Moving To Chiang Mai

[Priceless]

My (Thai) girl friend and I are moving to CM, arriving October 30. The plan is to have a reasonably sized, furnished, condo waiting where we can stay while searching for a suitable house to rent (and for our furniture and other stuff to arrive). One problem is that we will be bringing our cats with us, and I know that several condos, e.g. Viangbua, don't accept pets. I have been told that Rimping does, but am at a loss to get into contact with them. I have mailed to a couple of different addresses and tried a booking agency, but not received answers to any of these tries.

Does anybody have info about pet-friendly condos and how to get into contact with them? I imagine we're looking for 2-3 rooms, 60-100 m2 and a budget that we would prefer not to exceed 30 000 THB/month. We expect to stay at the condo for two months, i.e. until the end of the year, after which we should be set up with a long term house rental.

If anybody knows of a RELIABLE agent that could help us, that information would also be much appreciated.

Many many thanks in advance, it's getting a bit too close for comfort to the day ...

Priceless

Edited August 27, 2006 by Priceless

[Mahseer]

Google for Rimping normally gives all the details but it looks like their web site is down at present. Try 053 248 862-5. They do accept pets but I am not sure of their short term let policy.

[SamSipEt]

Pleas be careful with a condo and cats they don’t mix very well. Cats can’t fly but are careless enough to ignore the large drop over the balcony……splat another flat cat

[Mahseer]

Exactly correct. I lost 2 from a high floor and contrary to poular belief neither landed on their feet and walked away. Strange thing was we had them for 2 months then both opted for the big leap in the same week.

[Priceless]

Thank you Mahseer for the telephone number, I will give them a call shortly. I have of course already googled to the best of my ability but their home page doesn't mention any phone number, only a mail address that hasn't yielded any reply.

Does anybody have other ideas than Rimping or any reliable agent?

BTW, our cats are rather laid-back in their attitude and tend not to jump or run around much. However, we will certainly not let them go out on the balcony or take any other risks like that. They are our family so we are, if anything, over-protective about them!

[footfall]

How many cats are you bringing ?

You might also try Flora House ( http://www.florahouse.4t.com/ , email : [email protected] ) . Not flash, but adequate while you look for something more permanent.

[Priceless]

To footfall: We're bringing four of them, all very well-behaved indoor cats of the Ragdoll breed. Thank you very much for the info about Flora House, the more available alternatives we have, the easier on our minds.

To Blinky Bill: I do wish you would keep your problems private.

Priceless

[footfall]

You might also place a free ad with http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/ and

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ . Private condo-owners willing to accept pets and short-term rental

might respond.

All the best.

[true blue]

doi ping mansion have rooms available and lots of people have dogs here its very relaxed and ive stayed before for a few months not got telephone number handy at moment when i go back will get if interested ps 2 minutes from night market

[rishi]

Do cats eat cockroaches?

[meadish_sweetball]

Depends on the cat probably. At any rate, I know from experience the cats in the Pai area love munching down a large tree spider or two to spice up the diet.

More domesticated cats may have different ideas of what is tasty.

[CalicoConsulting]

Priceless,

With apologies to Diablo Bob, MANY local supermarkets stock cat food of both the canned and the dry varieties. And pouches of Whiskas, but my finicky little queen won't eat those.

(For those who care, Rimping, Big C, Tesco Lotus, Makro, Tops, Carrefour, all those guys on the side of the road peddling Me-O, and maybe others but I quit looking.)

See my avatar? She eats cat food that I bought here in Chiang Mai. We have Whiskas and Friskies, and a Thai "science diet" style called Me-O. But if you want to know the truth, I think our lovely little cat prefers the stinky cheapo store brands. Weird.

Furthermore, there's a local supermarket chain called Rimping that I must mention. When Picasso first moved here, she wanted what she ate back in China. The purchasing manager has gone out of his way to place a special order.

I've also found several vets I trust and a supplier of scratching posts. Litter and litter boxes are common, although no covered litter boxes so I'm always sweeping up Miss Muscles' mess. I even found a number of cat bed suppliers, something I never needed in China. Big two-story house now, though. I brought my own catnip, which could've been fun if Customs found it, so I haven't had to look for that yet.

I probably can't help you bring your cats because you're coming from a different place than I was. I adopted Picasso from the Hong Kong SPCA, then moved to mainland China with her, then moved to Thailand.

However, once you get here, feel free to ask me about anything cat-related. Chiang Mai has a lot of cats, but they just happen to be very good at hiding from strange humans.

Good luck!

Michael

[lopburi3]

A number of off topic bad taste posts removed - please keep the bar humor in the bars. Thanks.

[Priceless]

Thank you all for some valuable ideas/suggestions. Being of the not-easily-satisfied variety, I would appreciate even more suggestions, if someone can come up with them.

Regards, Priceless

[Blinky Bill]

Thank you all for some valuable ideas/suggestions. Being of the not-easily-satisfied variety, I would appreciate even more suggestions, if someone can come up with them.

Regards, Priceless

You are more than welcome Priceless.

I am still thinking.....I'm sure I can up with a few more good suggestions soon (if the censors will allow them ).

Edited August 30, 2006 by Blinky Bill

[footfall]

Have you made any progress, Priceless ?

[Priceless]

Hi and thank you all once more, and a particular thank you to footfall. My apologies for not giving feed-back earlier but we've been away from home and computer since Friday and only just came back.

It turned out that Rimping does not accept bookings for less than six months. Flora House however does, and HOORAY they have vacancies and accept cats (and presumably other pets). We have booked a two bedroom + living room apartment @ 13,000 THB/month. A one bedroom one would have cost 9,000 THB/month, but with four cats and at that price level we might as well have plenty of room...

Re the earlier comments about cats in condos with balconies: Flora House is all at ground level, so that means one less thing to worry about.

Again, THANK YOU all!

[footfall]

Sounds good .

[Blinky Bill]

Re the earlier comments about cats in condos with balconies: Flora House is all at ground level, so that means one less thing to worry about.

Again, THANK YOU all!

Bugger!!

Edited September 6, 2006 by Blinky Bill

[Diablo Bob]

Re the earlier comments about cats in condos with balconies: Flora House is all at ground level, so that means one less thing to worry about.

Again, THANK YOU all!

Bugger!!

BB

It is true that the units are all ground floor units, consequently rather than worrying about the cat splat situation, they can now worry about the two legged intruder type of problem.

Inasmuch as we are in Thailand, most cat burglers won't be intimidated by the cat hissing and since they are probably declawed, they don't pack any punch.

Time to trade in the cat for a Doberman, I would think.

[carpediem]

I am in a very similar situation to that of Priceless, so stumbling on this thread was very lucky. All my previous efforts on the forum had drawn a blank. Not wanting to any further chances I sent off an inquiry to Flora and they still had a one bedroom flat available. I sent them some questions but I'm going to take it regardless of their reply. I hope to tke it from late October.

I'd be quite relieved if someone who's stayed there could tell us if they were happy with the place. In particular in regard to internet, view out of the window, the balcony - if any, the furnishing.....really any comment will make my blind booking less blind. Is there by any chance a website with actual photos of the place - exterior or interior?