PCSing with 3 Cats: UK to USA
I could have sworn I had posted this (as can a friend of mine), but it was nowhere to be found. This is the tale of how my husband and I PCSed (Permanent Change of Station, aka a military move) with our 3 cats from RAF Mildenhall, England, to Offutt AFB, Nebraska. This was in 2019, just before the lockdowns and everything, so some things have changed (like military will now reimburse some pet travel expenses). I hope it helps my fellow military families with pets!
London Heathrow ➡️ Omaha, Nebraska
Layover in Denver, Colorado
Sunday, Sept 15, 2019
Time to share my PCS adventure! Looooong post, but I like to be thorough!
TLDR: all metal fasteners required for pet carriers, zip ties for sealing the doors AFTER security sweep, 2 bowls each. Cat food not in original packaging will not pass customs. Total for health certificate + flight for 3 (10lb~) cats: £1285
June 27:
Go to vet and make sure cats are up to date on shots, as it had been a long time since we took them in. Vet recommended we schedule health certificate appointment for Friday, Sept 13 as we didn't have our flight itinerary/exact date decided.
Sept 6:
Finally receive itinerary. We're flying United Airlines. Start process of booking cats through PetSafe online. Discover our second flight only allows one pet per family. We have 3 cats. Nope.
Sept 9:
Receive new itinerary with LONG layover in Denver (6 hours). At least I know they have a USO (I spent a few hours there with Katya, our oldest cat)! I had also heard many stories of people having to run around and recheck their pets when they have a layover. If that were the case, we'd have time, at least.
Realize United needs health certificates 5 days before flight. Try to reschedule our RAFF appointment, but they're completely booked, of course. They recommend Eastgate Vets in Mildenhall. I call and thankfully they're able to move things around and fit us in.
Sept 11: vet appointment for cats.
Thankful for my June vet appointment where I had received vaccination records for each cat!! (I've needed those everywhere from lodging to flights, so definitely make sure you have a copy!) One page is their vaccination history, the other page is specifically rabies. Eastgate was amazing too. I went in before bringing my cats in and they were able to let me in through a door by the parking lot that was closer, but also avoided running into dogs. £135 for all 3 cats. Took about 45 minutes.
Sept 14:
Take taxi to hotel by airport. They booked us in Park Inn by Radisson. Pet friendly, of course. Decent place!
We realize we only have one bowl for the kennel. PetSafe website says we need 2 each. We also need to find fasteners for 2 kennels as our movers had packed the original ones and we ran out of time to pick some up.
Walk to stores around the hotel--a coop at a gas station and a little corner "supermarket," neither had anything useful though. Do some more internet research and no stores nearby have what we need or would be open at that point. I contemplate going back to RAFM shoppette because it's the only place open that might have what I need. 😂😂
Call PetSafe. They say we can use zipties, as long as it's secure. They don't have any bowls we can use. They do confirm that military drop off pets in the terminal, not cargo. Cargo is on the other side of the airport, so this makes life a lot easier.
Call Heathrow Animal Reception Centre about bowls. They have some!! Take an Uber there (about £12 each way. Obviously not ideal). Lady initially says there's a charge for bowls, but when she returns with them she says not to worry about it. She tells us we only need one bowl each, so that's what we get.
Book taxi at hotel desk for next day.
Sept 15: flight day! 11:35am flight
7am. Take taxi to terminal 2 (that's where our flight was leaving from). Somehow manage to get 4 large suitcases, 3 medium kennels, and various carry-ons from curb to United desk. Lady was initially harsh about the kennels being zipties, but once we explained we were told BY PETSAFE that it'd be fine, she redirected her frustration and was incredibly helpful.
Thankfully they had metal fasteners and extra bowls (turns out we did need 2 each after all) and even a £25 duffle bag (we had a few things that we needed to check and didn't have a proper bag for). Of course I'd recommend getting all of this sorted beforehand, but it's incredibly helpful if you do find yourself in a pinch like us! Between needing to change out zipties for 24 metal fasteners and doing the regular paperwork, this takes about an hour and a half. Bare in mind we also have 3 cats, so lots of paperwork.
Costs about £950. Make sure you get military discount. Our cats do weigh about 10 lbs each, for reference, without kennel.
8:45am. Leave cats at United counter while we check our regular luggage. We had the tags printed at the other counter, so we're just weighing and dropping off. The lady from the other counter makes sure to stop by and tell the guy we're military, so we're already set, and our suitcases are fine as long as they're less than 30kg (about 66lbs). We have 5 bags between the two of us, no extra charge.
9am. We're escorted with our cats to a private room by security for the kennels to be swabbed and cleared. Each cat I take out and hold awkwardly while they do their thing. All of the cats are freaked out, so this is extra tricky. I also don't feel like my cats wouldn't be able to find a way out of this room, especially since people keep holding a door open to talk to a supervisor. 😒 Machine is malfunctioning, making this take even longer. After they finally finish all 3, we ziptie them shut (4 zipties each, one in each corner of the door). From here we say goodbye to the cats, and are escorted back to the main hall so we can go through security ourselves.
11:30am~ our flight is delayed an hour and a half. Joy.
1pm. Board plane. Flight attendant stops by to give us a set of blue tickets, letting us know our cats are on board (huzzah!).
Land in Denver. Are informed everyone continuing onto a domestic flight will need to recheck luggage. Cringe.
Go through customs. Easy enough. Wait for luggage. I scout out oversized luggage area in case cats have been unloaded already. They're sitting there in their kennels unattended. 😨😡 We have to take them through agricultural check. Luggage also has to go through check. They confiscate our cat food BECAUSE IT'S NOT IN THE ORIGINAL BAG. It's in ziplock bags. Wtf. (This is opposite of everything I read online.)
Drop checked luggage off in next room. Take cats upstairs to another security check with an escort. Just tedious at this point, but it goes smoothly.
8:30pm. Next flight is delayed an hour and a half. When we're waiting for them to board, we ask at desk about cats, just to be sure they'd make it onto this flight.
Board. Receive next set of blue tickets confirming cats are on board.
12am. Note that these are all local times and it's roughly 6am London time at this point. Longest day.
Land in Omaha. Thankfully a small airport, so pickup is easy.
We did have an amazing sponsor (who also happened to be friends with us already), and they already offered to pickup a litter box for us. I messaged after our cat food was taken in Colorado and thankfully she was able to pick some up for us too.
???am. Check into the Microtel just off route 370, near Target and Baker’s. They normally have extra paperwork and fees for pets, but since it’s so late the lady graciously has us go to our room and waves some fees (it’s been a while and I don’t entirely remember that part).
