Taking Pets
 

Hi
Has anyone taken or taking their pets with them?
I'd like to know the pros and cons that people have experienced in taking them.
I've had an estimate to take out two cats with us which I would pay if I thought it was the right thing to do. I'm battling with myself as to whether it would be cruel to take them or crueler to let them down and give them up.
Thanks
Claire and Tony
:confused:

Re: Taking Pets
 

Hi Claire and Tony,

We are taking our dog. A little Jack Russell. I have scoured the papers and asked for quotes etc. Air pets was the most expensive, but when I look at the others, we have to do all the work and they just ship out, whereas with Air pets, we only have to give them the information, get her microchipped and vaccinated.
We also have 2 cats. One is 10 and the other is about 5 but I am not sure that either of them would cope for different reasons. One of them lives to hunt, and the other one is old and lives to sleep. I would worry that if we took the hunter, she would catch something poisonous, because she catches rabbits, moles, mice and anything that in the slightest moves a little. She sees no danger, and the other one, I am not sure that she would take the flight very well and adapt to Australian life.
I just hope that we can find a good home for them both, or because we have a house with land and stables, the new owners will keep them here.
If they were normal house cats and their ages were okay I would have taken them if I could afford too.

Re: Taking Pets
 

Do a search for previous posts on this as I'm sure they don't let cats roam around freely as they do here , I seem to remember they're not really welcomed by the Aussies. I'm sure someone else will put you straight.

Re: Taking Pets
 

I know this has nothing to do with taking pets. I noticed that you are from Grimsby. We live at North Somercotes.

Hi

We are hoping to fly out in 2 months and are taking our 13 year old cat with us (If the cat doesnt go, our 9 year old daughter doesnt go).

We have looked into lots of different ways of taking her and have decided on using "Golden Arrow Shippers" They are a little more expensive that doing it yourself, but they take all the hassel out of it. All I have to do is get her microchipped and vaccinated, they do EVERYTHING else. We are paying £697.00. The price includeds all the paperwork, vet fees, worming, fleeing and flight (BA or Quantas), they take her to the quarantine place in Perth and she has to stay there for 30 days.

We then have to pay $600.00 to the Quarantine place on her release.

I know it sounds expensive, but I think it will be worth it to keep our daughter happy. She will never be able to say we left her cat behind!! I just hope after all this cost and effort the cat lives for a few more years!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrs |Brox

Have you got the address to Golden Arrow Shippers and their telephone number.
Thanks

Re: Taking Pets
 

We're hoping to take our 10 year old German Shepherd with us. The quotes are all coming in at around £1500 (plus the Australian Quarantine bill). Because of her age, we're having her checked out thoroughly by our vet first (including hip x-rays), to ensure she's fit to travel.

If she's not up to it, I'm not sure what we'll do - although my parents have had their own dogs - so she may have to go and live in the country.

I believe the Ausies have a form of dog licence, the amount of which depends on the dog's ability to breed - i.e. less if they have been speyed/neutered. Is this the case? and if so, how much?

Re: Taking Pets
 

I havent heard anything about a dog licence. I will ask my brother next time I ring him, but we have decided to have our dog speyed before we go.

Levelheaded

Golden Arrow Shippers
Lydbury North
Shropshire
SY7 8DY

Tel )01 588 680 240

Mr C W Sorenson

Mrs Brox

Ps They only deal with cats and dogs

we are taking our jack russel, not sure which company to go with, theres so many, the quotes are around £1600. we are not taking our cat, she is an outdoor cat, far too independant to take to oz, she kills anything she can catch, and it would be so unfair to kill the lovely birds in oz.

Re: Taking Pets
 

I brought my two cats into Aus 6 years ago.

Con's - none which I can think of, except the cost of course.

In Aus, in theory, it is supposed to be the same law for cats as it is dogs, which is - the law says you must contain your animal on your own property, otherwise they can be picked up by the dog catcher. This is what the law says - BUT, I've yet to see a dogcatcher enforcing this law on cats, and most people around me do let they cats run like they do in Britain.


Laws for animals also differ between councils. There are some councils (I think Melbourne way) which have a curfew on cats. This means that you are only allowed to let them outside in daylight hours, between the hours of darkness they must be brought into your house. It's to protect the local wildlife. I haven't lived in one of these council areas which have this law - I think this is in Victoria somewhere which has this. Some councils also have a law (my council has this) which you are only allowed to own two cats, and two dogs (either or both species = 2 cats and two dogs). If you want to keep three cats, or three dogs you have to apply for permission from the council.

Regarding poisonous things - I have a cat who has always been a right old hunter, he has picked up a small snake in the past and brought it into the house (this was in Singapore before I brought him here) and he has also chased a small green snake up a tree here in Aus - don't ask me what species, I don't know, except it was green.. Also the dopey git has picked up a cane toad, I had to turn on the hose pipe and drench him for him to drop it!. He is still living after 6 years in Aus :) (he's ten yrs old)

The only poisonous things which I can think of are of course snakes, but most animals have the sense to leave them alone - instinct (except my stupid cat!), Spiders - now, I think most spider bites don't affect cats the same as humans, I know that the Sydney funnel web spider is not deadly to cats like it is to humans (the spider only affects humans/primates). And of course Cane toads - which you do not need to worry about if your not moving to QLD. Then there's the paralyse tic - which is the one thing to keep your eye open for (cats are not as bad as dogs for picking this up in their fur), my cat picked one up almost 6 years ago in NSW, lucky I spotted it, and I just took the cat to the vet to get it removed (you can remove them yourself, if you know what your doing - you have to be careful that all the tic's "legs" are removed from your cat/dogs skin).


If you're not happy letting your cat run free which I'm not anymore (I've never let them out in the night, only the day, for their own sake as much as the wildlife's), my cats are getting old - and one of them has died recently, a couple of weeks ago, he picked up feline aids (FIV)from some local cat (it's a long story - he didn't actually die from the aids but a complication of it, he picked up an infection of the liver after a kidney operation he had) . They pick up this disease by fighting - a bite wound . Anyway, if you are not happy letting them roam , there are companies here which you can buy cat runs to attach to your house and leads out into your garden, or a patio cover - it's a fine mesh. I'm renting at the moment so I can not do this, but in the house I'm currently building I'll be making a cat run , they seem a bit expensive to buy, but they look simple enough to make yourself.
Here's a link for cat runs in Aus just to show you what I'm talking about http://www.catnip.com.au/catalogue.htm

Regarding what Aussies think of cats - some really hate them, and blame them for all the extinct animals - which is a load of codswallop, try man and dingo, man is the worst by far. Koala is endangered because of man and loss of habitat, anyway - I'm straying off the subject a bit now:) . Some love them, like anywhere else. some people are cat lovers others dog lovers. I'm both, although I don't currently own a dog, I have in the past.

But anyway, I see no real problem for bringing your cats with you.


cheers:)

Re: Taking Pets
 

I've seen on more than one occasion a bumper sticker that reads "The only good cat is a dead cat" or maybe it's 'flat cat'.

I like cats myself, but I agree that they should be kept indoors at night, and should wear collars with bells on them.

Back to the bumper stickers - there are also ones which say "I'm a responsible cat owner" Is that on the similar lines of "Baby on board"? Are you not going to rear-end the car because you've seen the sticker?

N

Re: Taking Pets
 

The only good thing about living in a multi-cultural society is that the cat population is actually dwindling.

Andie

We had a qoute for both our Jack Russel and our Westie. Both dogs where £1140 + vets fees over here and quarentine, all a total of about £1900.

Does anyone have a contact number for reasonably priced shippers of dogs.

Please send pictures, will round up a selection for your perusal on arrival. Three of each only £1899.50 total.

Re: Taking Pets
 

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Quote:

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Regarding what Aussies think of cats - some really hate them, and blame them for all the extinct animals - which is a load of codswallop, try man and dingo, man is the worst by far. Koala is endangered because of man and loss of habitat,

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Hi Ceri,

I really enjoyed reading your post, thanks for that. You've definitely put our minds at rest with all the things one might worry about with taking the buggers. We have two as well. They don't roam freely here, for one thing, we live on the third floor but also because there's so much heavy traffic right outside our apartment block and third, in recent months dumb f....s having been catching cats and setting them alight. But I also would not let them roam at night in Oz because of all the little jumpers they might try and catch.

Our Ozzie friend in Adelaide hates cats, and like you write, blames them for almost single-pawedly being responsible for the death of so many indigenous animals. And where it's probably true that they can be blamed for the deaths of many of those, I agree with you that man is by far more responsible for that by wholesale destruction of habitat or hunting down for fur e.g. the yellow-footed rock-wallaby which almost became extinct because of fur hunters. But again, it's always easier having a scapegoat than actually looking at what you yourself or your race has been responsible for over decades.
:lecture:

Glad to hear your two moggies are still doing fine. I saw something about those runs on tv recently, look really nifty.

Cheers

Thylacoleo,

Sorry this may seem stupid but what do you mean? :confused:

Does anybody know what he , Thylacoleo, means half of the time? I don't. :zzz:

While on the subject of pets, and our dog, by the way, is costing about the same as everyone else's, could anyone already in Oz tell me if they have such a thing as Pet Insurance?
We have it here, to offset enormous vet bills (although haven't had to use it yet) - and would be interested to find out if the same sort of thing exists there.
Ceri - any info?
Thanks
Jeannie

Yes they do.....but can't tell you much about it, try this link

http://www.petsecure.com.au/pay.htm[/URL]

Yes, there's a few companies which do pet insurance, I was reading some leaflets just the other day in the vets waiting room.

Most vet's have all the leaflets. The two which I read, can't remember the name - but it had the Harry's practice bloke on the front.
You pet needs to be under a certain age - 9 I think it was, and no current ongoing illness at the time of lodgement. There are two sorts of covers - a bit like a car:) - fully comp and less of a fully comp if you know what I mean. Most companies will only pay out up to a certain amount.


Anyway, yes - there's a few companies which do it here- search the net, or when you get here, nearly all vets waiting rooms have various brochures from different insurance companies.

Question answered - thanks guys
Jeannie

Just had a look at this link and almost jumped out of my skin, somebody starts singing and this guy is talking out of my loudspeakers - doing a spiel on how great Petsecure is and how one can join up.

Whew :scared: :scared:

ha!!! see what you mean, i just had a listen. :D :D

As you can see earlier in the post, I asked for the address and tlephone number of Golden Arrow Shippers.
I rang him on Monday morning.
He was very very helpful with all my questions. I had quote for my Jack Russell terrier for £951. That is nearly £300 cheaper than the quote from Air pets, and I have found that Golden Arrow were a lot more approachable.

Good Luck

ps. That does,nt include the quarantine over in Perth

This price included both dogs not just for one.

Ian

Ian
who was your quote from?
Hazel

Re: Taking Pets
 

Yes

We took our two 7 year old Cats to Melbourne from the Uk. We used Airpets, and we found the company did a very good job and really cared about the animals. They were only in Quarantine for 30 days upon arrival in Australia, and we visited them once a week until they came out. We took them treats and toys.

We bought a house in a quiet area where there are no restrictions to having cats. We kept the cats in for one month inside the house (again with more treats and toys!). They were a little skittish at first (partly due to our loud doorbell!), but this was no worse than moving them across town in the UK.

The cats have now settled in as permanent residents, and everyone comments at how content they are. We have no regrets at all with bringing our guys with us. It has not affected their characters in the slightest.

Hazel & Andy

Our qoute was from James Cargo Services

Tel: 01753 682244 (24 hours)

www.jcslivestock.com

[email protected]

Ian

Breadman
 

go on chat Breadman

Re: Taking Pets
 

One more thing which we wanted to add - you do need a permit to own a cat in Victoria. This is very easy to get from the local council.

You are permitted to keep up to 2 cats and/or 2 dogs.

The fee payable is fairly small and the amount depends if the animals are desexed/microchipped/or are for official breeding.

Some areas do have a curfew on cats - these tend to be near parkland with native animals/birds or more rural areas also with native wildlife.

There are plenty of 'cat lovers' here and as we said above, we do not regret bringing our 2 lovely moggies with us and they have settled in extremely well.

:)