Hello, I just wanted to know if any one here has re-homed their animals and where they did it. Or are we the only heartless people here that dont want the fuss and cost of taking our pets with us!

First off I wouldnt say you're heartless, different strokes for different folks and all that!

What type of animals have you got?

We have a westie dog who is 3 years old and a cat that is 4 years old! Bless em and all that, but the dog would lick a cane toad and die and cats have to stay indoors in Oz which would kill our cat!!!

nope, your not the only heartless selfish so and so's that are thinking of not taking their pets. the jury's still out on whether we take our dog

we know 'a dog is for life' etc, but are still deliberating because of how she travels - not very well

so we are in the same position!!

good luck in what ever you decide

michelle

WE rehomed our 2 cats. Our moggy had symptomless FIV (the cat equivalent of HIV) and so we couldn't bring him. It was a tough one for us and our small daughter. I miss them both dreadfully but we couldn't have had them in the rental we have been in for the past 5 months.

What we did was to ask at the local vets, advertise at work (I worked in a school) and for the pedigree cat there was a rehoming service that helped.
We were lucky and found good people through my work. After 3 months I had a email saying that the moggy was very ill with kidney failure- unrelated to FIV apparently. He has since recovered and seems well. WE have set him up with a "trust fund" to pay his bills. I say this because I would have been terribly guilty had this happened after bringing him here.

Good luck. You know whats best for you and I'm sure you will do well by your pets.

Ali

We're another 'heartless' family! I've actually been on the phone to the kennels today. He's going to be dropped off next week. We're probably not going until the end of the year but we want to get it sorted as soon as possible so that its one less thing to worry about. We did find a home for him last month but he was back with us 5 days later because the new cats didn't take to him! We did consider looking again for a home ourselves but didn't want to risk him being bounced back again - not fair on him or our 5 year old daughter.

Our two cats will also be going to the Cat Protection a little nearer the time.

Yes I do feel guilty but when we weighed up the pros and cons the result was overwhelming. Our dog is very demanding and our main aim in going to Australia is to be able to go camping etc short notice without a care in the world - with dogs & cats life can be pretty restrictive (in my opinion anyway!).

Good luck

We have rehomed one of our 3 cats to a friends dad who had lost his. I thought it might have been a sad thing to do but she has a fantastic home now and someone at home all the time. We may take the other two as my daughter is attached but if the right offer came along then we may well accept it.

We have decided not to take our five year old black labrador. He hasn't been with us for five years, we got him two years ago as a rescue dog. We got him from the RSPCA and they 'forgot' to mention a few shortcomings he has. He is very unruly and quite a verbal bully, although would never ever hurt anyone, he just likes the sound of his own voice . He is almost impossible to walk as if we come across another dog, he just charges off and is so strong that neither of the children can walk him on his lead and even hubby and I battle to keep him restrained. I couldn't stand the idea of giving him back to the RSPCA, so took him to training, but he was so 'mouthy' that I was asked to leave!! We love him dearly and have not taken this decision lightly. Currently, we put him in a car and take him to a largely quiet area where we are unlikely to come across any other dogs. He is a perfect angel then. We just felt that taking him 12,000 miles away would not be fair on him (or us, admittedly). People don't understand him here and I doubt they would have much tolerance for him there. We are hoping that the Labrador Society will take him and rehome him and even find someone who is better equipped to train him, otherwise we will have no option but to give him back to the RSPCA which I think would kill him. It is the hardest decision of all that we have had to make.

A sad time indeed

I'd start off by asking friends and family then if no luck what someone else said about notices in the vets and adverts in the local papers (quite often we have animals advertised "free to good home")

Just wanted to say though that cats dont have to be in all the time, only at night

Hope you get it sorted

I can really relate to this. We have 2 dogs: a very fat gentle sweet-natured Cavalier King Charles who has no brain, and a whippet. The whippet was a rescue dog, taken in from a foster home. She is a real problem. When we got her, she became fixated on me and would panic, howl, shake, drool and even pee if I so much as left the room. I spent a fortune taking her to an animal homeopath ( ) which calmed her down.... a bit. We've had her for about 4 years and she does have her better times, but it doesn't take much to tip her over into her neurotic mode - her latest trick is to try to dig her way through the front door and to eat the post!!! She is rarely left, but cannot at any time be made to feel enclosed - apparently she had close encounter with a travel box as a pup and came off worse!

She would simply not survive the trip to Oz even if we felt inclined to take her - but I'm not even sure she'd cope with being re-homed, assuming we could find someone sufficiently experienced and brave enough to take her in.

The kids have announced that if the dogs don't go, they won't either..... just not looking forward to having to weigh things up when the crunch comes!!!

Well we're taking the dog, selling the tropical fish and desperatley trying to rehome my 9 year old cat, who I really don't want to leave but am having too. Have tried family and friends and work but so far nobody wants her. I even asked on here last week but I've heard nothing back off that either so I'm going to keep trying. I do have her name down on a cats home waiting list but that's a last resort, I'd rather find a new family for her first.
Marie

I have a friend who is used to dogs who is looking for one but she will be at work 8.30 - 5.30 mon-fri. Not ideal I know but she has been thinking about sorting the garage into some kind of run for her work days.She has a back garden and is a really caring person. If anyone feels their dog would be happy there I can give her a call and pass on numbers etc. She lives in Southampton.

On the flip side we're looking to rehome our second cat - he's 14 tho so nobody wants him but I think the flight would kill him as he's quite nervous. I think I'll try the vets as someone suggested, thanks for that.

Thank you every one that has answered my thread, it is so reassuring knowing that we are not alone in any one of our many dilemas about moving to the other sode of the world!
I am sure as time gets nearer, I will be frantically asking more questions about all sorts, and it is great that there is a forum like this to do so!

We are also another "heartless" family. We have 2 bedlington terriers (one is 2 1/2 & the other is 3) but neither travel well - the oldest is scared of the car & promptly throws up when on a journey! The youngest is really nervous also. We don't want to put them through a journey like the one to Australia.

We have contacted the Bedlington Rescue Society who are very interested in taking them - we are going to sort it out when the TRA comes back positive (hopefully)!!!

Hand up for this one. One 14 year old cat - eldest daughter actually suggested a rescue centre - said that only lovely people go there to get lovely animals One rabbit going to daughter's friend and other rabbit has two offers on her. Girls (and me) are being very brave at the moment but am dreading the day(s) we hand them all over