samthewestie

hi me again we have been looking into moving over to OZ however we could not go without our precious little west highland terrier the question i have is this he obviously has his annual vaccinations in the uk including leptospiriosis but according to info you have to have blood test for this to allow them into OZ so should we stop vaccinating now incase we decided to move it would be within the next year or 2 if/when we decide to go also has anyone else got experience of taking their dog with them we just cant leave him behind he is our family too

Jen1977ni

Why is your writing so big!? lol *MY EYESSS MY EYESSSSS*

Lots of people on here have taken their dogs, you'll get lots of responses soon I'm sure. I rehomed my wee westie before we moved here a year ago, it broke my heart at the time and I still miss her SOOOO much, but I know I did what was right by her!

Good luck, oh and STOPPPPP SHOUTINGGGGG LOL

harrip

Is this the dog writing?

Jen1977ni

lol

The BBs

Hi samthewestie,

We brought our flat coat retriever from the UK last October so we have some "fresh" experience of what you require! By the way, hope you have cash to spare as it is not cheap to ship an animal across! But then again whoever said love was cheap???

Leptospirosis vaccinations MUST end at least 6 months before your pet intended travel or it will show antibodies which could be construed as the actual disease itself, so allow at least that amount of time before sending your wooffa out or you could have some serious problems!

Blood tests MUST be carried out within 30 days of your dog’s intended departure and your doggie will need to be re-checked by a UK Government Registered vet within 4 days of its departure. Not sure if you are aware but there are only 3 points of entry for quarantine pets into Australia. Perth, Melbourne and Sydney so depending on where you are going bear in mind that you will need to find a way to get your pet home if you are not going to live in one of these areas. Ours went to Sydney and we flew her up to Brisbane 32 days later. Your dog will be in quarantine in Australia for a minimum of 30 days but you can sometimes arrange to keep them in kennels a little longer if necessary at extra cost to you of course.

We used Pet Air UK (petairuk.com) to ship our dog across and they were brilliant! They collected her from our house in Devon and drove her to Windsor where she stayed overnight and flew out from Heathrow the next day on a direct flight to Sydney. They no longer sedate animals whilst in transit and they are not fed for at least 24 hours prior to flying to reduce messing but they are checked, fed and well looked after upon arrival. If your dog does not have a special diet (unlike ours) then food should be included in the price (in Sydney kennels at least – not sure about Perth of Melbourne)!
We were given a contact name and phone number of the person in charge of our dog so we could contact them at any time and check on her progress. They were always really helpful and cooperative. You can post toys or blankets etc and they will ensure your doggie gets them when they arrive. You can also visit your pet whilst it is in quarantine but we chose not to visit ours in case she thought it was time go home! Silly really but we felt it was the best for her. And me probably!

Be prepared for your dog having a slight loss of weight as they sometimes fret and eat less or just take time to adjust to their new environment! Ours lost about 4 kilos which is quite a lot but she was overweight to start with so she was able to ride it ok! She is fatter now but at her optimum weight which we now keep in check regularly.

Our little darling cost us just over £4000 all in to ship door to door but she is allergic to everything so we had to buy her special food which had to be shipped especially from Melbourne but this price includes all the vet fees, flights, transportation from our house to the airport, kennels and transportation from Sydney to Brisbane! In case you were wondering, yeah we love our dog! Yours should cost significantly less being a smaller dog!

Lastly, please remember that although you need AQIS permission to import your pet into Australia, you also ABSOLUTELY need to have DEFRA’s permission to remove your pet from the UK!!! You can do it easily on-line or it could otherwise be a ratehr expensive oversight!

Hope this covers most of what you need to know right now but if you need anything else please feel free to give me a shout anytime.

Best regards.
The BBs

samthewestie

Hi BBs
thank you very much for your informative response we also adore our woofie as with you he is part of the family and we could not bear to leave him behind no matter what the cost it does not bear thinking about really and we would move heaven and earth to bring him i agree with your suggestion not to visit your baby in the kennels i think ours too would think it was time to go home he gets very excited when we come home etc so he would not like it if we visited and left him, im pleased you found that the quarantine kennels kept you informed and were helpful 30 days is a long time to be without him. Silly question but is the food they provide dried or wet food our westie has dry food as they are known to have bad stomachs and i would hate to give him a change of diet too but i dont think we can import his food.
also how did you find the application on the defra site i can not locate it at all
thanks again and am pleased your baby is safely with you and enjoying the new life i also hope the terrible queensland tropical weather has not hit you badly and you are safe.
thanks again
Samthewestie

Wendy66

We brought over 4 dogs and they were well looked after by the Sydney quarantine, you get the mobile number for the kennel maid looking after your dog/s and are given times when you ring, you get through to them and in my case they instantly knew the dogs and started rattling off weights, mine in the main put weight on! but they knew who had put on what. I hadn't told them my oldest girl had gone deaf in case there was some obscure rule about her not flying/going but they are checked/watched very well and they knew at my first call.

We used Overhills in Bristol they were about a 4 hour drive for us, but I felt happiest with them, ring around and see who you get that best gut feeling for.

You can email the kennels about the food from memory I think it was Pro-plan dried. Which is a good quality one.

My youngest at the time was 2 and the oldest 13.5 years - we stopped the LEPTO part of the jab as soon as we got the visa about 2 years before we went. They just kept having the yearly booster WITHOUT the Lepto part. Just ring your vet and say what you want before the appointment so they can check it out, we did this both times ours went for booster and both times they got advice from DEFRA to make up the remainder with distilled water.

My oldest girl failed the Lepto test (other 3 passed) but she had been vaccinated yearly for so long it was still in her system, we had to wait 10 days then test her again, 2nd time results come back quicker but not a nice time........ Overhills were great and explained of all the 4 blood tests to fail it's the easiest to rectify as 2nd time they need to remain the same or less than the 1st test............ all was well with one day to fly. Otherwise her breeder was going to keep having her tested for us until she passed and then take her down to Overhills she was coming whatever!

The BBs

Hi samthewestie,

Glad you found this information helpful. Always glad to be of help. As regards DEFRA, your best bet is to email them directly as their website is undergoing changes (!). The email address is: [email protected] or you can call them on 01228-403600 and they should be able to help you out. They were incredibly helpful to us when we made initial enquiries so worth a try.

As regards their food, unfortunately I don't know what they feed them as in our case we had to organise our own but maybe someone else here on BE might be able to offer you some help with that? Alternatively, you can contact Pet Air or another similar company in the UK as ask them. I am very sure they would be very happy to offer you their assistance. I don't think you'll be able to ship your own food but I am sure that the kennels will be able to offer you options in that respect - it might cost you a little extra but worth it I am sure.

We managed to escape the Brisbane floods as we live about 15 minutes drive south of the town but the devastation was simply unreal! I am sure you would have seen TV coverage in the UK. Ironically, just a couple of weeks after the event you would never believe that the town had been so badly affected as it all looked so normal - from a short distance anyway!!! As regards the cyclone, we are well over one hour's flight south of the affected area so thankfully well protected but the TV pictures this evening of the devastated areas are quite shocking! More misery for lots of unfortunate Queenslanders!

Well my dear, hope this is of help and again, if we can be of further assistance then just give us another shout. No problems at all.

Regards,

The BBs.

Bermudashorts

If you are concerned about the food, just provide your own and instruct them to use your food not their own.

I have cats, I agree it does the animal no good by visiting. I would not visit if I was to do it again as being left behind made my cats very stressed and ill.