Aussiechick Marie

If we ever did manage to get sponsorship into Australia was wondering if it would be possible to take my 2 dogs and my rabbits(lol) they are family to me..... Also how do animals cope with the long haul flight? Whats the quarantine period? Thanks.

homewardbound

30 days for dogs not sure about rabbits

Cheetah7

I dont think you can take rabbits, in fact Im sure you cant.

Quarantine period is 30 days and speaking for my cat, the staff at Byford were excellent.

The animals are checked by the vet prior to the flight and once they get to the quarantine station.

I should imagine the flight is traumatic in the build up to it, being Airside and next to large noisy planes.

Once on the plane, they are kept in a temperature dimly lit controlled part of the plane, they only have water available to them to minimise risk of soiling their kennel and in case they vomit.

I would say the most stressful part would be loading/unloading and the general procedures before and after.

My cat is doing very well and I couldnt fault the quarantine services.

Good luck.

vicki t

professional princess

as you seem to know quite a bit about this a further question for u.

i am really concerned about bringing my babies (2 cats) with me. in fact it is the thing i am most worried about regarding the whole move!

things that worry me are:

my boys dont stay in a cattery very often but recently had to for one week and both lost weight, one substantially. i can only assume it was from fretting

they are not used to dogs and are not laid back cats. both are quite 'jumpy'. my worries are not so much for the quaranteen but the actual journey. what if there are barking dogs in the hold with them> i think they would have heart attacks and i am worried they will have passed away on the journey

no food for 20-23 hours??!! poor things. if their dinner is one minute late i hear about it

homewardbound

My puppy left at 9,30pm although he was sealed in crate from 5.30pm on the tuesday, arrived au 6.30am thursday but was not released from crate until 2.30pm and fed then! They get over it though... The holds are dimmed and dogs are very quiet I've been told... Apparently alot of fuss is made whilst owners are about but once they are sealed and away they are very quiet and most just go to sleep!

Rudi

Dogs you can bring no problem. They will need 30 days in quarantine. Usually the quarantine stations are helpful and if you are close by you can visit your dogs.

Rabbits - assuming we are talking the fluffy variety here, can definitely not be brought over. Just cannot be done I am afraid. We couldn't even bring ours from NSW to QLD with us.

Hope that helps

Rudi

Kooky.

Yep, I was too, particularly as two of mine were hand-reared and had never been in a cattery. Even half-hour taxi rides to the vet were always very traumatic.

They might be slightly more neurotic and needy now (hard to tell, they always were) but they survived. My petmovers put glucose in the water to "feed" them on the journey. I also tried to feed them up a bit before they went, althugh my youngest actually put weight on in quarantine. Nothing much puts him off his food.

Kim67

http://www.dogslife.com.au/dogs_life...46&pid=1694014

http://www.csiro.au/services/ps62.html#1

These sites might be of help.

Kim67

Sorry, I meant to reply to OP with this one.

Cheetah7

My cat was given a light meal on the morning of his flight and then it was just water only till he got to his quarantine.

It did concern me initially but it makes sense not to feed them in transit, a nervous animal is more likely to vomit and soil its kennel so witholding food minimises this risk.

My Gordon is used to the cattery and yes he did lose some weight in the quarantine kennels but it was quite hot at that time and he was still eating.

I should imagine that any noise or stress including dogs barking will be on take off and landing perhaps, but animals are quite remarkable in their coping mechanisms and deal with it in their own way.

We ordered our wooden crate from the kennels rather than use a plastic one, it is so dark in the crate with small airholes, that this has a calming effect on the animal.

Thousands of cats are exported every day by air and come through unscathed. Basically they are far better equiped to deal with the flight than what we give them credit for.

I have put a link below to my cats blog - which include piccies of the quarantine station photos, piccies of Gordon when we dropped him off at his export kennels and piccies of him living his new life. Basically it is Gordon's story, you might find it helpful.

I do understand how worried you are, I had the same concerns but I look at him now and I am in awe of him, my little ginger boy travelled to the other side of the world and he is lying beside me now as I type.

And I am so glad he came with me.

http://britishexpats.com/blogs/Gordon/5495/Gordon.html

vicki t

P Princess - i have never read any blogs on here before. thanks for posting your little ginger ones blog! it was great reading it. i also have a little ginger one too!

Cheetah7

My ginger one is still lying snuggled up to me, we dont have heating so he is wrapped in a blanket

He has emptied his bowl of meat and in a couple of hours will demand biscuit to see him through the night. He is eating like a pig since he got to Australia, he never had an appetite like this in England.

vicki t

i forgot to add what a good looking ginger boy u have!

Cheetah7

He is now clutching his tail trying to wash it.

He wont be so happy in a minute, Ive got to give him his heartworm drops.