Moving with plants and pets in India

The honest position

Pets do not travel in a goods vehicle. It is unsafe, and no reputable operator will do it. Plants can travel, but survival over a multi-day transit is genuinely uncertain and nobody should promise otherwise.

Here is what is actually possible, and what you will need to organise yourself.

Pets: your options

• Travel with them yourself by car. Simplest and least stressful for the animal on any route under about 12 hours.
• Air cargo, through the airline's live-animal service. Requires an IATA-compliant crate, a health certificate from a veterinarian within the airline's window, and a booking made well in advance.
• Train, in the AC First Class coupé where permitted, or in the brake van as parcel. Rules vary and are strictly enforced.
• A specialist pet relocation service, which handles crates, paperwork and door-to-door movement. It is a separate industry from household moving.

Pets: before the day

• Health certificate and up-to-date vaccination record, dated as the carrier requires.
• Crate-train well ahead. An animal meeting its crate for the first time on moving day is an animal in distress.
• Update the microchip registration and the ID tag with the new address before you move, not after.
• On moving day, keep the animal in a closed room or, better, with someone else entirely. Open doors and strangers are how pets are lost during moves.
• At the new home, set up one quiet room first and let them out into that rather than the whole house.

Plants: what actually happens

Plants can be moved, and often survive a one- or two-day transit well. Beyond that, a sealed truck in Indian summer heat is a difficult environment, and losses are common.

A mover who guarantees plant survival on a five-day route is telling you what you want to hear.

• Water lightly two days before — not the night before. Waterlogged soil in a sealed vehicle rots roots and grows mould.
• Move into plastic pots for transit; ceramic pots crack and are heavy.
• Prune back hard. Less foliage means less water loss and less damage.
• Pack upright in open cartons with the pots secured; never lay them down.
• Unpack first at the other end, before the furniture.

The practical answer for most households

Take the plants you genuinely care about in your own car, give the rest to neighbours, and move the pets yourself or through a specialist. It is the outcome everyone arrives at eventually; arriving at it early saves a difficult week.