It Finally Happened... $5323.00 Later, The Dogs Are Here !
Oh my goodness, the time has finally come. The dogs are finally here in England, I honestly didn’t think the day would ever come.
Now even though we are definitely still adjusting to routines and schedules… and dog food ( I’ll save that part for later ). I thought I would take the time to share with you the process of how I got them here. As one of my youtube videos and blog posts that gain the most eyes on it, are the ones that talk about the moving process.
So if you are moving the UK from Canada, with pets, this post is for you ( and if you are just nosey, feel free to read along anyways ).
So, you wanna move to the UK, but you have a fur baby or two. This is what you will need to do.
*** PS. If you want the exact details of how scroll to the bottom for the quick information and none of the story time ***
1. Make sure you have a lot of money saved, I hate to break this to you. This will not be cheap.
First things first, my dogs needed to see the vet in Canada. They were needing to be microchipped ( 1 was chipped, 1 was not ), and they will be needing their rabies vaccination, as well as a Vet Health Certificate, they will also need to be dewormed, however they take this closer to the time of their flight.
If your dog is not microchipped, this will come with a fee obviously ( I think it was around $25 ), however, if they are microchipped, and that microchip is not registered to you ( Charlie was microchipped and was however registered to the breeder I got him from ), you will then have to pay for the registry information to be transferred to your details. I believe this fee was approximately $19.95 CAD.
All in all I believe the dogs initial vet appointments cost between $175 – and $225. As I already mentioned, Charlie’s vet appointment was a bit cheaper as he was already microchipped, but I in turn didn’t end up saving any money here as I just needed to call and pay to get that registration switched to me.
Once the dogs had their rabies shots – you had to wait a minimum of 21 days before they were able to fly. This is where things went ALL wrong for me.
So Charlie actually went for this initial appointment on April 16th 2018, I know this… Because after I left this appointment is when I got into my car accident and basically where everything shit the bed. I have some pics of that nightmare in this blog post here – feel free to check it out if you wanna see where the nightmare domino effect began.
When I was in that car accident to no surprise, the people whom were at fault, tried to say that the accident was not their fault, and therefore there was a delay in me getting any type of compensation. And believe it or not ( if you know me, you know that this WOULD happen to me as my luck typically goes this way ), I was on my way to go sell my car, in which those funds were going to be what paid for the dogs flights. So therefore, when the other people involved in the accident lied about what happened, that delayed the insurance money getting to me to make up for the money I did not get with the sale of my vehicle.
To further add to the stress, anxiety, and total nightmare of the situation… when the claim was finally dealt with, and proven that it was not my fault…. The pure negligence of the insurance company did not pass along my new contact information aka, when I called them literally from the airport when I was leaving the country for good. Aka those emails that I had sent with my new contact number, address, and email… Ya that was never passed along to the appropriate people, and then when they were trying to pay me out they could not get a hold of me.
Which side note, when I told the adjuster I had passed along all this information, she had the cheek to tell me that she was not privy to the information in my file since she was defending the other party. Another fun fact, me and the other party had the same insurance company. So I actually find it quite hard to believe that nothing was discussed about my file with her co workers, and even if there wasn’t who would think a CONTACT NUMBER would be information that she would not be privy to.
But HEY, what do I know ?!
All of this being said, I did not get these funds until… Are you ready JULY 18th 2018, yes, we are talking 4 whole months after this happened. At this point I was ready to schedule the dogs flights and get them here. However, the family member whom had Charlie’s paperwork ( as I had taken him to the vet to get things started to bring him here ( lola was going to be staying in Canada a bit longer until I got adjusted )… That family member had gone on holiday, and would not be home for 2.5 weeks, so at that point, I knew I was going to have to wait even more time to get them here !
As I knew there was going to be a 21 day waiting period between when Lola was going to get her shots, and when she would be able to fly – I then asked a family member if she could take her to the vet, and get her shots, as the dogs would not be able to fly for approximately 19 days until that family member got back into town and then I could get the paperwork that was already filled out for Charlie.
However a week of time passed without that happening, as that family member got into a car accident and was then unable to take Lola to the vet, in which at that time – I asked another family member to take her to the vet.
From here, her 21 day waiting time commenced. However, with just 3 days to go – I got a call saying that Charlie jumped off a bed, and has dislocated his hip, and will need to go the vet. Now, I am giving you the most condensed version of all of these happenings… But the amazing Granville Vet Clinic that he was taken too, obviously had a fee, ( I believe that it was $325 ) – however they were not able to fix the problem, and it was a long weekend – and he was then referred to a vet surgery where he was needing to go for surgery to get his hip back in to place.
… And yep, you guessed it, this came at a hefty price of $1300, which you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you this was the cheapest option the Granville Vet Clinic in Edmonton was able to actually sort out for me. The initial places / and quotes that they told me were upwards of $2500 ( again, remember I mentioned that this happened on a long weekend and all vet clinics were closed besides the emergency clinics ).
So, if you are still following along with this emotional, and financial roller coaster, to re cap – the dogs have gone to the vet for their necessary shots and check ups, however there was a few non related medical issues that had to be dealt with, which made this transition THAT much longer, and THAT much more money.
Obviously at this point I wasn’t wanting Charlie to fly when he had a scar the length of my hand. And truthfully I don’t know if he was even allowed to fly with a cone on.
But at this point, where the dogs were being boarded and kept – they were needing the dogs gone by October first, and we are now talking this is now the beginning of September.
At this point, I was desperate. And with everything that kept going wrong, I was like okay, I need to get Lola here ASAP, as she is healthy enough to go at this point, and I do not want to wait for anything else to go wrong. However, this attempt failed as well. Be it that I have been in England for more than 5 days before the dogs were due to get here, the status of their paperwork changed and they were needing to fly with COMMERCIAL PAPERWORK ( yep, even though I was not purchasing them ).
To re-confirm / summarize what this process was SUPPOSED to look like… The dogs were supposed to see the vet, get the rabies shot, and get microchipped. 21 Days later they were supposed to see the vet again, get required paperwork, take deworming tablet, and be checked that they are still healthy enough to fly. From the vet, they were supposed to go to CFIA in Edmonton and get that paperwork signed off of ( for a fee of $20 ). Only at this point would they be able to take their flight.
Not realizing that the type of paperwork has now changed…. Lola was brought to the vet, she had taken her deworming tablet, and then it was found out that the paperwork was wrong. Because of the paperwork being wrong, as it was considered a different type of flight… There was actually different protocol. This paperwork was not allowed to be signed any earlier than 48 hours before their flight, and it was a long weekend in Canada so their offices would not be open on the day of the flight. And therefore, due this rule, Lola was not allowed to fly over a mere 14 hours of paperwork issue.
All this being said, as Lola had taken her medication for this flight, it was not safe to administer it again to her for another 2 weeks. In which I would have to pay for a new deworming tablet, and a assessment and paperwork. This was another $75 cost incurred.
Obviously as you can see there is a lot of run around that has happened with this, and I was not naiive to the fact that it took gas to get them around to these appointments, which in total I had sent the family member who was doing this running around for me approx. $245 in extra funds for gas and inconvenience.
So let’s talk flights - bringing your dog from Canada to the UK is only able to be done one way, and that is by using the James Cargo Service, which uses Air Canada Cargo. 1. I am still sitting back wondering what exactly James Cargo’s services really include, as their fee is so hefty, and it doesn’t include any care of the dog, but more so I think is just a body to process the animal and the paperwork. However there is another part of this process that is processed through DERFA which also has a fee to it. But be it that it is the only way to get them here, what choice did I have ?
( To those of you who are reading this who have suggested me flying them in to Amsterdam and driving them to England, this was not a risk I was willing to take, especially with everything that had already gone wrong )
I ended up flying both of the dogs together at the same time in the same kennel, which was actually cheaper in the long run – however, although it was cheaper, it still was a whopping $2250.00 ( Tax factored in ) to get them here.
So, the time passed. Lola was able to take her medication again, Charlie was healed up enough to fly. I had schedule their flights to come in on a Saturday, so Paul and I could pick them up at the airport – and then I got an email from those at James Cargo, and they informed me that as the dogs are flying in on a weekend- there would be an extra fee of £306.00 ($511.00 CAD )EACH to process them with addition to their VAT ( tax ), which minimum amount that it could be ( even though I have not purchased them from a breeder to come here is £30.00 ($50.00 CAD). However, if I was able to get them flown here during a week day, that fee would be reduced to £57.00 each ($95.00 CAD ).
This all being said, if they are to fly in on a weekday, obviously Paul & I work and would not be able to drive in to London to get them. So therefore a fee of $155.00 ($258.00) would be incurred to get them delivered to Bristol.
So, understanding all of the debts that was now being incurred and all paperwork in hand. I was able to secure a date that the dogs were able to fly. I needed to get someone to take them to the Vet on a Monday, then to CFIA on the Tuesday, and then they were able to fly on a Wednesday.
But obviously this even came with it’s hiccups. Dogs can only fly in a certain type of crate, you know the type that is plastic and have the holes on the top half of the crate. Well, the family member that took them to the airport, went to drop them off, found out it was the wrong type of crate, and then had to go quickly buy a new crate – there went another $140.00. And rushed them back to the airport.
So, let’s tally things up – shall we ?
With all of that said and done – I spent $5323.00 (£3100.00) to get the dogs here from Edmonton. Please let that sink in a little.
Obviously, I am so stoked to have them here. But truthfully, I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish that I did this a little earlier in life when I did not have the responsibility of pets. And I am not the type of person to give them away just because my life circumstance changed ( no offense to those who do that though ). I feel like, the whole trauma of everything that has happened, from the car accident, to Charlie’s surgery – and the whole ordeal of getting them here… Kinda dulled the sparkle of the moving experience as it made it SO stressful, and I wasn’t able to fully just release and enjoy my new life here.
I haven’t even began to touch on the part of this story where my bank accounts got frozen and thousands of unauthorized dollars being taken from my bank accounts, and the renter situation that I have got going on in my home which all added to the mega stress of this situation.
And I think that now that they are here, what I am most excited for, is to actually get to enjoy the move that I’ve made. And start to be able to enjoy the progress that I am making with blogging.
In summary, without all the story time this is what you need to do to bring your dog to the UK from Canada
1. See the vet – get microchipping and rabies shot – approx. $200.00
2. Wait 21 days
3. Go back to the vet 1-5 days before the flight and get deworming and paperwork – approx. $75
4. Get correct paperwork signed by CFIA – approx. $20.00
5. Book flight ( have the right crate, and make sure the fly in on a day with no extra charge, and be aware of the VAT and processing fee’s at heathrow)
… It LOOKS like a simple process on the GOV.UK Website, but in actuality, it was not that simple.
