PetRelocation Specialist Cara

“I just don’t know what to do!” expressed one of my clients, Hiro, during our initial phone consultation last October.  It was a beautiful fall day at the PetRelocation.com headquarters in Austin and I was working on several pet moves all over the world.  As a Pet Relocation Specialist, it’s my job to talk with our clients, find out their needs and then, most importantly, make sure their pets safely get to where they’re going.  In this client’s case, I could never have guessed that my answer to his quandary would soon set the stage for an international trip around the world with a tiny Chihuahua!

Here was the predicament: Hiro and his wife Maiko, who were living in New York City, found out in late July that they were going to need to move with their pet back home to Tokyo, Japan. They immediately set out to make arrangements for their beloved five-year old Chihuahua named Mocha to travel with them. After doing some research on pet travel, they found out that Japan was a rabies-free country and that there was a six-month pre-export quarantine process before Mocha was eligible to enter Japan. That meant the earliest possible date Mocha could enter was on January 27, 2010. Meanwhile, Hiro and Maiko found out they were expecting their first child in mid-February. That fact combined with the need for Hiro to begin his new work assignment before the end of the year meant that they had to go ahead and move before the end of 2009.  This made for a complicated situation that many pet owners face — Hiro and Maiko would be moving in December, with sweet little Mocha not being able to leave until the end of January. The good news was that they had some dog-loving friends who agreed to care for Mocha in their absence.

The bad news was that Mocha had flown cargo with an unsafe airline in the past and had a terrible experience.  No matter how much I tried to explain that he would be perfectly safe and well cared for in cargo on a pet-friendly airline, Hiro insisted that Mocha fly with someone in-cabin from New York to Tokyo.  Fortunately, they came upon PetRelocation.com, and more specifically me, a Pet Relocation Specialist. Hiro didn’t know how he was going to be able to fly back to New York at the end of January and return to Japan with Mocha, all while beginning a new job and looking after his wife. Now, it is part of the PetRelocation culture to go the extra length for our clients, and I’m always up for an adventure.  I suggested to Hiro that perhaps I might be the one to accompany Mocha on his safe journey. He was over the moon at my offer. “Can you really do this?” he asked.  The PetRelocation.com motto is “Any Pet, Anywhere, Anytime,” and with this in mind, I set out to make Mocha’s move happen!

Like most pet owners who travel with their pets for the first time, I immediately had to answer several questions:

1. Would I need a visa to get there?
2. How much would traveling with a pet cost?
3. Would Mocha be well behaved on the flight or cry the whole time?

Sure, I had moved hundreds of pets all over the world from Kathmandu to Lima, Peru, but this was a whole new ball game to actually travel with the pet…but right up my alley!

I got to work right away: calling the vet for Mocha’s vaccination records and USDA accreditation status, checking his Rabies-Titer/FAVN results, giving notification to Japan Animal Quarantine (AQS), applying for an import permit, checking his microchip’s compatibility, researching airlines who would accept pets in cabin, ensuring Mocha’s pet travel carrier would be acceptable in size and weight, planning for his final vet visit to obtain his health certificates, renewing my passport — the list went on and on.  The rest of the time, I wondered what Mocha would think of his new pet travel companion.

I also had my other clients to take care of, whose pets are just as important as Mocha. All of them were counting on me to move their pets safely and seamlessly. But I knew I wouldn’t let them down. I knew I could pull it off with hard work and an eye on the prize – Mocha’s long-awaited reunion with Hiro and Maiko in Japan and getting to see their family back together again.