Guest mebanana Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 We have 3 cats which we would eventually have shipped over to join us in Oz once we were settled. I know it's HUGELY expensive to do this but I couldn't be without them. I was just wondering a couple of things: Are Aussies cat-friendly in general? Has anyone had a good experience shipping cats over and would recommend a company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gary12 Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 We bought our old cat over and we are so glad we did. Luckily he was fit and healthy and took the journey in his stride so to speak. He has settled well and coped with the heat and it felt like home again once he was with us. I have to say where we live in Nillumbik council (VIc) you have to keep your cat in between 7.30pm and 6.30am. Fortunately for us our cat is too old to roam far now so we have had no complaints. I think we used Jets for pets from Heathrow, the other thing it is worth doing is getting your cats a pet passport before you go, that way if Australia is not for you your cats will not need to spend 6 months in quarantine in the UK. best of luck Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgperry Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 We are planning to bring our 2 cats over with us in July, to Brisbane (from London). Yes, its not cheap! We have received 2 quotes, from Pet Air and Golden Arrow. I think we will be going with Golden Arrow as I "warmed" to them more on the phone and in their brochures and quote (and they were a couple of hundred quid cheaper.) best of luck with it, we are worrying more about our two than about all our stuff! Crazy, but that's cats for you :-) regards sg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 It's a very personal thing I know but as a huge animals lover Australia isn't cat friendly UNLESS they are kept indoors at all times or as some people do keep them in an outdoor run like a big aviary. They kill massive numbers of native animals when allowed to roam free and although some places have curfews in place many people ignore them and allow their cats to roam free all day and night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgperry Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 It's a very personal thing I know but as a huge animals lover Australia isn't cat friendly UNLESS they are kept indoors at all times or as some people do keep them in an outdoor run like a big aviary. They kill massive numbers of native animals when allowed to roam free and although some places have curfews in place many people ignore them and allow their cats to roam free all day and night. hi Chris, we keep our cats indoors in London and only let them out when we are in the garden. Hoping to be able to keep them contained within our yard / garden when we move to Brisbane, so interested in your comment about outdoor aviaries. Do you know how common they are and if there are any specialist companies that build them for cats? cheers sg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 That is very nice to hear, I would say 75% of people have no control over their cats at all and probably 5% would use a purpose built run. There are quite a few companies that build the cages, your best bet is to put 'outdoor cat runs' into Google Australia rather than have me post loads of links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mebanana Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Thanks for all the replies so far! My cats are currently indoor and if I let them out over there, I definitely wouldn't let them out at night, so hopefully I'd be ok. Thanks for the tip about Golden Arrow - I haven't got a quote from them yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cat woman Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 we brought 2 cats over from UK in 2008, i can highly recommend www.airpaws.com They completed the whole process for us from picking the cats up from our home in the NW of UK to arranging their delivery to our home in Canberra, the cats were in fantastic condition on their return to us, and have settled in really well.:smile: The total cost of the door to door service was GBP 2.500 but it took all the worry away from us about applying for import/export licences, arranging the correct shipping crate, booking flights, quarantine, vets fees etc etc :wacko: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest juliemtaylor Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 we brought our 2 13year old cats over in January with Petair UK, they went before us and we fetched them from quarantine 2 days after we arrived! I live in Mornington, Vic and here there is a 24hour cat curfew in place. As ours are older cats they are kept indoors and are really happy here and were really pleased to see us. One thing to note is here you can only keep up to 2 cats usually not 3 without a special licence. Our cats cost 1900 pounds to get them here, travelling together and quarantine fees $1900 when we got here. Julie x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generalis Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Hi we brought our 2 cats over to Brisbane. They got out of quarantine last month and have been fine. Both cats are 10 years old and one of them is big and fluffy so thought she would suffer. I keep mine in at night and they go out in the morning until about 6 but they only sit in the garden under bushes to stay out of the heat. I wish they would roam and explore but they seem quite content. We used jet4pets and they were really good so can definitely recommend them and they have a guy that can take cats to heathrow ready for the flight. this cost an extra £200 as they went day before we flew here and we'd already sold the car. Quarantine people were really nice too and phoned me up to ask if I wanted them to continue feeding them the same amount as they'd put weight on. I dont regret bringing them as makes it feel like home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mebanana Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Thanks for all the replies - all useful stuff! Glad to know so many have successfully brought their cats over. One thing to note is here you can only keep up to 2 cats usually not 3 without a special licence. I hadn't even thought of that! Is that a common thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generalis Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 best thing would be to go on website and email them to ask about special conditions. when I had a look it said you can register for 2 cats cant imagine they would say you cant have the 3rd email the council to check Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 Thanks for all the replies - all useful stuff! Glad to know so many have successfully brought their cats over. I hadn't even thought of that! Is that a common thing? Unfortunately yes it is, not just in Victoria but most states and councils. It would be worth checking with the council where you are going to live. You can apply for a permit for an extra cat or dog BUT you need the neighbours to agree to it. I know lots of people who keep it quiet and don't let on, but you will have to remember that you need to register the cats with the council and if they were picked up and not registered you would be in for an hefty fine. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudi Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 You also need to look at the rules on pet ownership in the council area you are heading to, as lots of councils have restrictions on number of pets. In my area you are allowed a maximum of 2 cats only...... Love Rudi x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest olive Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 Hi, I work in a vet clinic and there are lots of cat lovers in Oz, but on saying that sometimes when you mention cats people hate them, Our cats have a cat flap that is locked at about 5pm till 7 pm this was its safer for cats and wildlife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 We were cat owners in the UK. Our beloved cat Mable was adopted by my hubbys parents, rather than us bring her over, because we used to live in the middle of the countryside and she spent all day roaming the countryside, and we didn't feel that it would be fair to take her to Australia and have to confine her to a run or just the back yard. After much pressure by the children, however, we did adopt a couple of kittens from a pound. They had been dumped and would have been euthanased had we not taken them. They are too little to let out at the moment, but when we do let them out we are intending to build a run. You can get them made, but I think that we might try and do it ourselves. The plan is to put a catflap out of the laundry wall (rather than the door) and have a tunnel that runs to the main part of the run. That way, we can still use the laundry door, but they can have access to their run all of the time. You can buy the things from the cat run building people, and I don't think that it will be too complicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bristow1 Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 Hi we have just recently sent our two cats to adelaide went through a company called jet pets in england they where fantastic, they done all the paper work and arranged all the certificates for them both - i highly reccomend them. We recieve them on wednesday, so will let you know how they get on. x x x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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