Need help on how to get our cat to Beijing

[Mikayla]

So my family is looking into moving to China (most likely Beijing) in March of 2016. I am needing to know how to best get her past the quarentine.

 

Now, the be clear my cat is not sick! She has no health problems and we will do every single test that they requrie to make sure she doesn't have any illness befrore taking her abroad! But if we have to put her in a 30 day quarentine in Beijing she WILL die. My cat is 19 years old. She is in perfect health and on track to live for several more years. However, if she has to be in a 30 day quarentine away from our family she WILL get depressed and stop eating and she will die. We are going on our honeymoon next month and I am worried about leaving her with a house sitter for a week. There is no way I am leaving her in a tiny quarentine where she gets no interaction and sits in a filthy cage for 30 days.

 

I have heard that Tianjin doesn't have a quarentine. Anyone know if this is true? Any other routes we could take to get the cat to Beijing?

 

Obviously she is an old cat, her health could very well change in the next 6 months and if it does we will change our plans as needed. If there were a safe olace for her that she could happily live in the US we would not put her through a move but there is no where else for her to go and this is our best option.

[Shelley]

I have no advice to give but my best wishes it all works out.

 

My old cat died at 20years and 2 months, last October. I was so glad to be able to be with her 24/7 for her whole life and would have been devastated to not be with her for those last few weeks when she really needed me.

 

She had a few small health issues but was relatively well right to the last.

 

If your cat was in quarantine can you not visit and be with her during those 30 days?

 

I really feel for you, as a cat lover, my heart goes out to you.

[anonymoose]

My cat is still in Shanghai. I have the opposite problem of getting her back to the UK. Fortunately she doesn't have to go in quarantine, but I'm worried about the journey - a flying time of 12 hours, but then going to the airport early, and having to go to the animal reception centre on arrival in the UK - the journey is more likely to be about 20 hours for her. She gets very distressed when out of her comfort zone.

 

I hope your cat makes it.

[Shelley]

@anonymoose  is your cat very old? Even if she is young, it won't be easy. Hope your cat makes home safely too.

 

Is she a Chinese cat or a British cat coming home?

[anonymoose]

She's three years old, and she's a Chinese British shorthair.

[Shelley]

@anonymoose 

[Mikayla]

Thanks for the well wishes. We also had a dog who lived to be 18, she died while I was on my study abroad and it was devestating. I can't imagine leaving the cat behind knowing she would be miserible at my parents house and that I wouldn't be with her when she passes. We are trying to find an airline that will let us take her in the cabin so that we don't have to send her with the cargo. I think if we can do that she should be okay. If we could fly into Tianjin she would probibly be okay on the flight but we would have no idea how to get her from Tianjin to Beijing. Pretty sure you can't take a cat on the train or in a taxi but I have no idea how to find a real answer on that one.

[imron]

Where are you flying from that you can fly in to Tianjin directly without first going through Beijing or some other major airport such as Shanghai/Guangzhou that *will* have quarantine.

[Mikayla]

Our thought at the moment is to fly through South Korea. I read an article from a woman who flew the same route, us to korea, korean to tianjin and then they drove to Beijing. She said that since they never left the airport, both flights were in the international terminal, they didn't have to worry about customs or anything like that in korea. Not sure if that is true or not, still need so do some research. But that is our only real thought at the moment.

 

Everything else we have been able to find is from people who flew into a small airport and then took a domestic flight but that would mean bringing an extra hard carrier and putting her in with the cargo for the domestic flight and I would rather avoid that.

[imron]

I'm surprised actually that such a large loophole exists, and yet here is the article you are presumably talking about so it does seem possible.

 

One thing to note, that trip happened in 2011, and a lot can change in China in 4 years.

[Mikayla]

Oh I realize, that's why I made this thread. I was hoping someone here would have more updated information.

[Huina]

Good luck, I am moving my cat from Nanjing to Beijing and it's a huge hassle, I'm so nervous about her. There are some relocation companies who help transport pets. Have you looked into working with one of those?

[eion_padraig]

I brought my cats and dogs into Guangzhou from Los Angeles. As long as you had the correct paper work, you do not have to have them in quarantine down here in Guangzhou. Getting the correct paperwork is a bit of a hassle, but it's manageable. I was in the US, so you needed a USDA certified veterinarian to fill out all the paperwork and then get it stamped by a regional USDA office within 10 days of your arrival in Guangzhou.

 

I have heard that Beijing enforces a month long quarantine and that Shanghai's is 1 week, but finding concrete information without hiring an importation company is tough.

 

Also, I wouldn't suggest bringing animals in as cargo, unless you have a fixer on this end. The dogs were brought as checked luggage (easy process if your paperwork is correct; I filled out one sheet written in Chinese), but the cats were classified as cargo. We had to pick them up off site and nearly didn't get them. A important/export company guy took pity on me and helped me for 2 1/2 hours. He was clearly the most connected guy there who didn't work for the customs. He'd cut right in front of people without them saying a word.

 

I knew someone who flew his dog to Hong Kong and then had it smuggled in, but that was a hassle too from what he said. I don't think he knew you could do it legally with less trouble.

 

Good luck brining your cat. It's great having your family with you. One of my cats did get sick and die (she was 9 years old), but my other one and the two dogs are still pretty good. I think my dogs have a couple more years, but they're getting up there in age.

 

I had a couple of colleagues bring in their dog this fall from the US. Their process was the same as my dogs back in 2013. You can only bring in one animal per passport per trip. 

 

Eion