How to Move to Hawaii with your Pets

Best wishes for the New 2011 Year to all of our Best Hawaii Vacation blog visitors! May all your dreams, like moving to Hawaii for good, come true!

The 2011 Hawaii real estate market is still a great buyer's market with great prices, far below the 2005 high, so thoughts of moving to Hawaii can become a reality instead of being a dream. A big part of 'Moving to Hawaii' plans has been and still is for many families the question 'How to move the pets to Hawaii?' Generally, moving pets to Hawaii has become so much easier in recent years with the 5-day or less program. Erick from Royal Hawaiian Movers joins us today with his guest author article about:

How to move to Hawaii with your pets

"Moving to Hawaii can be a rewarding experience, but transporting all of your belongings from the mainland to the Aloha State can leave you with a bit of a headache, especially when you have to consider all the restrictions and special sanctions that apply to certain things you might want to ship… like your pets. If you have dogs, cats or other animals that you wish to take with you when you make the move, it’s a good idea to read up on the current restrictions by the State of Hawaii that apply to shipping pets to Hawaii. Here’s some of the basic info you need to know.

Hawaii’s Animal Quarantine

Hawaii has a special animal quarantine program that was put in place in 1912 to prevent the entry of rabies into the state of Hawaii. Historically, Hawaii has always been a rabies-free state, having had no indigenous cases of the disease. In an effort to maintain this status, the state’s Department of Agriculture instituted an animal quarantine that applies to dogs, cats and all other carnivores that could potentially carry the disease.

The quarantine requires that all animals to which it applies be properly inspected and qualified before entering Hawaii. Pets can be released directly from the airport if the owner follows the required procedures before the pet’s arrival. If not, the procedures must be done before the pet may be released. It usually takes about four months to test and qualify an adult pet, as various vaccinations and inspections are needed. Qualifying a newborn kitten or puppy for Hawaii’s quarantine program can take 10 months or more.

Exceptions

If you’re moving from the continental United States to Hawaii, the quarantine applies to your pets. The only exceptions that are made are for animals that come from other rabies-free areas of the world or from places where rabies prevention and control protocols are as strict as or stricter than Hawaii’s protocols. "

Mahalo again Erick for your input on the pet quarantine program. We hope that everybody who wants to know how to move with pets to Hawaii found some valuable information in our 'Moving pets to Hawaii' post. Even though moving your pets to Hawaii has become so much easier on the pets and the pet owners, it still takes a lot of filling out the right paperwork, following the correct procedures and paying the necessary fees, when you want to take advantage of the 5-day or pick up at the airport program.

Moving to Hawaii is a huge step by itself, so maybe you want to get some help from a company who is familiar with the necessary steps to move your pets. It can't hurt to contact a pet relocation service like AKonaPet, which I found in preparation for this post.

Your comments about how you moved to Hawaii with your pets are most welcome by us and our Hawaii blog visitors. Mahalo, Pua Hawaii Vacations

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