Moving A Cat From Sydney To Thailand

[paule]

I will be moving to Thailand in about 6 months and relocating my shy indoor cat with me. I am hiring a pet relocation company to do the tricky bits and make sure he has all the relevant paperwork and vaccines but I'm terrified that he will be held in quarantine when we both arrive in Bangkok - has anyone else moved a cat to Thailand - did you have any problems with customs or quarantine. Also how did your cat cope on the flight as mine will be going into the live stock hold below the passengers and he is not a very brave cat at all and howls like its the end of the world when he travels two blocks to the vets once a year...

[PNGinBKK]

Hi Paule,

You should be fine, there is no quarantine on arrival in Thailand (all this should have been explained to you by your pet relocation company).

There will be simple and quick medical examination on arrival and he/she will be free to go.

Depending on how you intend to bring him/her in (Cargo / eExcess baggage) will have different implications at the airport and different costs.

PM me if you want more details.

[SeanMoran]

I put a cat on a plane a few years ago (1989): Adelaide to Perth.

I just stopped at the vet on the way to the airport for an anaesthetic to knock the little fellow out for the duration of the flight, and he never even knew he'd woken up 2,000 km from where he went to sleep.

I hope that might be of some help with the howling possibilities...

[paule]

I put a cat on a plane a few years ago (1989): Adelaide to Perth.

I just stopped at the vet on the way to the airport for an anaesthetic to knock the little fellow out for the duration of the flight, and he never even knew he'd woken up 2,000 km from where he went to sleep.

I hope that might be of some help with the howling possibilities...

Thanks so much for your reply. I would LOVE to be able to sedate him and have him asleep for the journey. I was counting on it but the company taking care of his move have told me that because of the pressurised conditions of an aircraft it could cause adverse drug reactions and breathing difficulites and they also said that many airlines refuse to carry sedated animals as they cannot detect their state of health. Very annoying to hear all that. I wonder if it's different for local flights such as yours as opposed to international flights. But now that you said you had yours sedated I'm going to research it a little more. Surely it should be okay...hmmm

[Tod Daniels]

I brought both my cats from the US nearly 5 years ago, back when the international airport was Don Muang, not Suvarnabhumi like it is now. They actually had to stay overnite in Amsterdam due to the weather, but arrived here just fine.

The pet relocation service who handled it from the US also said shipping knocked out animals was not allowed, as the staff does check the condition of the animal and could confuse it for dead. They were given a mild tranquilizer for the longest leg of the flight but arrived here peppy and wide awake.

I actually rode the luggage trolley out to plane with the baggage handlers and picked them up (although given tighter airport security this is probably not an option for you). I do concur there is no quarantine. If your paperwork is in order, it is a perfunctory check of the animal only, a signature / stamp from the vet on duty and you're on your way.

NOTE 2 MODZ: This may be better served in the Pet/Plant Forum where it could garner more feedback.

[moetownblues]

Hi Paule,

You should be fine, there is no quarantine on arrival in Thailand (all this should have been explained to you by your pet relocation company).

There will be simple and quick medical examination on arrival and he/she will be free to go.

Depending on how you intend to bring him/her in (Cargo / eExcess baggage) will have different implications at the airport and different costs.

PM me if you want more details.

You might find the tail missing tho. What do thais do with all those cat tails.

[sbk]

Importing A Pet Into Thailand

moved to pets forum

[PennyFarthing123]

I have not imported a cat but seem to recall someone that did mentioned to try to have your arrival during the day so that There will be staff on hand to do the necessary clearances. Otherwise your pet will have to spend the night at the airport in quarantine.

I also remember some airlines will let you bring them in the cabin as carry-on if they are in a soft-side animal carrier.

At one point I was looking into this as I wanted to take my cat with me to the USA for an extended trip. Didn't take the trip so never pursued it further.

[paule]

I brought both my cats from the US nearly 5 years ago, back when the international airport was Don Muang, not Suvarnabhumi like it is now. They actually had to stay overnite in Amsterdam due to the weather, but arrived here just fine.

The pet relocation service who handled it from the US also said shipping knocked out animals was not allowed, as the staff does check the condition of the animal and could confuse it for dead. They were given a mild tranquilizer for the longest leg of the flight but arrived here peppy and wide awake.

I actually rode the luggage trolley out to plane with the baggage handlers and picked them up (although given tighter airport security this is probably not an option for you). I do concur there is no quarantine. If your paperwork is in order, it is a perfunctory check of the animal only, a signature / stamp from the vet on duty and you're on your way.

NOTE 2 MODZ: This may be better served in the Pet/Plant Forum where it could garner more feedback.

Thanks for the info. One can get quite stressed when moving to another country with a pet so all this information is quite reassuring. I was stressed about the quarantine because on the website of Department of Livestock Development for Thailand (http://www.dld.go.th/webenglish/movec1.html) it talks about taking cats and dogs into Thailand and they have written 'The animals are subjected to quarantine at approved premises for a period of at least 30 (thirty) days upon arrival during which they shall be submitted to tests and/or treatments deemed necessary.' - That would be the last thing I would want and I'm not sure how my cat would cope with that but maybe that would be the case only if all the paperwork was not in order - hope both your cats are still doing fine...

Edited January 14, 2010 by paule

[paule]

I have not imported a cat but seem to recall someone that did mentioned to try to have your arrival during the day so that There will be staff on hand to do the necessary clearances. Otherwise your pet will have to spend the night at the airport in quarantine.

I also remember some airlines will let you bring them in the cabin as carry-on if they are in a soft-side animal carrier.

At one point I was looking into this as I wanted to take my cat with me to the USA for an extended trip. Didn't take the trip so never pursued it further.

Thanks for this. The people taking care of his trip are wonderful and they would be able to get him on the same flight as me which is great as I would want to be there to collect him at the same time as I arrive to ease the impact of the trip. Like you I have also heard that some airlines let you bring them in the cabin as carry-on but my only concern about that is that I know my cat well and when he is not happy he will just howl, growl and hiss and I get the feeling other passengers would probably not be to pleased if they had to listen to him carrying on for 9 hours. If he is on his own in the live stock area on the plane with no one around I have the feeling he would be a lot for comfortable and it would probably make me stress less as well if I can not hear his moans...its all a big concern isn't it?

[paule]

Hi Paule,

You should be fine, there is no quarantine on arrival in Thailand (all this should have been explained to you by your pet relocation company).

There will be simple and quick medical examination on arrival and he/she will be free to go.

Depending on how you intend to bring him/her in (Cargo / eExcess baggage) will have different implications at the airport and different costs.

PM me if you want more details.

Thank you for the first reply. The pet relocation company are very helpful and did mention there should not be any problem with quarantine. I was reading elsewhere that a lot of people at Bangkok just walk straight through with their pet without even having the medical examination. I guess it all depends on who is there on the day when it happens. But this Thai website here (http://www.dld.go.th/webenglish/movec1.html) had me a bit concerned about the quarantine which is why I started to question it. I just hope the little fellow won't find the trip to stressful.

[chiangmaibruce]

Paule

Your post is now in the correct sub-forum and there you will find a long-running major thread called "moving your pet ..."or some such thing ... scroll down the list and you will see it. I have some posts in that thread detailing my experiences moving a cat from brisbane to chiang mai, which will be very relevant to you. Don't get confused by posts from people who took pets from other countries ... for e.g. you cannot bring pets out of Australia as carry-on or accompanied baggage ... they travel as cargo only.

You cat will be fine on the way and fine when it gets here ... but you better get it started with Thai lessons or he/she won't be able to communicate too well with the locals.

CB

[siamect]

Hi

I moved 2 StBernard dogs from Sweden to Thailand 1999 in August.

I talked to the Thai Embassy in Sweden and they said I didn't have to do anything! But a little research was done and the requirements at that time was a vaccination (rabies if I remember correctly) and a paper from an authority in Sweden (agricultural ministry) that the vaccination is done and that the proper health checks has been done. With those papers in my hand we flew to Don Muang.

Although I saw the Swedish airport crew load the cages with the dogs on to the same aircraft that we flew with, the people at Don Muang cargo told us the dogs were not on this flight. My wife was crying...

After a serious and very loud argumentation, I pointed my finger to the guys face and told him that next step is calling the police and that I will hold him personally responsible for the life of dogs, if he didn't take me to the dogs, now immediately in 10 seconds. His mask fell off completely and he said "oooh oooh, ok!"

And we were taken to the dogs. No water to drink in the water containers... But now a crowd of people were helping with everything and the dogs were given water and were taken into the "fridge" which is a cool room where food is stored, waiting for the paperwork to be done...

After that the airport vet who took a look at the papers, signed and we were asked to pay 10 000 baht in import tax.

I asked to see the tax list... hand written... looked like kids had played around with it. I asked if they seriously thought that this was the official document and they said yes.... Too tired to argue again I paid and the cages with the dogs were loaded onto a pickup truck and after 30 minutes we were finally home...

Martin

[kurnell]

Yes, there is generally import tax on all pets, dependent on breed.

[GungaDin]

Is there a shortage of cats in Thailand?