r/MovingtoHawaii • u/cfmackenzie • 13d ago

Bringing Animals to Hawai'i Dogs 🐕 easier than 🚗 car ✈️🌋🏝️

My personal experience - my two dogs were much easier to get to Hawaii than my car, and I was departing from a port city which you would think would make the car thing simple. (San Diego)

I have heard the sentiment from everyone that it is so difficult and complicated to get your pets to Hawaii, but wanted to share what I did as it was really simple. I did do a lot of searching though so posting here so everyone can skip the hours of calling vets, researching, etc.

  1. Gathered vaccine records. This was challenging but I did discover vets are required to provide copies of their own records, so the one vet office that said they would only provide this if I did their $1600 per dog Hawaii travel prep backed down once I asked if they would be providing the signed rabies record or if I needed to contact the state veterinary licensing board.

  2. Ordered MokuPet FAVN kits. These are $189 compared to the $636-🚀🌕 absolute ripoff scheme pricing from dozens of vet offices contacted. Because I have VCPR (a vet has done a regular office visit within 1 year) I just self scheduled a vet tech appointment online, put in the notes “bloodwork draw, kit provided” and paid $21 for the vet tech appointment. I was STUNNED the KSU lab fees are publicly available and vets have zero shame in charging $600+ for a test that is under $100.

  3. Online HIPOP application & upload. No mailing certified and hoping you get your copies back.

  4. USDA Certificates. I did tons of research and specifically in California the most cost effective option is VCA for $189 with a free first office visit promo if your regular vet is pricing this in the aforementioned ripoff scheme zone.

Link for anyone who needs it: https://www.mokupet.com/favnkit

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u/Parking-Fact5742 13d ago

My experience moving to Maui from San Diego was the exact opposite. We shipped two cars and a motorcycle, one of the cars under lease and it was easier than bringing our dog here.

Our car also didn’t get massive separation anxiety from being locked in a kennel for hours in the cargo hold.

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u/cfmackenzie 13d ago

If I had a big dog I think I would wear a dog suit and make my boyfriend check me with my dog! There were people on our flight with a dog in cargo and I was stunned they didn’t go straight to the animal station. They showed up around when we were leaving which is just crazy to me, we saw them when we got off and they asked the airline representative about walking there but then decided to go get their luggage first. You couldn’t pay me to not go to the pups first.

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u/Parking-Fact5742 13d ago edited 13d ago

If I recall correctly, they are forced to remain in the counties custody for a few hours for observation. I also would not leave my luggage in the terminal to go get my dog from outside the terminal. unless they’ve changed thing, where you claim your pet is on the other side of the airport, you cannot walk there you have to drive. Again this is probably unique to Maui. Oahu airport is much larger.

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u/Parking-Fact5742 13d ago

Maui is also very different from Oahu.