Cost of importing animals?

Question

Hey, i'm wondering if any of you know how much it costs to bring animals into Norway. I'm talking about a cat from Singapore, where i live. Even if you only know the cost from some other asian country to some other western european country, i will appreciate that too! i would guess the price would be somewhat the same all over. Thank you!!

(the reason i'm not asking this in a 'norway' answers thing, it's because there is none :/ .. again, THANKS!

Answer 1

This depends on how you plan to move your cat.  The biggest expense is probably going to be the actual transportation.  You can hire specific pet moving companies that will take care of all the import/export regulations, and this usually costs a few thousand US dollars.

We moved our two cats to Norway on our own, and while it's a complicated procedure, it's quite possible.  In fact, our problems were mostly due to the airline and not the actual customs issues.

Singapore is a "listed third country" according to the Norwegian import regulations, which means that your cat won't have to go through quarantine when it arrives in Norway.  You can find very comprehensive information on the import process on the officieal Norwegian government website:

http://www.mattilsynet.no/english/import...

Essentially you need to do the following:

- Have your cat vaccinated against rabies.

- Have your cat microchipped with an imbedded ID chip if it doesn't already have one.

- Within 120 days of moving to Norway, have a rabies test done to prove that the cat does not have the virus.  This must be performed at an approved laboratory, but there are no locations lsited in Singapore.  However, your vet in Singapore may be able to send the sample to one of the other locations.

- Within 10 days of moving the cat to Norway, have a tapeworm treatment done.

- Download the veterinary certificate and have it filled out.  It must also be endorsed by the local veterinary authority.

- Declare the cat at Customs when it arrives in Norway.

- Repeat the tapeworm treatment within 10 days of arriving in Norway.

The most challenging part will be having the rabies test done.  It's possible to contact the Norwegian authorities (in English) to clarify how this should be performed and what your options are.

I don't remember the exact amount, and things vary with the exchange rate of course, but we spent around $150 US for veterinary fees to have the paperwork completed, the tests performed, and the certificate endorsed.  Norwegian customs and administrative fees were a few hundred more.  And the bulk of the expense was the transport fee, because we had to send the cats as air cargo (hundreds of dollars each).  This would have been greatly reduced if we had flown an airline that would let us check them in as special luggage.  (Shame on me for not researching the airline pet policies before booking our tickets.)  So in all, it cost us around $1000 US for two cats to do it ourselves.

Answer 2

I don't know how much in your case but I imported an animal from the USA to Australia and it cost me about USD$5000 all up however Australia has strict quarantine laws and my cat had to be quarantined for 2 months. I used an agent and I would suggest seeing if there is such a thing in Singapore as this makes the process so much easier.

I believe The Animal Resort may be able to help you with this - http://www.rictedkennels.com/

There's a lot of info on their site.

You're also going to have to check with the Norwegian Government about their laws on importing pets from Singapore, the cat may need to be quarantined and there may also be other considerations. Here's a link to some info that's Norway specific.

http://www.awcoslo.org/Sections/LivingIn...

I wish you the best of luck with this, as I said, I did it too and it wasn't cheap but it was soooooooo worth it.