Moving to Germany

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Feylin

Post   » Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:21 pm


Piggiesnpuppies and I went to the Frankfurt Airport today to get her pigs. All went well and the pigs were just fine. The pigs had a delay and their flights were completely changed around- they arrived at 6am instead of 11am! But the Lufthansa PetLounge people fed them and they were pretty content by the time we picked them up around noon.

We went through all the places, got all the stamps, saw customs, saw the veterinarian, and had my car registered twice to get out of gates! Then we went to the local pet store in Kaiserslautern to get hay and a grocery store for veggies food so they are all set.

I'm not sure if she has internet regularly, as she's living in the temporary housing on base until they find a house in one of the towns around here.

Pictures are on FB if anyone wants to bring them over. I have to go to bed so I can get up at 5am to go to school!

Lana

Post   » Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:43 pm


I'm so glad the pigs are okay!!!

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tashab

Post   » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:24 pm


I'm glad they all made it safely.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:01 pm


Thanks for the update, Feylin!

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Mr Demus 625
Supporter in 2012

Post   » Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:54 pm


WOOOO thanks for the update and glad everything worked out! Thank you again for helping her out.

PiggiesnPuppies

Post   » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:00 am


Thanks for updating everyone feylin. I have internet I just have been trying to get all settled in and on a good sleep cycle. I got the piggies all settled in and they are very excited to be in Germany. They have been wheeking and popcorning. I thought I would just give you a run down of cost and process for future reference.
For a shipping container all you need is a dog crate. If you have two pigs that don't get along you can divide the crate (at least if you fly united you can). You will need to get health certificates for all of your pigs, up to 5 can go on one certificate. It cost me $200 for the exams and the certificate. It was 96.70 at my vet for the cert. and 35.95 for the special exam. You will need 2 different types of health certs. 1 that is bilingual for the Germans and one that is just english for the airline. You have to provide the bilingual one (which can be found here for Germany http://www.germany.info/contentblob/344 ... Annex2.pdf)
Then you have to take that to you states USDA office to be endorsed. They expect you to know the requirements of the pet you are shipping, lucky for guinea pigs there are no requirements. They review the paper work to assure it is filled out properly and will stamp it. This costs $34 (most require an appointment to do this, it also may be a bit of a drive we drove 2 hours!) Then you are ready to fly!
It cost me 582.50 for their ticket after taxes and fees. If you are flying the same day as your pets make sure you give yourself PLENTY of time to drop them off. They can be dropped off between 2 and 4 hours before their flight. But I had a bit of trouble dropping them off more than 2 hours before. It took me an hour and a hald to get them checked in and ready to go. They will keep you pet in a climate controlled room up until they get loaded into a climate controlled area of the plane.
When we went to pick them up we had to go to the pet lounge, they gave us some papers to take to the vet. The vet's office charged 73 Euros(about $90) to review all papers and stamp them. We took those to customs, customs looked at them and stamped them, I paid nothing to customs because they had no regulations for guinea pigs. We walked back over to the pet lounge and paid 29 Euros (about $35) and then picked up my boys down stairs!!!
WE did have to register to get out of the parking lot of the pet lounge building. After everything I paid about $1,000 to ship them (thankfully the Army should refund that to us) so it wasn't cheap but it was pretty easy and worth it! So as long as you save some money your piggies should be able to go with you!
Thank you again to feylin for all of your help!!!!

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Feylin

Post   » Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:05 am


Yeah! Glad you wrote it all up- it will be so helpful for others.

I would just add that checking with the cargo office at the air port you fly out of a few days before can save a lot of hassle. People frequently dont know the answers to the questions you call to ask, and it's best to just go find out what the people who put your animals on the plane will want. It's not always the same as what's in the airline's rulebooks.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:31 am


I added a link to your great summary on Tracis' links page, PiggiesnPuppies:

https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... ?p=238#238

PiggiesnPuppies

Post   » Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:23 pm


I hope it helps someone.

PiggiesnPuppies

Post   » Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:37 pm


So we found a house today!! It is beautiful, except for the stuck in the '70's bathrooms, and HUGE There is a beautiful space for the piggy cages. and a big back yard that is big enough for a garden and for a nice sized guinea pig run. We will have to fence one side of the yard but that will be an easy weekend project. We are excited!

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Bytxlaura
Remembering Nemo

Post   » Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:07 pm


Yay!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:58 pm


Congrats!

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