We are now four weeks back into living in the UK after our repatriation. It’s felt so much harder moving back ‘home’ than it ever did moving to Singapore. For many reasons, this move has literally kicked our butts. One component that probably contributed a fair amount of stress, was that we moved with our two dogs. Moving with dogs in tow is no mean feat and we made a few errors in the process. Hence this blog post to help you if you’re considering moving with your pets.

A little about our back story, we accidentally ended up with two dogs whilst living in Singapore. We wanted dogs but no way were we paying pet shop prices. So queue our gorgeous Pepa who came to us from friends who could no longer keep her and our crazy puppy Maple who was from an accidental litter of our neighbour’s dog. Leaving either pup behind in Singapore wasn’t even a consideration, but you’ll be surprised how many people suggested it. And whilst our move was covered by my husband’s job, moving pets and grand pianos was not, thankfully we don’t play piano. 

Since we moved I’ve had a few people ask me ‘how did I move my dogs from Singapore to England’. So hence this little blog with the route we took. We did all the paperwork ourselves (at points I questioned my sanity on this decision), and saved ourselves a fortune compared to paying someone to do it for us. I’ve included a breakdown of costs at the end of the blog. 

From my research, there are a couple of main options when moving dogs back to the UK. You either fly to Europe with your pets as your excess luggage and then drive or ferry back to the UK. Or you travel with your dogs/cats as cargo. For the cargo option I understand that they don’t have to be on your flight. Pets are not allowed in the cabin when flying directly to the UK unless you have a guide dog. Or if you’re feeling flush you can engage a private charter to take you back.  

Flying your pets cargo to the UK from Singapore 

Choosing to fly your pets cargo to the UK from Singapore can be a more costly route as you have to engage an agent in Singapore to work with you on the process. This can be anything upwards of $4,000 per pet. But will potentially save you a lot of admin and a few headaches along the way.

Your dog or cat will also enter the crate at your home/hotel and then only come out for a vet check pre flight (from what I understand). So by the time you get your pet back in the UK, you’ll be hoping there hasn’t been an accident, as it’s a long time. I know plenty of friends who went with this option and their little furry friends have arrived safely. But this option wasn’t for us. 

Why we didn’t fly with Singapore Airlines

We knew we wanted to fly via Europe to the UK so that our dogs could fly as excess luggage. So initially we booked flights on Singapore Airlines to Paris. My husband even spoke to them beforehand to make sure that everything was ok. But at the point of submitting the manifest forms our dogs were rejected. This was a matter of weeks before we were due to leave the country, stress levels were high and this put us into a spin.

Our dogs were rejected as they’re both half cavalier king charles spaniels and Singapore airlines has a strict rule where they don’t carry snub nosed breeds. Now we thought cross breeds didn’t count but learnt the hard way that they do. Thankfully our flights were just on hold and we were able to cancel them and pivot. 

Who we flew with from Singapore to Europe with our dogs

Queue booking new flights and going with KLM to Amsterdam. The dogs were able to fly excess baggage at 400 euros each. After booking in our luggage and checking ourselves in, we were able to stay with our dogs in Changi airport terminal until two hours before our flight. We probably could’ve maybe pushed this a little more but the kids were getting tired. The dogs then got a police escort to the gate, mainly to stop people peering-in, being curious and potentially upsetting the dogs. 

Our dogs were very happy to get into their crates as we’d spent the past month crate-training them. Starting off without doors on, feeding them in the crates. Then closing the door for 5 mins at a time whilst they had a treat. And slowly building it up from there to a couple of hours whilst we were out of the house. We’ve also been taking our dogs out in the car since we got them and putting them in the footwells. So they’re used to the bumps in the road and road noises, I think this really helped them with the flight. 

Top Tip: Speak with the flight crew once you’ve boarded to check that your pets have been loaded. We also put Apple air tags on the crates so we could track them.

Travelling with your dog in the cabin to the UK

I looked into this extensively but our dogs are over 5kg each and quite tall, so fitting in an approved travel bag would’ve been a struggle even with fold out sides. Plus both our dogs are anxious with strangers so might’ve yapped a bit on the flight. You can normally only travel in economy with pets and the flight we were on didn’t allow pets in the cabin. 

I also looked into emotional support dog status, but Singapore is clamping down on this and it’s harder to get now. Although not impossible as I met a lady when I was dropping off my documentation in Jurong who had managed it. A lot of the airlines now don’t allow emotional support dogs and as the UK is one of the only countries you can’t travel with a dog in the cabin so we’d still need to fly via the EU.

How to get from the Netherlands to the UK with your dogs

So you’ve decided to fly to the EU, then you need to figure out how to get back to the UK. We decided to book a pet taxi for ease to pick us up at the airport and take us directly to our airbnb in the UK, door-to-door service. This was a brilliant move on our part as we were all tired after our long flight and we could nap.

This cost us 1300 euros and we booked with Happy Saluki pet transport. I’m sure there are cheaper companies or drivers, but our driver was fully insured, was great with our dogs and even had bowls and snacks for the dogs. He was happy to take regular breaks so we could all stretch our legs. He also knew the staff at the pet office in Calais and the process. They take care of all the channel tunnel bookings. He sensibly drove over the day before so he was well rested for our return journey. If you’re booking a pet taxi I would suggest checking if all these things apply.

We were able to fit our family of four, two dogs, 2 crates (we dismantled and stacked these), and our 12 suitcases into the van. 

There was one other dog on our flight and they planned to take a taxi from the airport to sea port and get a boat across to the UK in a pet friendly cabin. Other people I’ve spoken to have had friends or family come and pick them up, we didn’t have that luxury plus space would’ve 100% been an issue. 

How to prepare your crate to fly your pet from Singapore

This part was probably overly complicated. Firstly you need to measure your dog as per these guidelines to work out what the minimum size crate you should use is. We then sized up as our dogs are part snub nosed as this is the advice. You also need to check what sizes your airline will take. They also won’t take a crate with wheels on it.

We bought our dog crates from facebook marketplace and saved a few hundred dollars this way. We chose a seller who had only used the crate once before and recently. Ours came from a little pet shop on the East Coast, in Tanjong Katong called Pawsome, who import puppies so their crates have very little wear. They also gave us the water & food containers and funnel that you need to attach to the front of the door with cable ties. Make sure when you get your crate that you get all the metal screws and clips to secure it together. 

Then to make it more comfortable we bought these pads from Pets Lovers Centre that are absorbent and comfy. A friend put a sheepskin in when moving her dog, but my puppy destroys sheepskins so I opted for something more robust. These pads are now brilliant in the boot of our car, so they continue to be useful. 

We then put a t-shirt in each crate that our kids had worn, so they had a familiar scent to snuggle with, a chew toy and their favourite plushie toys. The advice is not to go mad here and keep it to a minimum. Check the rules of the country you’re flying to as it may differ. 

On the outside of the crate we had to put the live animal moving stickers, a kind pet exporter gave these to me. But if you plan in advance enough I’ve seen them on Amazon.com also. Or if you buy a new crate I understand they come with it. 

We put a luggage tag with our address and telephone numbers on each crate and stuck a piece of paper with their names on the top of the crate. On the dogs collars they had two tags; one with our Singapore phone number and new ones with our UK phone number.

You then tape a meal for them to the outside of the crate in a zip-lock bag, I went for some kibble and a small pouch of wet food. This wasn’t used during our flight but I understand if the flight is delayed the airline likes to have this just in case. But it came in super useful as I fed this to them when we arrived in Amsterdam for breakfast. 

Also attach their lead and any harness to the outside also in a bag. We left their flat collars on during the flight and that was ok. Then you need a zip lock bag for all the paperwork, also taped to the crate. I only had one export licence for the two dogs, so only one dog had the full paperwork on her crate but this wasn’t a problem for us (same for our health certificates).

The paperwork to move your dog From Singapore to the UK

This is the complicated part and the part that feels dissertation worthy. So many moving parts and connected forms. The first thing that complicated the paperwork was our flight was on a Sunday evening and our end destination was the UK. If you’re not flying to the UK with your pets this won’t present a problem. When you fly to the EU you need two health certificates, one that clears you to fly to the UK and one to the Netherlands. 

The UK health certificate requires your dog to be dewormed at the same time. This is time stamped and you then have 120 hours to cross the UK border. Simple right? Well… not exactly. This health certificate then has to be approved by a Singapore official vet and this department only works Mon-Fri and has a 48 hour turnaround. So we weren’t due to land in the Netherlands till Monday morning and then had to drive to Calais and cross at the Euro Tunnel. This just didn’t give us enough time. 

So, we then opted to do two health certificates, we had the Dutch one done on the Wednesday, then I taxi-ed it over to Jurong to drop it off for approval. (Yes Jurong and that’s the only office in Singapore that can approve your certificates). So worst case I knew we’d get onto our flight to the Netherlands and I could sort the other part out with a vet in Amsterdam if needed. 

Top Tip: Make sure the vet completes the health certificates in an ink colour different to the colour of the print.

We then had the UK health certificate done on the Thursday. I had emailed the NParks office to advise them I needed a quick 24-hour turnaround on this certificate approval but they couldn’t (wouldn’t) promise anything. But I was, as luck had it, able to go and collect all my paperwork on the Friday afternoon. So that was three trips to Jurong in three days.

There is an MRT station near the NParks office if you have the luxury of time, which is super handy and a Tiong Bahru bakery to grab a coffee, as two days before move day you’ll need one! 

Top Tip: Don’t fly on a Sunday evening. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself with the health certificates as this is literally the last hurdle in the paperwork trail for moving your dog out of Singapore. 

Here is a list of the paperwork we needed to leave Singapore with our furry friends. This was all stuck to the top of each crate. 

Please do your own research, as it may differ for you. You’ll need to download the health certificates from each countries official website.

Here is a link to the NParks round up of what you need to leave Singapore with your pets. 

1. Microchip and microchip certificate, the vet will be able to give you a certificate. 
   (Make sure the dog’s name, microchip number, date of birth, breed are the same on all documentation, I had to run back to the vet and change the breed on one certificate as it didn’t all match up)
2. Rabies vaccination and certificate, given at least a month before you leave. We were exempt from the blood test, as Singapore doesn’t have rabies. 
   (Make sure the dog’s name, microchip number, date of birth, breed are the same on all documentation) 
3. NParks dog licence. 
4. (Make sure the dog’s name, number, date of birth, breed are the same on all documentation) 
5. Export licence – you can have up to five pets on one licence I understand. 
   (Make sure the dog’s name, microchip number, date of birth, breed are the same on all documentation) 
   (This is only valid for 30-days so maybe give yourself a little buffer in case your flight is delayed). 
6. Health certificate for Netherlands (done at vets). 
7. Health certificate for UK and dewormer (done at vets).
8. Declaration that you are moving your dogs for personal use not for sale. 
9. Include dogs on your import manifest (we did this with UK customs as part of our shipment). 
10. Airline disclaimer form, this may vary so check with your airline. 
11. Government official stamp of all documents. This is done at Jurong and you need to file a request in advance on the GoBusiness portal.
12. Cancel your dog licence when you arrive at your destination.

We didn’t need a pre-export inspection or to engage a handling agent for the airline or country we flew to. 

We stayed in Fraser Suites for a week after we left our apartment, they have serviced apartments that allow dogs. It was a super handy location with restaurants/supermarkets below and we used the vets over the road to get our health certificates Apex Vets. The staff were all fantastic and patient here. One of my dogs had a bit of an ear infection that they sorted out super quick. 

Summary of costs to export your dog from Singapore

Flights (Per dog as excess baggage)	400 Euros
Pet Taxi (We went with Happy Suluki our driver was called Pete)  (For whole family and our 12 cases)	1300 Euros
Crates (Per crate)	S$50
Pads for the crates (Per pad from Pets Lovers Centre)	S$65
Export licence (Covered both dogs)	S$50
Government approval of health certificates (Per dog, which we did twice per dog, so four in total)	S$23
Health Certificate Netherlands (For both dogs)	S$140.40
Health Certificate UK (For both dogs plus dewormers)	S$154
Total cost to export two dogs to UK from Singapore	$2716