It has gotten a lot more expensive over the years to transport your pet. My initial quote I got was around $2,500 for two dogs and a month later when I said that I would go ahead with it, the price changed to $5,000. The company said it was because the airline upped it's price due to the increase in fuel costs. Who knows, maybe I was had. I originally was going to bring my two dogs, both over 50 pounds, but my parents agreed to keep one for me. That being said, I did look into taking both and the cost is not much more for a second dog. It was only about $1500 more for the second one. I have big dogs though and they charge by weight, so if you have 6 pound dogs I would expect the cost to be much less. Since I'm in Australia, the flights were pretty long. My dog flew on Air Zealand and the first flight went from LA to Auckland, NZ. I think it was around a 14 hour flight (something like that anyway). Once in Auckland, there is a mandatory layover for animals of 8 hours. This means that quarantine officers meet your dog in Auckland, take it to a quarantine facility and let your dog out to run around, eat, drink, and do it's business. Then they board your dog back up and get them on the last flight, which was about 6.5 hours. Once the Australian quarantine officer picks up the dog, they call you to tell you how your dog is and that it is safe. I was really worried about how my dog would do on the flights, but she did great. She's a skiddish dog who does not like loud noises (thunder, fireworks, etc..) or kennel situations. I was afraid that she wouldn't eat in quarantine (she was there for 30 days), but she did fine. You can visit your pets for 1 hour per day on weekdays at the quarantine station my dog was at. Others might be different. I did not go to see her, as I didn't want to get her all excited and then have to leave her there every time. Plus, I knew it would be too hard on me to do so. I have great friends though, and they went to see her when they could. They took pictures for me and brought her treats so it worked out well. In the end, all my worries were not warranted. Everything was fine. Just ignore all of those horror stories and don't try to do the process on your own. Go with a reputable company and pay for that peace of mind. The return trip, as I understand, will not be as involved. Basically, it's just the flights, none of the other stuff. I don't think you have to go through quarantine either, since the US already has all the diseases that other countries try and keep out. I'll let you know for sure when I get to that point. Just remember, animals are resilient! I think I was more stressed by the whole thing than my dog was.
Sorry this is so long. I hope that I've helped some of you and not just confused you more. I'd be happy to answer more questions if anyone has any.
M.A.
