Can Bengal Cats Travel to Australia?
Transporting Bengal Cats to Australia
Hi,
We have a Bengal and we are currently living in Colombia. We have plans to move to Sydney, Australia around April 2015.
We understand that we cannot transport our cat directly to Australia from Colombia. However, we are planning to stop by Los Angeles for one week.
Is there a possibility of bringing our cat to Australia from Colombia via USA? If yes, what will be the procedure and cost?
Regards,
Yudha
Hi Yudha,
Thanks, great question! First of all, Bengal cats may not be imported into Australia unless they are at least five generations removed from their purebred, non-domestic ancestors. Please read more details about import restrictions regarding breed here.
If you can proceed, then we'll continue: yes, moving pets to Australia from a non-approved country will require first spending time in a second, approved country, and the United States does qualify.
You'll need to follow the pet import requirements for the United States to move your cat there, and then you'll need to follow the Australia pet import requirements from the United States. You can find the overview of steps on the Australia Department of Agriculture website or via our Australia pet travel guide.
Unfortunately you will need to arrange your schedule so that you are in the United States for more than a week. You have a couple of options -- you can either go to the US for the initial rabies vaccine and testing, go back to Colombia, then go to the US again before moving on to Australia, or you can just move to the US for the full vaccine preparation process and then go to Australia.
Typically the entire pet import process to Australia takes 190 days from the start to the finish (including the 10-day quarantine upon arrival). Finally, the costs of a pet move to Australia vary from one instance to another and are significant; you can probably expect to spend a few thousand dollars.
If you think you'd like some assistance with this move and want to find out more about our services, please fill out our online consultation form. You're also welcome to take a look at our blog for more information about international pet travel.
Hopefully this helps to get you started. Good luck with everything!
Pet Transport Question Details:
Name: Yudha
Number of Pets: 1
Pet Type: Cat
Pet Breed: Bengal
From: Medellin, Colombia
To: Sydney, Australia