james the cat

We are emigrating to Melbourne soon and will be taking our dog with us. Is it as horrific an ordeal for the dog as it seems?, and will my dog ever forgive me for putting him in a cage for nearly 30 hours followed by a month in quarantine? Which is the best company to use for transporting pets? and which should I avoid?

island.girl

we are going to be using golden arrow they are highly recomended on here.no e.mail address but they are based in shropshire if thats spelt correct!

cypry

We are taking the little pooch to Melbourne this year and have been recommended Airpets (www.airpets.com) based near H/Row airport. Very good they do everything for you, even pick the pooch up from your house. Ours don't like injections and he has a course of about 5 jabs to take so he aint gonner like us either. When you do put him the crate for the voyage put an old t-shirt that you have been wearing in with him.... It works great and comforts the poor fella on his trip. Costs about a grand but he's worth it (sometimes)
Cheers

Professional Princess

When I worked as a vet nurse, i found its just as stressful if not more for some dogs to spend time in the vet hospital.

Animals have their own ways of coping with stress.

Im not saying its a treat for them to fly, but they are kept quiet in the hold of the plane, the lighting is dimmed, the temperature is constant and the time soon goes.

Quarantine compared to the flight is alot nicer. They get well looked after and again, time flies.

When I think of how some of our cruelty cases involved how owners would be so nasty to their dogs, their dogs still loved them, still would have gone back with them.

You are not being cruel to put him in quarantine, and I bet your dog will forget all when you go and collect him.

Its a small price to pay for you to have him and him to be with you.

Good luck.

Samantha

Stormz

just make sure that one of those jabs ISN`T Lepto Spirosis. It`s not necessary and will also be a big delay risk as when the blood tests are done and they see Lepto (from the injection) you`ll have to have more sets of blood tests done. Much better not to have that one injected.

Chalkfarm

Hi We were so worried about sending our dog to Sydney as the thought of the flight then quarrantine scared us alot.He has been out now for 3 weeks and is fine.We used par air in colchester and found them so helpful and they looked after him well before he flew out.In eastern creek he had 1 kennel maid who looked after him all the time.This helped him ,as he built up a trust in her, which helped him settle and relax more.When we collected him he had lost hardly no weight and was so happy.He has adapted well and we are so happy to have him back.Make sure you dont give him that lepto jab as that will stop him flying out as it affects the blood tests,you also cant put anything in the crate as they have a limited amount of room.This is to stop them moving around too much.They will not allow blankets in the crate as the dog is in it for quite along time and it will stress them out as they do have to go to the toilet in the crate.All the best and I am sure all will be fine,claire

cypry

Yer found that one from the vet....... BIG DELAYS if he has that one

mel n jay

I like you am so worried, we have a St Bernard, she loves her home comforts is funny about where you put her dish likes her cuddles etc.

I am worried about her getting bloat which affects large breeds as we lost our other St Bernard at the age of 5 years to this last halloween.

They are not sure what causes it, we were right to the vet but no luck, I still blame the fireworks as she was a little stressed by the noise not that we could really hear anything but I am sure she could, I now have this worry that the stress of flying will cause it to happen in mid air and we will land to find our dog has been cremated.

ajax4779

Try not to worry too much about your dogs journey to Oz. Both dogs and cats cope with the flight and quarantine very well. It would be better for your St Bernard though if you could time it so he is in quarantine in the colder months rather than in the middle of the Aussie summer.
Make sure that you only feed your dog a small meal before the flight. Also send a note with your import permit asking that your dog be fed smaller meals more often and explain your worrry about bloat. Your dog will be ok and you will be far more stressed than he is.