are released. It's not difficult, but can be draining if you've also been travelling for umpteen hours and you will need a place to take them to from the cargo village. If you are coming from the UK or Europe or other than Canada - there may be some differences in the paperwork but your PRO or the airline should be able to assist. edited by marycatherine on 05/07/2011 <em>edited by marycatherine on 05/07/2011</em>

i haven't done it but when we got our cat here he ad to be chipped, vaccinated and have a passport, so i am assuming you will have to get all that before you get here and then i think you will have to quarantine it, for a couple months and that could cots a big lump... http://www.dkc.ae/ this site may be able to help you and maybe you can e-mail them your questions. : )