Pet Travel Advice About a Cat Relocation to New Zealand

Hi PetRelocation,

I saw the following information here on your site:

"On condition that the following criteria have been fulfilled, the quarantine period for a dog or cat entering New Zealand is 180 days. 170 of these days can be completed in the country of origin."

I'm confused about the 170 days in the country of origin bit... what does this entail?

Thank You!

-Rebecca

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you for your question! We're happy to discuss this issue, as it's initially pretty confusing.

The "quarantine" period of 170 days does not require anything different than usual aside from fulfilling the veterinary requirements needed to bring your cat to New Zealand. Your cat can live at home with you as normal and can even go outside if (that's your usual routine).

The most important items to attend to are the New Zealand pet import requirements -- they must be fulfilled in the correct order, and in particular it's important to have the microchip implanted so that the rest of the process can be started and allow you to time your cat's move according to your departure plans. When the microchip is implanted and the first rabies vaccine is administered, the quarantine period begins.

For more information, here's a travel account from a recent client of ours -- as you can see, Parker and Fletcher's move required quite a bit of planning but ultimately everything went well.

Finally, if you'd like some help planning this move or have any additional questions, feel free to contact us. We have a dedicated New Zealand/Australia Consultant on staff named Maegan and she would be happy to discuss your options with you.

Hope this helps! Just let us know if we can be of assistance and good luck!

Pet Travel Question Details:

Name: Rebecca
Number of Pets: 1
Pet Type: Cat
Pet Breed: Domestic Long Hair
From: Chicago, IL
To: Auckland, New Zealand