Russia

[driveroneuk]

orys:
I would never send a cat by plane. This is too big stress for them, as not many airlines allows cats to ride on the passenger knees any more. They have to be put to the cage and to the cargo bay… (

Certainly not on your knee for take off & landing. Many airlines do still allow them to fly in cabin (subject to size & weight restrictions) although this is currently being debated as it is unfair on other passengers seated nearby who might be allergic to cats.

Parts of the hold used for the carriage of live animals are pressurised and heated, however as has been said, the whole thing is extremely stressful to cats.

There are also non heated sections for chilled foods, human corpses (yes, there’s a few of those underneath you on most flights) etc.

[jdc]

Cargo-girl, Contact a company called airpets. I work for a removal company and have used them successfully in the past when we have relocated people all parts of the world. Not heard a bad word about them. I am sure they would have dealt with importing pets and well as exporting so I would give them a call and explain the situation.

[cargo-girl]

orys:
I would never send a cat by plane. This is too big stress for them, as not many airlines allows cats to ride on the passenger knees any more. They have to be put to the cage and to the cargo bay…
My friend works on the airport in Poland and she is mad about it, she says that all cats are very stressed nearly 1 in 5 cats dies during the trip

That is just not true Orys. I have imported and exported quite a few cats and believe me, it is far less stressful for a cat to travel by plane than to go through a very lenghtly journey by car. Most Cats don’t like to travel full stop. No matter by what means. Therefor if it’s possible you try to make the travel as fast as possible, and as Harry said, the flight will be the best option.
All animals goes in the cargo hold if on international flights. The holds for animals are heated and have same air compression as the passenger cabin. I have never had any cats die because it was on a flight and we’ve had cats from as far away as Texas. Neither have I ever heard of any cats dying during a flight. If 1 out of 5 cats die in the Polish airport there is something very wrong there ! Sounds to me like they’re totally ignorant and are shipping the cats in holds that have no heating and are not decompressed.

Anyway, no need to worry about -50 as I am importing in the summer

[homofaber]

CargoGirl: have you considered flying to Chelyabinsk (via Moscow) and returning with the cat by train? Changing in Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin/Koln, Brussels and London St. Pancras? My first guess would be ~5days on train, cat in a box next to you (2days to Moscow,3days Moscow - London). Alternatively you can meet with the Russian guy somewhere mid-way.
I could imagine that Russian airlines are not too fusy about pets in the cabin.
It’d quite a fuss to drive there (and back).
It’d have to be a good friend of yours, that driver you want to pick up an animal abroad and bring it to you… (cab space and condition, paperwork, mess & allergies…)
Dutch cattle hauliers go to Russia quite often, they return empty, but I doubt they’d be interested in bringing a single cat.

[driveroneuk]

That’s a good idea, but re the train change over in Moscow: You’d be well advised to employ the services of a fixer to help you change trains, otherwise it will be very difficult unless you speak Russian.

[cargo-girl]

I only speak a little bit of Russian my self. Think the flight might be the best option atm, but was considering any express vans or even lorry if I could get on as the driver. A flight might be a bit more costly but difinitely the quickest and less stressful for the cat.

[orys]

Cargo-girl:
If 1 out of 5 cats die in the Polish airport there is something very wrong there ! Sounds to me like they’re totally ignorant and are shipping the cats in holds that have no heating and are not decompressed.

Well, this sample might be not really good, I have to admit. My friends works there some time and had not seen too many cats coming in (she’s on that “arrival” bit), but of these few she seen, 20% died…

[cargo-girl]

Do you know what air line that was Orys ?
Just making sure I’m never booking them to fly one of my cats

[orys]

Cargo-girl:
Do you know what air line that was Orys ?
Just making sure I’m never booking them to fly one of my cats

No, unfortunately I don’t, never asked, it was just a small talk when I was about to take my cat into UK, kind of “Never send it by plane, it’s too stressful for them, I work on the airport and one in five cats we had so far died out of stress”.

But quick check with the airport website shows that there are only three airlines there: Ryanair, Lufthansa and LOT, but LOT does only domestic flights from there and I am not sure if Ryanair takes animals… But to be fair I have to say that in the past more airlines were using this airport.

[actrosman]

Is it a Blue, White or Black one? A friend of ours wanted a Blue, found a breeder, went to see 'em, picked out a kitten and handed over the 600 notes . Couple of months pass, cat is bigger and she notices it has a wonky tail…trip to the vets who discovers it has had a broken tail from birth…now has a Half Tailed Russian Blue…a rare breed indeed

[semtex]

jdc:
Cargo-girl, Contact a company called airpets. I work for a removal company and have used them successfully in the past when we have relocated people all parts of the world. Not heard a bad word about them. I am sure they would have dealt with importing pets and well as exporting so I would give them a call and explain the situation.

Here you go

airpets.com/index.php

Was up that way only yesterday (parked up on Colnbrook by-pass)

[bobthedog]

It was asked how you get a motor running after a freeze up. Best way is a propane lance under the truck and a few sheets of ply or similar to build a wall around the truck while you warm it up. You don’t really want to apply too much direct heat at anything below -35 as it tends to damage things.

But for anyone travelling to extreme cold, carry a hot air paint stripper. You can thaw your filters and lines out really fast with that without damaging anything, and it is great for frozen air dryers, too…(last Saturday afternoon). Not only that, but if you carry some of the shrink tubing then you have it for when you have wires break, or for patching airlines… If you get really cold then it is less fierce for defrosting your hands, providing you are really careful, and you can use it to melt the ice in your drink bottles.

All this reminds me I need to get a new one…

[driveroneuk]

Bob, they are usually mains voltage. Are you running it off an invertor?

[wheel_nut]

I just dread to see the final cost of this as an eccentric elderly Aunt by marriage had an equally eccentric brother who went to Portugal on holiday, he “met a cat” near the Hotel. When he came home he missed the cat so much that he went back to find it, he ended up with a cat, may not have even been the same one, but it cost him about 13k in vets fees, quarantine and documentation. Bloody thing got run over on the M62 about 6 months after coming out of cat jail!

[m_amp_c_jamie]

bobthedog:
It was asked how you get a motor running after a freeze up. Best way is a propane lance under the truck and a few sheets of ply or similar to build a wall around the truck while you warm it up. You don’t really want to apply too much direct heat at anything below -35 as it tends to damage things.

But for anyone travelling to extreme cold, carry a hot air paint stripper. You can thaw your filters and lines out really fast with that without damaging anything, and it is great for frozen air dryers, too…(last Saturday afternoon). Not only that, but if you carry some of the shrink tubing then you have it for when you have wires break, or for patching airlines… If you get really cold then it is less fierce for defrosting your hands, providing you are really careful, and you can use it to melt the ice in your drink bottles.

All this reminds me I need to get a new one…

Hi Bobthe dog, I suppose that you also have a freefone number to call, so that the recovery team will arrive with the necessary equipment, that you have just mentioned.
In the real world of Russia. There are no freephones and the recovery teams can take day’s or sometimes weeks to arrive. So it is make do and mend. The repair kit for a broken air susy is a sharp red hot knife to melt the plastic together. For thawing out hope that the fire under the truck does’nt melt anything important. Enclosed photo of a transcon being recovered from a snow drift near Samara Airport in Russia after sliding off an icy road. Regards Jamie.

A Scot Lost in the Valley’s

[bobthedog]

Don’t know if you noticed where I actually am… It gets extreme here too. And on the winter roads recovery will not usually come to you at all. I didn’t mean susies, i meant melting plastic over airlines to valves. Susies crack all the time here so we just replace them. We also use palms here and they get awfully brittle when it cools down.

I usually carry a hot air gun because I have a 1750 watt inverter, but it is not a good idea to try running it on battery power alone for long. It works a treat and doesn’t burn the rubber.

[orys]

M&C Jamie:
In the real world of Russia. There are no freephones and the recovery teams can take day’s or sometimes weeks to arrive.

Why not years?

In Real Russia there are recovery companies as they are in UK. Off course, this is much bigger country and much poorer, so due to that not much people are willing to pay for it, this recovery companies are not popular and have not much vans of the roads. But I can assure you that russian equivalent of RAC is operating in the most congested area (My friend travels often to Moscow for business and he has an assistance with Polish company, and it covers him for the russian RAC as well).

But that is not the only option, as there is for sure some local garage in every village, often with recovery services, they are just not often part of any network. So what you need, you need speak russian, find the local yellow pages and call one of them, and they will answer your call pretty quick.

Some of the bigger companies also will have their own service vans (which off course do not apply to foreingers).

Russia is not really as wild country as some of you seem to think. I think the major problem why the quick response recovery services are not as needed as they are in UK is that people are better in dealing with the problems itself - they are used to drive old, dodgy vehicles and they are used to harsh winters.

When I was younger, I was walking to my Polish high school across the Bus depot (illegal, but shorter way) and I was observing drivers burning fires under the bus tanks to make them running in the winter. If that would be Britain, I would be able to observe bunch of panicked bus drivers demanding cancelation of the bus service while service vans were stuck in the snow, trying to drive on their summer tyres. Off course I will not be able to watch this on my way to school, as all the school would be closed

So if in Russia some things are different than there is in UK, it not necessarly means that its worse.

Btw: I saw in Scottish news recently that there was “12 000 winter related breakdowns”. I am from Poland, we have much harsher winters and I never heard about any “winter related breakdown”. Only thing I can think of is the case when you can’t start your car due to poor battery - but I would rather call it “poor maintentance related breakdown”

[limeyphil]

Cargo-girl:
Thanks for the very interesting replies guys.
I am looking for some information on what it’s like to drive over there as things are now. I am importing a cat from a breeder in Chelyabinsk which is somewhere east of Moscow. (54 hours drive from Wales !) Am at the moment considering the differrent options. Flight, road trip, carrier etc. If some reliable haulier/driver was doing regular trips to Moscow that could also be an option.
Any suggesions to this logistic challenge would most welcome

DHL or TNT.

[fly_sheet]

I’d just ring Sovtransauto I’d have pulled The Transcon with the loaded Tatra tipper too Has Carryfast seen this carry on, a 6x2 rear lift pulling another 6x2 out of the snow whilst the double drive watches helplessly!!! I feel his boners gonna droop big time.

Bob you need to get a bigger invertor your a loser with a 1750 one

I guess M&C Jamie thinks your on for Stobarts

Fly sheet (6x2 operator)

[bobthedog]

I was going to buy the really big 3000 watt one, but it was too big for where I was going to put it… The 1750 powers most of what I need, although I think it would struggle with my oven.

Now I am on boxvans, I suppose it isn’t too different to Stobarts…

Here is stuck!

And we got it out with another truck and two snowshovels…