[Tia Maria]

I have a friend who is considering shipping a dog from the UK. It is an old family pet that was staying with another family who can no longer look after it. They do have the possibility of another home in the UK with other friends or shipping it out to NZ.

So could you let me know who is good to ship with? Any quarantine/health checks that need to be done? Will it be easy to arrange from NZ?

Also is it OK to ship such an old dog (10 years old), or would it be best for it to stay in the UK? Anyone got experiences of shipping an older dog - do they cope with the journey OK?

I appreciate this may have been covered several times before, but 'dog' is too short to search for so any answers or links to relevant threads would be helpful. :nice1

Thanks

Tia

[willsken]

Tia, from the UK there is no quarantine needed. We used Golden Arrow and they were fantastic. Pepper arrived in excellent condition.... better than she left us in fact! :roll There are medical checks needed but GA tell you exactly what and when. As to the age of the dog, I'd say it would be down to how well the dog is for its age. If it's really healthy then I can't see a problem.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11514&highlight=Golden+arrow

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10649&highlight=Golden+arrow

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7592&highlight=Golden+arrow

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9679&highlight=Golden+arrow

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8561&highlight=Golden+arrow

[jubjub]

Tia, ours was 9 when we shipped him, and he is still going strong. Have a search for one of veronicas old threads she shipped an older dog too, think she used Ladyhaye, I would search for you, but teas on!

[jen]

We shipped our dog that was 13 years old at the time and he made it through the flights from Los Angeles to Wellington in great shape.

Jen

[M&J]

We recently shipped our dog from the UK using Golden Arrow, she is nearly 12. Golden Arrow were excellent, explained everything thoroughly and when everything had to be done. They take all the worry out of it as they organise all the paper work so if anything does go wrong it is at there expense.

Gemma arrived safe and sound and seems unaffected by the long trip.

Jo

[Howie]

I shipped my 10 year old lab from the states and he did fine. He doesn't know that he's an old dog though, so I think that helped. Just make sure they get a thorough health check with blood/urine etc. tests.

[Kim39]

We shipped our 11 year old x-breed, we used Sky masters, they are based in Manchester, they were really good, even picking Tess up from the vets were she had been staying for 4 weeks while she had all her relevant tests done, as she came over after us. She had no ill effects, except for sulking when we picked her up from the airport. But make sure your friends know how expensive it is, all in all it cost us 2100 pounds, but worth every penny.

Elaine (Kim39 OH)

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi Tia,
Another thing to be aware of is what type of breed the dog is. Some breeds are very nervous animals and make bad long distance travellers. Our Dalmatian would have been 10 years old when we would have shipped her over and she was a very nervous dog. Everyone who we spoke to advised us against shipping her over as it probably would have done her more harm than good. The Dalmatian society advised against it and found her a lovely home in the UK.We miss her very much but wouldn't have wanted to put her through too much trauma. Now are cats are a different story, they are so laid back that we will be bringing them over.
If they are not sure re their dog get them to take it to the vet and they will give their opinion.
Hope this helps

Dave and Caroline

[stejude]

Hi,
Can anyone give us the details for Golden Arrow. We have a brilliant 2 year old German Shepherd (Penny) who we are taking with us. We do have some concerns about timings. Should we ship her out with us (same flight) or delay until we have a house/transport etc. We are planning to travel south as soon as we are all back together in Auckland. Our plan is to head for the South Island and set up camp.

[M&J]

They don't have a website but here are the contact details:
Golden Arrow Shippers
Lydbury North
Shropshire
SY7 8DY
01588 680240

We shipped our dog 3 weeks after we arrived, gave us time to sort stuff out, but you will need someone in the UK to take dog to vets for final blood tests as they have to be done 10 days before shipping. Although I'm sure Golden Arrow could put your dog up if needs be, obviously costs more.

Give them a bell, they are really helpful.

Jo

[stejude]

Hi Jo,
Thanks for the information really helpful. We are thinking that maybe a week after we arrive would be enough time to get a vehicle and ourselves sorted before Penny arrived. Any thoughts?

Steve & Jude

[M&J]

Hi

We left it 3 weeks as we had organised a rental which we moved into the day before the dog arrived. One thing to bear in mind is rentals. Do you have one already organised,if so no worries. If not we found not many landlords let you have pets, but they are around. So you might need to leave it a bit longer if you need to sort out somewhere to live.

Hope this helps, and good luck with it all.

Jo

[nippa&pippa]

Tia, we chosen to not to ship our 2 golden retrievers because of their age as they were 7 years old, also costs of ship and mostly because I felt animals shouldn't travel around the world in crate etc as bit unfair on them to be in hold etc.
So we decided to find new home for them even it was very heartbreaking moments and brought new puppy recent.
Having been to Vet recently to book in our new golden retriever puppy, 2 vets while examined amber asked me about previous experiences with dogs. I explained we did had two golden retriever before but in UK. They asked me personally about why I didn't bring them. I explained why as above. Vets said at last there is a person see the sense of not to ship animals!!!
Turn out vets don't like the ideas of shipping animals around the world at all and they are against it because they have seen how many animals get stressed out on plane etc. It is ok to ship if it is few hours, like from UK to france/spain but not other side of world. So just I thought I pass on what Vets feel about as I was surprised by their responses. I know it is down to the owners made final decision.

[Familyofmonkeys]

We didn't ship our two 7 year old cats for exactly the same reasons. RSPCA managed to rehome them together, but it was quite gutting leaving them. OK, I know cats aren't quite the same as dogs, as they can be more independant, but i'm sure we all feel the same about our pets!

[nippa&pippa]

I forgot that I also rehome my two beautiful siamese cats too :wah for same reasons as above. Not worth hassles.

[Tia Maria]

Thanks everyone for all the replies, I'll do a cut and paste job and pass them on.

I'm afraid I had no idea when she asked me - we've only got goldfish!:D

Cheers

Tia

[Jo Jo]

Turn out vets don't like the ideas of shipping animals around the world at all and they are against it because they have seen how many animals get stressed out on plane etc. It is ok to ship if it is few hours, like from UK to france/spain but not other side of world..

I got completely different advice from my vets.

I asked three vets (two at the vets I go to, and one friend who is a vet) what they thought about me taking my cats to NZ, and all three said that on balance they thought it would be less stressful in the long run for me to take my cats with me than to rehome them. They said I had to weigh up the 24 hours discomfort my cats would experience against how long it would take them to settle in new homes, and, having met my cats, (and knowing something of their history) all three thought it was a no-brainer.

I also asked the people who work at the rescue centre I got my cats from, and they agreed.

Of course, in the end, everyone has to decide what's best based on the animal's temperament, age, health, and whether they can afford to ship them.

[dilanium]

I work for a Vet here in the US. The only reason anyone ever tells me it would be better to rehome my cat, is the cost.

They hear how much I'm about to pay to bring my cat with me and they think I'm insane to spend that much on a cat. This is really amusing to me because, I work with an equine vet, where the vet bills sometimes cost 10x what I'll be paying to bring my cat over.

:)

[Myrkk]

I've previously worked for a vets with a quarantine kennel and the animals didn't seem particularly stressed by the experience either. I think owners find it far harder to see their pets in quarantine than the animals find it being in quarantine.

I think you have to work on the breed of dog though........an 8yr old Great Dane I probably wouldn't ship, an 8yr old staffie then yes.

they do say cats are fine so long as they are somewhere familiar and dogs are fine so long as they are with someone familiar. If you take a dog and rehome at 8 yrs of age you are going to cause lots of stress.

P.S. I'm a Vet. Nurse and will definately be bringing my 3 cats aged 9, 11 and 13 years old currently and my 7year old lurcher over.

[nickydwuk]

We wouldn't even contemplate moving to NZ if the dogs didn't come too. They are part of the family. We have had a number of quotes from various companies and they vary in price from £6000 to almost £10,000 for 4 dogs (3 big ones and 1 small one). Even though they will cost more to move than our house contents and us humans if they don't go - we don't.

[kanatakiwi]

I'm sure you have thought of this and planned for it, but its going to be somewhat challenging to get a rental that takes 4 dogs, so you will need to have a plan in place.

[nickydwuk]

That is the problem. We have discussed leaving them in the UK when we leave and getting them transported about 3 weeks later. If we haven't found a suitable rental then we would put them in kennels in NZ until we do find either a rental or buy our own place. Not the ideal scenario but the best we can come up with.

[jubjub]

We decided, on our dogs behalf, that he would prefer a hellish 24 hrs than go through another rehoming process at 9, we had rescued him after his owner died when he was 7, and heaven forbid if he could not have got rehomed......

Nicky, if you end up in Auckland, I know a lovely kennels....

[Malay-Coopers]

You may want to bring a supply of medications for your pets, if necessary. I am still amazed at the prices of pet medications here.

We had no issue from customs bringing the pet meds over and we did declare them.