Experience in taking cats to Adelaide

[Guest lnother]

Does anyone have any experience in taking cats with them to Adelaide? I have 3 and unless I can find a home within my friends and family base, which looks unlikely, I shall take them with me. I'm a bit worried about how they might cope with the journey, but more importantly how cats and wildlife mix in Adelaide. Here there's nothing that puts them in danager, but not so sure about Oz.

[jimmyskinner]

Does anyone have any experience in taking cats with them to Adelaide? I have 3 and unless I can find a home within my friends and family base, which looks unlikely, I shall take them with me. I'm a bit worried about how they might cope with the journey, but more importantly how cats and wildlife mix in Adelaide. Here there's nothing that puts them in danager, but not so sure about Oz.

 

We are in the same boat,we visited Adelaide this year we have friends there who have 2 cats,he has always had cats and said to us we we are worrying about nothing .I have been researching costs and the best so far is from Jets 4 Pets at Leeds,they have quoted £1590 including import permits for 2 cats flying from heathrow ,we have to take them to Heathrow, on top of that some vet fees at this end (flea tick and worm )plus they have to be micro-chipped. They also fly into Melbourne and have to spend 30 days in quarentine which is costing about $1500.

Jets 4 Pets 0113 2501162 speak to Martyn

[simon@sarah]

hi, we have today rehomed our 3 cats and it has been the most stressful day ever..spec as we got a call from one of the new owners to say Barney had got poorly after the car journey and she had to rush him to the vets and he ended up on oxygen and turns out he has anlarged heart and the stress made him struggle to breath. he has had to stay at vets and we feel awful. the plus side is that we are glad we didnt put them through the journey to Adelaide as its likely he would never have made it.

 

This has been the worst day in our journey in getting to Oz and just hopin we start feeling positive as right now with out the cats we feel rubbish!!

 

I hope you find a loving home for your three, dont think those without cats understand how attached you can get to them, and really know how your feeling right now

 

Sarah:sad:

[snifter]

Lots of people have indoor cats. There are some areas with cat curfews and cats are not allowed to be outside between certain times. If found wandering they can be picked up by the warden and would do a short time in the pound before being rehomed/PTS if not tagged. Ensure your cats are chipped and if they get out or are lost to inform everywhere asap as they don't keep them long.

 

The general rule of thumb is to ensure they are in between dusk and morning.

 

Also check you can keep 3 in your property as there are limits set on how many pets can be kept in some places (local bylaws and all that iirc). Permits may be required for more than X amount of dogs and I am not sure if this also applies to cats. Maybe someone else can tell you if that may apply.

 

http://www.dogsncats.asn.au/site/page.cfm?u=847#ID

 

Cats and wildlife don't mix in Aus which is why the trend (and push in some areas) for them to be kept indoors. I know a while back this subject was discussed and I found some links to info on keeping cats, damage to native wildlife and more. Try a search back in some threads in the pet section, or just go back a few pages and read the cat related topics.

[snifter]

Have a read of this site

 

http://www.catassist.org.au/index.html

 

The legislation and a couple of other pages are good for a read

[Toni]

I have two cats of my own and have always had cats. I would never say "owned" a cat cause really they own you. I could never imagine being without one and when they do leave us it such a sad time. Do check the links that Snifter has attached above, they are useful information but there is no legislation on cats yet, what is says on the links is about how other Governments (presumably in other countries) have tried legislation. They keep talking about it because people worry about cats and what they do to the wildlife but as one of the links says it is not possible to monitor cats from a practical point of view so if legislation was ever put in place it would be impractical to monitor. Registration of cats is only in Victoria although they keep talking about it here but have done so for years. There isn't a limit on the amount of cats you can have, in fact it is a problem in some areas that there isn't. I think the Mitcham Council tried to introduce it a few years ago and not sure if that was successful but certainly worth keeping in mind when looking at areas. Cats are allowed out at night there is no curfew. If there is a curfew it might be in the Hills area where there is more wildlife but most of Adelaide cats are allowed out. We keep our cats indoors at night because we are considerate of our neighbours and they can get into fights with other cats but if we can't coax them in then we don't worry about it. If you can afford to bring them then do, they will make your settling here a lot easier. Good luck.

[Diane]

http://hills-and-valley-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/blanket-cat-laws-in-force/

 

If you can't bring your cats with you for whatever reason, you will have no trouble getting one/some when you are here. There is the RSPCA and the AWL who offer cats and kittens for rehoming.

 

Cats do face the same issues here that they face in the UK, plus a few more - we have lost one after it was run over, which can happen anywhere, and one of our existing cats was bitten by a snake last year, but after a night at the vet and some expensive anti-venon treatment, is now fine. After those incidents we do try to keep the cats in during the hottest parts of the day in the summer, and during the busiest times on the road: they now wake my husband up (I pretend to be asleep!) at 3am and go out until about 7:30am.. then I let them out during the day (winter) until about 4pm!

 

Like anything, with kids or animals, there are risks - you just do your best to minimise these in exchange for the huge pleasure you get from having them around. The "protecting wildlife" thing I think is a bit of a farce - mine have trouble catching a blade of grass - and there IS supposed to be a mouse plague here at the moment so anything that reduces vermin numbers has to be a good thing in my book!

 

For any cat lovers that haven't watched the Simon's Cat videos...http://www.simonscat.com/Films/

[Guest lnother]

thanks all of you, this is really useful information. Sarah, I really do feel for you, we don't have children, so I suppose all my maternal instincts are put into my cats. I want to do the best by them. I'll read the links and see what happens - thanks Snifter. I'll give Jet4Pets a ring.