We will provide you with an IATA Approved wooden travel crate that will be a suitable size for your pet, based on their measurements. The containers come with water bowls, no food is allowed during the flight. We do however suggest that you provide an item of clothing that has your scent, a blanket, and a small soft toy to comfort your pets during their flight.

It is our priority to ensure that we book the most suitable & shortest route to get your pets to their destination in the fastest possible time. We work closely with our freight agents to find you the most suitable flight at the most affordable rate.

We work closely with kennels in the Johannesburg area and can assist you with getting a quotation should your dog require kennelling prior to travelling.

Our Customs Clearance services are fairly easy. Simply, submit a quote request through our website and email us with the details of your pets and what you are looking to import or export, and we will get back to you with the necessary details.

When a client signs up with Pets Abroad, we ask the owner to send us copies of all of the documents for their pets, which typically include:

• Vaccination booklets
• Microchip certificates
• Blood tests
• and other documents like the owner’s identification, and the pet’s passport if they have one.

We will then sit and complete the full Veterinary Health Certificate for the owner as well as the vet. Then within 5 days before departure we will meet the owner at their vet of choice and have the vet complete/sign the health certificate in the assigned places and guide the vet on how to do this. From this point, we then take all the documents to the state/government vet who will then do the pet/s document checks and stamp the documents.

This above-mentioned service is included with every quote that we do as standard.

In addition, we are also the only company that meets clients at their chosen vets to ensure that all the paperwork is completed and signed correctly. Most of the other agents will only send the paperwork to the client or vet via e-mail and then proceed to leave them to their own devices to try and figure out where and what to complete and sign. Our service is very hands-on in this regard, as we care about the documents being completed and signed correctly from the get-go which will prevent potential delays.

We collect the health certificate and all your pets document from you or your local vet and submit these to the State Vet for endorsement. We will guide you through every step of completing all relevant documentation. We work closely with a vet that specialises in handling all documentation for exports to NZ and AUS which has different requirements to other countries.

Transit shipments have become a bit redundant due to new regulations set out by the South African department of agriculture, a pet can no longer be “in transit” for more than 12 hours, with the airline options this makes it a bit tricky as most airlines will not agree with this time regulation.

So, at the moment we offer the service of importing a pet/s and proceeding with exporting them again after all the regulations have been completed in RSA. For example, a pet will come from Zimbabwe into RSA/JHB which is destined for Australia, we will then import the pet from Zimbabwe and then we will complete all the export health regulations for the pet/s to be sent to Australia, either via our kennel in JHB or if the owner wishes for the pets to stay at family or friends in JHB. Once all the regulations are completed then we will export the pet to Australia via the appropriate airline as mentioned above.

Alternatively, if a pet can be shipped with an airline from the country of origin with a transit airline in JHB that can accommodate the 12-hour ruling, we will then guide the agent in the country of origin to complete the regulations for South Africa along with the regulations for the country of arrival. We will check all the paperwork to make sure that all is in order and then we will arrange for the shipment process and the transit permit in JHB. Upon arrival in JHB, the transit shipment will then be handled by one of our staff members at the airport where we will then again offer a WhatsApp service to keep the owner and agent from the country of origin up to date on how the transit shipment is going.

We offer import quarantine booking services, so if a dog is coming to JHB from a country that requires the dog to be quarantined, then we will facilitate the whole booking process along with the full import customs clearance and document check. Meaning that all the owner needs to do is contact us and then we will facilitate the whole import process including the import customs, quarantine booking, transport to and from the quarantine station and regular updates on how the animals are doing in quarantine.

NB: Please note that cats do not require quarantine from any country in the world, so this service is only specific to dogs that are coming from countries that require the dog to be quarantined.

We will collect your pets from home on the day of departure. Our staff spends quality time with them at the airport, giving them lots of love & walking them, giving them time to stretch their legs and do their business before heading to their new home abroad.