Hello
my name's Will and I'm an animal health officer here at the animal reception centre
based at London Heathrow.
Today we're going to be making a video just running through the basic
requirements for your container
when shipping your dog or cat and if you're surprised by the City of London
Corporation one of the arc
well that is just many things that they do for London and the UK
things like Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath and the Barbican Art Centre.
The requirements for your pets container are set by IATA.
The International Air Transport Association. These requirements have been put in
place to ensure your pet is safe
and comfortable during their flight. Not complying
with the IATA live animal regulations is an offence
under the wealth of animals transport England order 2006.
A suitable container should be supplied by the shipper
or authorised agent and must comply with international
carrier and IATA regulations as applicable.
It is the airlines responsibility to ensure the container meets these
requirements
before accepting your pet for transportation. So the first thing you
will need to do is to get
accurate measurements of your dog. To measure your dog, I will be passing you over to my colleague Charlie
who will be measuring our dog here Gyp.
Ok, so the first thing that we are going to do
is to measure the length of the dog.
It is important to get right from the tip of the nose, so we are going to the base of the tail so that is about 38 inches.
and the other thing we add to it is half of the height of the elbows to make sure they can lie down comfortable.
so I am just going to come round to the front here. The elbow is about there which is about 13. So we want to make sure they can lie down nice and comfortably.
The next measurement we are going to take is the height of the animal. We wanna go from the floor to the highest point of the animal
so just to the top of his head don't
forget with dogs that have big ears right to the top point and we want to make sure that the boxes at least the
same height.
And last but not least we just going to measure the width of the dog so we are going
from the widest point of him which in Gyp's
case is his shoulders and we just wanna make sure that the box is wide enough
that he can turn around in. Your pet should be able to comfortably
stand-up, lie down, turnaround
all in the natural position. Once you know the minimum box size that would suitable
for your pet.
We need to look at the other aspects of your container to make sure it meets the IATA requirements.
A water source which can be in the form of ice
should be provided. We advise you fill this up
no more than half way to prevent spillage. This should be able to be filled
from the outside of the kennel in case of delay. The door hinge
and locking pains must engage the container by at least 1.6 centimetres
beyond the horizontal extrusions above and below
where the pins are fitted. Both wooden and plastic containers
must have at least sixteen per cent ventilation over the total surface area of
four sides.
The whole of one ends of the container must be constructed of weld mesh
or equivalent.
The door or ventilation openings can be covered by closely spaced metal bars
or double welded mesh of 12 gauge or thicker.
All openings must be small enough to prevent the animal being able to put paws
or its nose through them. So you've seen a good example of a box that is
IATA compliant so next we are going to see a box that isn't IATA compliant and
which you should be avoiding and this is this one here a cat box.
The problems we have for this one there is three issues, the door
isn't secure so the latch does not penetrate at least 1.6 centimetres
and secure with the latch which is insecure so the second issue we have with this box
is IATA stipulates that the box should be nose and paw proof
and it means what it says. The animal should not be able to put any limbs or its nose
through the box which this one will quite easily be able to do. The last issue we have, the third issue
is the box should have at least 16 per cent ventilation on both sides
and on the opposite end of the door and so there should be ventilation holes
both sides and on the back which this one does not have. Before placing your pet
inside the container
please remove any collars, leads, hotties, toys.
This is all for their safety. Please also use disposable
and absorbing bedding, nothing of value. And last but not least
please do not forget to fill out one of our pet information sheets and this can be found
on our website.
Any special dietary requirements
a medication needs should be detailed on the pet information sheet
with any relevant food or medication attached to the container. If you want your pets to
share a kennel during their short stay with us
please give us authorisation on this form.
For any further information please do speak to a pet shipping expert or visit our website and
we hope you found the City of London really helpful.
and a big thank you to Gyp who has been a good boy.