PCS'ing with dogs

[Lyndsey Posada]

My husband and I have 2 dogs that we are bringing to Okinawa with us. I was wondering how much it cost to bring your pets there? I'm not looking for an exact amount but just ballpark what it cost. Thanks!

[JaNae]

Hey Lyndsey- I personally don't have pets but I know a lot of people on this site do and have moved with them and talked about it. Search the discussions and I'm sure a bunch will popped up. I do know there is an article on OkinawaHai.com about this.

http://www.okinawahai.com/my_weblog/2007/09/how-do-i-get-my.html

Hope that helps! Good luck.

[Jody Yeagley]

Hi Lyndsey, We arrived in Okinawa in September. We have 1 large dog, a weimaraner. Originally we were scheduled for an AMC flight, but were bumped to a commercial flight with United. We ended up paying $250 for the United flight to Narita, and then around $260 for the ANA flight into Naha. Ofcourse, this is in addition to the costs we paid out just to get him here (health certificate, FAVN, USDA etc.) He was in quarantine at Karing Kennels on Kadena for about 2 weeks which ran us about $200. So, I figure we ended up paying about $800-$1000 to get him over here. Your situation may or may not be similar to ours. Ofcourse, it varies with the size of your dog, and how long they are in quarantine. I would suggest that you try to get an AMC flight, so that you would not have to worry so much about making the arrangements for a commercial flight. It was very frustrating due to the last minute changes, and with different airlines having different policies. Also, if your dogs already have had their FAVN and microchip in advance this could eliminate a few $$ and alot of extra hassle. Hope this helps! Good luck to you!!

[Renee]

If you were booked all the way through to OKI, even though you had to fly ANA, you shouldn't have had to pay any more money than what you paid when you boarded in the states. Unless you stayed in tokyo for a while.

The price greatly depends on the size of the animal, but I think the minimum is like $250. I went back to the states and got my cats plus I'm a travel agent, so we deal with this all the time.

[Jody Yeagley]

We had to pay seperately when flying ANA. We didn't have a stay in Tokyo. In fact, we had to have 2 seperate flights booked due to the pet issue one with United, and the second with ANA. It was very frustrating during that time, we had to pick him up from baggage, as well as our bags, and recheck through ANA. Talk about hectic! I wish it could have been avoided, but it is ANA's policy. So, our total flight costs for our dog was 515 dollars.

[Renee]

I had to do that too, but I was booked all the way through. You have to pick up the pet in Tokyo because they have to check all the paperwork and such. I had to check in with ANA, too, but didn't have to pay anymore fees. I flew united from Seattle to tokyo and then ana to okinawa. You should've only had to verify the pet on both airlines prior to the ticket being issued and then paid in the states for all the way through to Oki. unfortunately, it's too late to fix any of it. Who booked your flight?

[Jaime Bartels]

We are just starting this process too. We have three dogs so we have to find a home for our boxer. Our two yorkies are coming with us. It looks like the process takes about 7 months. We are in San Diego currently so I contacted the base vet to start the process. They can't get us in until 12/1 but they were very nice and helpful and knew exactly what we needed to do. The packet I found online about bringing pets was about 40 pages. The vet gave me a wonderful 2 page checksheet!

Things that will need to be paid for will be vaccines (at least 2 rabies and a few others), microchipping (27 each on base), and fees to have their blood drawn and examined to waiver the full quarantine. What I have read on the airfare was that it would be about 100-200 per pet. I am unsure if they will have to go under with baggage (always a concern with weather) or if they can go in cabin with us.

A few things I have read have made me nervous that housing might give us a hard time and not offer us something in the towers. That doesn't really make sense.

I mentioned the below advice about adding the dogs to the orders so my husband is going to check into that to see if that can be done.

[Renee]

Are you flying the patriot express or commercial? That will better determine your fee. I don't know if on the patriot express you can bring them on board. Plus, on ANA, if you are flying commercial, you can't bring them on board.

The quarantine is never truly waivered. You still have to finish it out, but since everyone has to live in base housing that won't be an issue, because whatever time is left of your 6 months can be finished in base housing.