# Dog quarantine coming from US



## phxto?

I have read varying things about the amount of time that a dog would need to be quarantined coming from the US. Specifically, 10 days or 30 days. Can anyone confirm this for me? Thank you.


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## escapedtonz

It is a minimum period of 10 days for domestic cats & dogs except when being imported from Australia.

Quarantine Facilities for Cats and Dogs | MPI Biosecurity New Zealand


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## phxto?

*info needed specifically from the US*

Thank you for your reply above regarding australia. I am trying to verify quarantine time from US.


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## escapedtonz

phxto? said:


> Thank you for your reply above regarding australia. I am trying to verify quarantine time from US.


That is the quarantine time from the US.

It wasn't a reply regarding Australia.
Australia is the exception to the rule where an import permit and post arrival quarantine not required. Only a post arrival inspection.

US is category 3 where an animal needs an import permit, minimum 10 days post arrival quarantine and a post arrival inspection.

Link to the checklist which is the process to import:-

www.biosecurity.govt.nz/enter/personal/pets/cats-and-dogs


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## phxto?

*Thank you*

Thank you for the info!


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## Liam(at)Large

Used to be 30 days, now minimum 10 as long as everything goes well with biosecurity.


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## phxto?

*Quarantine facilities*

Now that I have confirmed the 10 day vs 30 day quarantine, can anyone give insight into the quality of the facility? Was your dog treated well, etc


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## Liam(at)Large

It's a concrete prison for dogs (and cats). I wouldn't say he was treated well, but he wasn't miss treated either. Food was provided, bed sheets were changed, waste was cleaned up. He wasn't happy to be there I can tell you that and was very happy to come out.


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## mallory5nz

*Quarantine for Dogs from USA*

I JUST got my dogs from quarantine in July and it was a VERY positive experience. They were there 10 days total. The process was smooth and there were no surprises. And I certainly would NOT describe it like a concrete prison. Well, maybe other facilities, but my dogs were at the Levin Shado-Lans facility which was VERY nice. My dogs got to stay together and shared a 3mx3m room with raised beds and also had a 3mx3m private porch.


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## Kimbella

phxto? said:


> I have read varying things about the amount of time that a dog would need to be quarantined coming from the US. Specifically, 10 days or 30 days. Can anyone confirm this for me? Thank you.


My cats just arrived after a year+ long wait. There is only one govt approved quarantine place near Chch on the S. Island, and altho they were fine, both cats were in a simple concrete floored condo (which I had them share), with a door to a caged in area that had open air exposure. The most luxurious part was some underfloor heating, otherwise, pretty plain and simple lay-out considering the cost involved ($1k per cat). The discount for having them share accommodations was about $50... not a whole lot. And, no special exercise was provided, just a general check on them, feeding/watering, and inspections by the maf people. 

Do be aware (if you aren't already), that NZ will require your dog/s to not only be up to date on their rabies, but to provide the test results from a rabies titre blood draw. There is only one laboratory in the US that runs the tests, so they are pricey--the titres for my cats was either $250 or $500 *each*. Luckily, other than the actual pet shipping company and the quarantine costs, that wound up being the most expensive vet cost.

Cheers,

Kim


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## mallory5nz

Kimbella said:


> Do be aware (if you aren't already), that NZ will require your dog/s to not only be up to date on their rabies, but to provide the test results from a rabies titre blood draw. There is only one laboratory in the US that runs the tests, so they are pricey--the titres for my cats was either $250 or $500 *each*. Luckily, other than the actual pet shipping company and the quarantine costs, that wound up being the most expensive vet cost.


Hmmmm. You may have been given some inaccurate information regarding the rabies titer. Either that or it is considerably less money for dogs. My rabies titers were done through Kansas State University I believe and were $165 each. Of course if you take into account all the blood tests that also had to be done, it DID end up costing close to $600/dog. My biggest gripe is the airfare. $2500 per dog to fly them over.


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## Liam(at)Large

mallory5nz said:


> Hmmmm. You may have been given some inaccurate information regarding the rabies titer. Either that or it is considerably less money for dogs. My rabies titers were done through Kansas State University I believe and were $165 each. Of course if you take into account all the blood tests that also had to be done, it DID end up costing close to $600/dog. My biggest gripe is the airfare. $2500 per dog to fly them over.


KSU is the only place to get the titre done and the current cost is $300/animal.


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## pmbpro

mallory5nz said:


> My biggest gripe is the airfare. $2500 per dog to fly them over.


Wow!  That's the same price as me flying over there myself!


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## Kimbella

Liam(at)Large said:


> KSU is the only place to get the titre done and the current cost is $300/animal.


Definitely not misinformed, I paid the price for 2 cats, and definitely remember gasping at the cost!  But, maybe dogs are cheaper, or perhaps the price has reduced since they had the titre done last year! 

I used a wonderful company called jet-pets based out of LAX who held my hand from beginning to end, and altho I did all the vet paper work coordinating and obtained the FDA form required by NZ MAF to get a "permit to import" certificate, they did pretty much everything else for less than $1800 for 2 cats, and were "fantastic" to deal with. Hope it goes well for you, you can look forward to about another $150 for the USDA OVD form to be stamped approved, plus the kennels require special reinforcement. Anyway, you probably already know all of this as it seems you are well ahead in the process! Good luck!


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## Maria2011

*2015 costs to bring dog from US to NZ*

Greetings all, although I signed up for expat several years ago, I believe this may be my first actual post.

I am a nurse(pediatric) who is exploring first traveling to NZ for 3 months to evaluate whether moving there permanently is something that will work.

My immediate issue is bringing my dog. I realize that this has probably been discussed often but I can't seem to find current figures. 

He is an 80pound Chocolate Labrador Retriever. My vet highly discouraged me from taking him with me for the visit because she said that one of her patients did all the work herself without engaging a pet transport company and it still cost her close to $10K USD. 

I do have a query pending with the transportation company the vet recommended(she said it can become a nightmare trying to get every i dotted, t crossed). 

I do trust the Vet---but because it seems like such an exorbitant amount of money, I feel better verifying this..Is there anyone here that has done it within the past year? Or know someone who has? I'd love to connect and discuss costs, tips, etc.


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## mallory5nz

Hi Maria. I shipped 7 Labradors over in 2013 so my numbers are likely a bit out of date but here's a few things I can tell you.

I would not bring your boy with you for the visit. First off it's going to make traveling around the country far more difficult... not to mention the prep work to get him prepared to go (microchipping, redone vaccinations, blood titres, etc.). Plus the stress/strain of putting a dog through the cargo trip is not to be underestimated. And then he's going to spend AT LEAST the first 10 days of your visit sitting in quarantine. So my recommendation is to find a good pet sitter to give your boy a holiday while you make the trip over to check things out.

Next, your vet said that a client of his did all the work themselves and did not use a pet transport company. I'm sorry but either your vet has this wrong or someone paid off the airlines because it is IMPOSSIBLE to bring a dog to New Zealand without using a pet transport agency. YOU can do a lot of the ground work (that they like to charge for) and save some of the costs but the airlines will NOT accept a reservation for a dog if it does not come through one of their approved transport agencies. Possibly if the dog was a service dog... MAYBE that was the loop hole but believe me, after having shipped my first 4 dogs over, I tried every avenue I could think of to try to do the remaining 3 myself!

As for costs... $10K USD is a bit high in my opinion. A single dog (even the size of your boy) is probably going to cost you around $3500 (USD) for the flight (you're lucky you are on the West coast and don't have to ship him across the USA first!). Quarantine will be another $1500 (NZD). Pre-work with your vet will probably run about $1000 (USD).

Your vet needs to be qualified to do an international export but the pet transport company will handle all the end paperwork in LA. I used a company called animaltransporters.com. "Debbie" is very knowledgeable about the NZ process and is a stickler for detail. They were the best deal I found. Be careful when getting quotes. I studied the requirements very thoroughly myself (because I was terrified of a hiccup!). Many of the places out there that say they ship to New Zealand may not have ever shipped a dog here! Be sure to get LOTS of references from them and if they won't give them to you... stating client privacy... GO ELSEWHERE! 

I can imagine nothing more terrifying than the process getting screwed up and my dog getting lost OR destroyed because all the T's were not crossed and I's dotted!

The American dollar is strong right now so it's a good time to visit! My best friend here is a nurse as well (from the UK). She loves it!


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## Maria2011

Mallory, thank you so much for your prompt and detailed reply. I think you're right. Leaving him here first is the more humane(for him and me) option.

I live just outside SF and Vet bills/tests are quite pricey--which is why perhaps her quote was a bit higher?

Does the flight cost you quoted include type of kennel that NZ requires? I've read on some forums that extra reinforcement hardware is a requirement. 

The import fees don't seem too unreasonable.

Add: thank you for the pet transport reference.

Adding up the sum of your quotes brings us to $6K... it seems like an exorbitant price to pay. 

I'm glad to hear your nurse friend loves NZ. Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the strong USD. I actually began the search again (once before in 08 and timing was off) only to learn how strong the USD is right now.

How long have you been in NZ? Thanks again, so much.


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## mallory5nz

This is my 10th year in New Zealand. I love it! I returned back to the States in 2012/2013 to find/purchase the lab puppies I wanted to import. Puppies add a whole other challenge as they can't ship until they are a minimum of 9 months old so I ended up staying in the States for nearly 1.5 years finding & raising the pups before I came back to NZ and shipped them over! So I had added expense for sure. My last two pups were younger than the first ones so it was 5 months after I got back to NZ with the other 5 (now) dogs before the last two pups shipped over. I had to pay someone to care for them that whole time. Ugh.

Because your boy is an adult, you MAY be ahead of the game. But the key thing will be if he's been microchipped (and if it was an ISO Internationally approved chip). IF he was chipped with the proper chip BEFORE you got him his rabies vaccine and other vaccines, you might not need to redo those. But some of the requirements are so uncommon that those you certainly won't have done just having a dog in the USA and they'll have to be done. 

My Vet told me the fees up front. And I was also told the costs of the tests/titres that had to be sent out. Be sure you get that info beforehand so there are no surprises. 

The kennel for transport is no big deal! I got mine from Petsmart. They were $100 each. There ARE requirements... mainly around the type of fasteners that are used to connect the top and bottom of the crate and the ventilation. But don't feel that you need to have a custom crate built. My $100 crates worked GREAT (and in fact my dogs still sleep in them today!). Is your boy crate trained? If not (or even if he is), get his shipping crate early and let it become his den. At least then he'll be comfortable in his den during the shipping process even though the environment around him will be scary. If you talk to animal transporters they can tell you yay or nay about a specific crate as to whether it meets the requirements. You want one that says IATA approved.


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## Maria2011

How wonderful that it was a joy-inspiring move for you. Quite the pack you have there ;-) That's fabulous. I love dogs and especially Labradors. But one at a time is all I've been able to manage.

He was microchipped(he's 10) as a pup and as you know, has received several rabies/distemper, etc vaccines by now. Vet said that his chip is fine(Avid) but I'll double check with the Avid and the NZ authorities.

I'm glad that I can get a crate at Petsmart. I went to Mexico with him and have flown him across the country twice over the years but I gave that kennel away at one point. ;-(

Thinking out loud here---it may be a good idea to get his rabies titer done now--I read at the nz gov site that that titer is good for one year. 

Thanks again! Where are you located per chance? North Island is where I plan to explore first. I have an acquaintance who grew up in NZ that lives there. Unfortunately, she hasn't any idea about the pet import regs...


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## mallory5nz

North Island -- Hawkes Bay. I'm happy to help/advise however I can! You can find me at Skylit Farm Labradors on Facebook or .com


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## Maria2011

That's great. Thanks. I will definitely be in touch.


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## Kimbella

Maria2011 said:


> How wonderful that it was a joy-inspiring move for you. Quite the pack you have there ;-) That's fabulous. I love dogs and especially Labradors. But one at a time is all I've been able to manage.
> 
> He was microchipped(he's 10) as a pup and as you know, has received several rabies/distemper, etc vaccines by now. Vet said that his chip is fine(Avid) but I'll double check with the Avid and the NZ authorities.
> 
> I'm glad that I can get a crate at Petsmart. I went to Mexico with him and have flown him across the country twice over the years but I gave that kennel away at one point. ;-(
> 
> Thinking out loud here---it may be a good idea to get his rabies titer done now--I read at the nz gov site that that titer is good for one year.
> 
> Thanks again! Where are you located per chance? North Island is where I plan to explore first. I have an acquaintance who grew up in NZ that lives there. Unfortunately, she hasn't any idea about the pet import regs...


Congrats on getting started! I did not ship a dog, but I did ship two cats from California. It was an occasionally odious amount of paperwork, but entirely doable if you're an extremely organized person. I used a California company called jet-pets, who operate straight out of LAX (on airport grounds), so their costs are in some cases much lower than other companies. You would have to get your animals to their facility on your own, either via drop-off or arrange shipment from where you are, but other than that, they were incredible to work with. I drove with my cats from N California, dropped them at the facility, was allowed into the back to put them in their cat condos and say goodbye. They ship animals from all over the world, including large animals such as horses, etc. My contact there was named Lynn Devan. I pulled up one of my old emails for some details: in 2013 the shipping cost was based on the size of the kennel. You are correct that it needs to be compliant, and also that it needs specific types of fasteners. What's important to note about the kennels aside from their air compliance, is you need to ensure they meet the size criteria for your dog. There are very specific amounts of space to move that they *have* to have, so the kennel needs to over-fit your dog (you'll find the info on import/export websites, or your shipper will direct you to it). I bought the kennels and (separately) the fasteners off Amazon (Sky Kennels brand) for minimal money. For 2 cats (twice the handling, twice the paperwork), my final cost from jet-pets was $1775.00. Now, this did not include vet costs for all the required shots and tests, or the USDA and NZ MPI certificates to export/import--but, it was by far, the cheapest shipping quote I received, and from the moment we started communicating, Lynn, or her rep, held my hand the whole way. Anyway, not trying to sway you one way or another as far as companies, just offering a first person review from someone who is quite type A and hyper-organized. I don't know if their prices or service has changed since 2013, but, I wouldn't think your dog would be *that* much more, considering his crate wouldn't/shouldn't be too much larger than my two cat crates together, space wise. 

Also, my older cat was 10 when I shipped her, and was micro-chipped when I got her in 2004. I initially thought I would have to update her chip, but was informed by NZ officials that her chip (also an Avid, I believe) was readable with their newly update chip readers (they can now read multiple types of micro chips). I can't find that email, unfortunately, but it should be easy to find on the govt.nz website, or to email them for confirmation.

Best of luck with your journey!


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## Maria2011

Kimbella--so sorry for this delayed reply. Thank you so much for your detailed and informative post. I'm copy/pasting yours and mallory's for future reference.

After weighing all the options, I decided that indeed this trip is not the right time to bring my dog. But, I am going to have his rabies antibody titer done because it seems that this test has the longest window---in that it can't done less than 3 months pre departure but its' good for a year. If it comes to pass that I do indeed decide to move, this has been a wonderful introduction(!) and I'll keep accumulating information.

Right now I'm delighted that 1) I found someone(former landlady) who will look after him for a very modest fee--she loves dogs and all animals and especially loves Stormy. 2) That I'm going to New Zealand in a couple of months(!!). 

I will read through more threads here to get more up to speed on other aspects of life in NZ. 

Exciting times...it's been a while ;-)


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