Taking fido to Oz
 

Hi all,

I'm looking for your feedback on taking your pets to Australia, particularly anyone who has trasported their dog over there.

How did they cope? were they different/changed after the flight (from the stress)? how was the quaranteening experience for you and the dog? and does your pooch have problems or get into trouble with snakes/spiders (we'll be going to NSW, just north of Sydney)

F.Y.I: We have a 3 year old Akita (like a huskie) who will be 6/7 years old by the time we've saved up enough money to move (no assets as we are not property owners)!

Thanks
Sarah

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

I found some information that might be handy for you:

http://www.australiamigrate.co.uk/pets-australia.htm

http://www.aussiemove.com/aus/pets.asp

http://www.emigrationexpert.co.uk/Ta...uEmigrate.html

http://www.gettingdownunder.com/2006...-to-australia/


Good Luck :)

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

My dog came over five years ago.....he was and still is very spoiled....sleeps on bed etc, has run of house..caviar for dinner etc .blah blah...and i was worried about him coping without his home comforts, however, he coped well with the flight and quarantine. He slept for a week solid though when we picked him up from quarantine, but soon got back to his usual self....

I must add, however, that I did not cope as well as him!! I visited him every week in quarantine and really wish I hadn't.....he didn't really respond much to me, just the assigned worker who was looking after him...I'm sure it's a very confusing period for them, but they adapt and soon get back to their normal selves!

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

you will have to save a lot more to fetch your dog over best to find him a good home in the uk.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

We brought our dog over in 2008 and he coped very well with the flight and quarantine,although he did lose 5kg luckily he was an overweight dog to start with.
I worried about spiders, snakes etc but have never seen one yet!!!!

I have to say it was the best money I spent I would not be without him, some people find it easier to re-home but that was very an option but it was expensive!!!!
Good Luck

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

We have decided to leave ours in the Uk. Mainly as we cannot afford the fees for transporting but also she will be almost 10 and not sure she would benefit from it. We hopefully have a loving home sorted for her - but its gonna be the hardest thing in the world leaving her as she is one of the family.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

can anyone tell me how much it costs? I have a terrier that i will want to bring with me but am told it is very costly........

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Hi, i researched this recently and a 'yahoo ask' search said allow £3500 for all flights, vaccinations, paperwork, veterinary checks etc, and then another £500 for the quaranteening in Oz (30 days). This is just a figure i found on the web so i don't know how realistic is it, obviously your total figure would be less than mine as your dog is smaller, but this is what we are budgeting for.
Sarah

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Oh help- that is bad news!

Thanks for the info through - are you taking yours after all?

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

You might be better getting a quote specific to your dog as price is very much related to the volume of the container required, which varies a lot with dogs.

I had a quote a while back of about £1,600 for two cats which also requires a pretty large container.

If you go to airpets website you can fill in a form with your dogs dimensions and they will send you a quote.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Hi tabskitten.

Oh God yes! i wouldn't be without my baby! the only way we wouldn't take her is if her health didn't permit or if she was really old and we didn't expect her to live much longer, but the date we're thinking of emigrating she'll only be 6 and a half or 7.

Sarah

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

We brought 4 dogs over nearly a year ago, they were aged between 2 years to 13 years - we went through Overhills it was £5900 for all 4 added to that you will have fee's for blood tests. For us money didn't come into it, we wouldn't have come without them. Sydney quarantine was brilliant, you get a mobile number for the kennel hand that is looking after your dog, when we rang she always knew which dog had put weight on or off, when we visited them, they kept running to door when they heard her, so that was a good sign.

Since then we have lived in Qld with them for 7 weeks and now in NSW. A trip to your vets to get registered when you arrive is a good idea and the vet will let you know what there is about in your area with regards to nasties, other than that is is just habit if you live in a paralysis tick area of checking your dog every day (luckily we don't live where they are), We don't have Cane Toads either but again pick water bowls up outside at night and keep dogs away from them. Snakes - commonsense keep areas clean and tidy, we have acreage which is fenced but no doubt they are about, we put snake proof fencing up around our back patio area so they have a safe area to wee etc, I never have them out in the acreage without me anyway much the same as England I always knew where they were. They are very much house dogs and aren't out on their own. Luckily we haven't seen a single snake yet (we have Browns, Tigers and blacks in the area) and we are semi rural, even on walks, plenty of Kangas about but not a snake yet thankfully. Some large Lizards in the garden but they just stay clear of the dogs.

Next door has 5 dogs was talking to her this morning, she's never lost a dog to a snake bite, they are outside dogs as seems to be the norm with Aussies.

Plenty of spiders about, hubby moved a rock pile the other day and had to squish about 5 Redbacks in it, other than that we'd only seen 2 in the year we've been here. Huntsmans are about but leave them alone to eat other spiders, we have Wolf Spiders and put them outside if they come in as well.

Overall it's not much different for them here really, treat heat with respect and keep surroundings clean and speak to your vet when you arrive.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

My dog is currenly in quarantine at Eastern Creek (Sydney). She arrived on 8th Feb and unfortunately, due to circumstances, she will be there until 28th April.

I arrived in OZ 2 days later (we are in far north Queensland) and when I followed up with the quarantine station, I was given the name of the carer looking after my dog. When I contacted her directly she told me my dog was very scared and wasn't eating (I've heard this is quite normal for dogs/cats). She suggested a dog walker.

I spoke to her about a week later and she said my dog was eating but still nervous and again suggested a dog walker, thinking that she would do better if someone was to come around to take her out and spend time with her.

Last week the dog walker started visiting/playing - I've received pictures and my dog appears to be happy and doing well and from what I'm hearing from them, she is. I'm happy I hired the dog walker, because I am too far away to visit....I don't know if I was closer if I would actually visit, I would think it would be tough on my dog and myself for me to turn around and leave her there.

I don't know how she did with the flight, she obviously survived it and is surviving quarantine as well. We are counting down the time until I can get her on a flight to Queensland...where it will be another adjustment for her to where we're living now!

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Did those of you that already have your pets out there use the full package service, airpets for example, who sort everything out for you from paperwork to the air kennel etc, or did you DIY?
I've just had a quote from them for £3663.00 for one dog in August 2011!! this is the itemised list of what that price includes.

Freight
I.A.T.A. Air Travel Container(s)
Airline Handling Fees
Delivery to Airport
Application for Import Permit
Owners / Curators declaration
Application for Ministry Of Agriculture Export Certificate
DEFRA Export Cert inc. 96 hour Paraciticide
Sealing of Air Kennel(s) by Airport Vet
Microchip Identification
Collection From U.K. Residence
Boarding - 1 days duration
Customs Entries UK

i don't even know if we'd need all of this... e.g. 'boarding 1 day duration' and 'collection from UK residence'? surely i drop her off to them so i can say goodbye! :-(

They also said current Sydeney quarantine rates are $1400 AUD for the 30 days.

Sarah

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

I did everything myself. Alot of people I know used petmovers and I had given serious thought to doing it as well because the whole process seemed overwhelming and I thought it would be easier to let someone else do it. As I said, in the end I did it myself, lots of running around to do, but in the end I felt quite proud of myself that I did it without paying someone to do it for me. I needed the money for the move.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

hi Paularn

Do you think you saved alot by doing it yourself? and how did you know that you weren't going to forget to do/sign/get copies of anything, there seems like so much to think about! :unsure:

Sarah

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Hi. We are sending our dog in June and I am very worried about how she will cope. We are using petair they are very polite, our quote is £1240 but we pay for blood tests and quarantine. Also to point out it was going to cost an extra £400 for them to colect our dog and board her overnight, so we opted to drive her to the airport ourselves. My advice is when you know you are going bok well in advance as quarantine gets booked up quick, our dog was booked in in January, altough we don't know when she is flying the quarantine will give or take a day or so.

Also DO NOT let your dogs have the lepto vaccine anymore if you are defo going to OZ as dogs cannot go if the levels are so much in their blood. Our dog was given it and the I told the vet we were emigrating the look on her face was sheer horror as she told us that she wouldn't ahve given her the Lepto jab if she had known. Hopefully the vet thinks she will be OK. As long as the second blodo test comes back and shows the levels are dropping.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

That looks like the airpets quote I have. I am sure it is fine to take your pet down yourself, the pick up is just an additional service, some people might not be able to make the drive to Heathrow as there is so much to do at this time.

I moved my cats to Bermuda with Airpets and got them to pick up. To be honest it is quite a relief to hand them over and have something taken care of. The animals need vet check just before they fly (for ticks I think) so Airpets will organise this the day before if they have then for 24 hours before flying.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Hi Sarah

I just followed the paperwork in order of the steps to be done. It did and does seem overwhelming and because of that I think I procrastinated ALOT because I had a difficult time wrapping my head around everything that needed to be done.

What I did ....

October -
**Vaccines (to be done within 12 months of moving) and microchipping
**Rabies Titre Test (which you may not need to do since you are in the UK - I was in Canada).

November -
**Took Rabies test result (took 2 weeks to get back) to a Canadian certified vet for signature

January -
**Applied for import permit - received it about a week later
**More bloodwork (to be done within 30 days of moving) - this bloodwork was expensive!

February -
**Booked flight
**Flea and tick treatment (within 4 days of flying)
**My dog's vet filled out the paperwork of Certificate A
**Took ALL paperwork to the Canadian vet for signing and they needed to fill out Certificate B. I also arranged for them to meet us at the airport for sealing of kennel.
**Took dog to airport - Canadian vet met us there, scanned microchip and sealed kennel

As someone else mentioned do NOT get the lepto vaccine.

I didn't actually get a quote of how much it would have cost for a petmover, but I figured it would have cost probably $2000 Canadian and that was money I needed for the move. You add that cost on top of all the other stuff ie. vaccines, bloodwork, microchipping, flight, quarantine and it adds up. As I said I know others that used petmovers and they didn't have to do the running around and had it all done for them, but I'm glad I did it myself and looking back on it now, it still seems like alot of work (and it is), but it is doable, you just have to put the effort into it.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Crikey - that is a lot to do, and over such a long period.

I am glad mine only had to come from NZ.

We moved over in March while are 4 and 11 year old dogs remained at a friends until they arrived in June (the older dogs 12 birthday). I did the organising of a carrier and a vet but my friend did all the running around.

Which required:

> My dogs were not vaccinated so they had to be done (just for regular shots) which entailed a vax one month before flying and then a booster 4 weeks later. At this point when they got their vax's they also had a check up (where the vet stated the older dog needed to gain weight - she had fallen ill since we had left), he deflead them, wormed them and microchipped them and took bloods to check for Lepto and something else (which NZ doesnt really have anyway)

> A declaration to be filled out by the sender and signed by a JP stating they werent one of four vicious breeds and they werent under a certain age.

> Then a pre flight check within 72 hours before flying to confirm they were fit to fly - at which time they received their boosters.

Then my mum picked them up from Napier on the Saturday morning and drove them up to Auckland to the kennel - who was also the carrier - where they stayed for 2 nights befor eflying over ont he Monday.

We met them at the airport on Monday and brang them home 2 hours later. No quarantine from Napier thank goodness otherwise we wouldnt have had any quality time with our old girl.

Turns out the weightloss, while partly to do with the stress of not being with us - was also cancer (she was terribly thin when she got here, skin and bones, and I was a bit peeved my mate hadnt told me about it). 3 weeks after they arrived she became very sick and after 6 days of illness and some vet visits and a bit of research about her cancer, we opted to have her PTS.

It cost me all up about $2500NZ including vet and crates and boarding etc.

I was gutted we only got 3 weeks with her after 3 months away from her but I wouldnt change it for the world. My only regret is that we didn't get her here sooner to spend more time with her before she left us.

I personally cannot fathom how anyone could leave an old dog behind, my girl was very depressed while we were absent and she was sooo rapt to be home.

Anyway - good luck with it all. It sounds very tricky and logn winded coming from other countries. NZ to Oz was really very simple.

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

So sorry to hear about your girl Bananalana, such a shame you didn't have more time together. how has your other fur-baby settled in?

I had another quote, this time from petair coming in at £2627, so a whole £1000 cheaper than airpets for exactly the same service. (i.e. everything except vaccinations/quarantine fees & bloodwork)

Can anyone else recommend pet 'relocation' companies?We would be going from Heathrow.

Many thanks

Sarah

Re: Taking fido to Oz
 

Yea it was a shame, but made the right decision in regards to relief for her.

Our boy settled in really well but he didnt have any yucky quarantine to go through so dont know what that would be like.

He does get really hot though as he is black (in fact - I havent seen that many dark coloured dogs around) and has a double coat. We have to hose him off most days lol

The dogs have a paddling pool but he is a wuss and wont use it...our little hand bag dog loves it though lol