An international move is a chain of handovers across organisations that have never met: a vet, an airline, a customs shed, a boarding facility, another airline, another official. Your cat is the only passenger who cannot explain a missing document, point at the right desk, or phone anyone when a connection fails. A relocation service sells you its grip on that chain, and your questions before signing exist to test the grip link by link, on your route, with your cat.
Documents and Destination Experience
Ask which documents they handle and which they leave to you, and have them say it as a division of labour rather than a reassurance. Health certificates, export paperwork, import permits, airline bookings and customs entries all have owners in a well-run move; the dangerous documents are the ones each side assumed the other was holding. Ask what they need from you, in what form, and by when, and what they check before submission rather than after rejection.
Ask about their experience with your destination specifically: how many cats they have moved there, on which airlines, and what usually goes wrong on that route. Destination requirements vary and change, sometimes with little notice, so confirm each requirement with the service and with the authority that sets it rather than accepting a general answer drawn from a different country last year. A service current on your destination talks about lead times and quirks unprompted; a service guessing talks about how cats usually fly.
Who Holds Her on Each Leg
Ask who handles your cat on each leg, physically, by role and organisation. Who collects her, who takes her to any vet appointment en route, where she waits between flights, and who feeds, waters and checks her during a layover? Handovers are where animals are most at risk and information is most easily lost, so a trustworthy service can walk the whole journey at walking pace, naming each pair of hands and each roof she sleeps under.
Ask how you will be updated as the move happens: at which points, by whom, and with what proof, such as photographs at collection and delivery. Names matter less than roles you can verify, but a service that cannot name the role at a handover has not planned that handover. Ask what happens to her comfort during long waits: a proper boarding facility with staff, or a crate in a cargo area timed by a clock? The middle of the journey is where vague services go quiet, and quiet in the middle is exactly what you are paying to avoid.
Cancellations, Contingencies and the Itemised Quote
Ask what contingencies cover a cancellation at each stage: a flight cancelled mid-move, paperwork delayed by an authority, a health check result arriving late. Where does she stay, who pays for the extra nights, and who rebooks what? Ask the same about a failed check or a rejected document, because the plan for the bad day is the real service; the good day largely organises itself.
Finally, ask whether the quote is itemised, and read it as one: airline charges, veterinary costs, customs and permit fees, boarding, ground transport and the service's own fee, separated so you can see what you are buying and challenge what you cannot follow. Get the agreed service, the contingencies and the itemised costs confirmed in writing before you commit, because an international move cannot be renegotiated from an airport. Whichever service you choose, a Pet Passport assembled in KinsLe beforehand means her health history and identification can be produced at every border without a scramble.