A Dog to India

Noodle

In such a case, when you are returning to India for good and your dog is very close to you, by all means take him with you! But if you're only going for a holiday or couple of months travel, I would always advice against it.

malcolmgrundy

We enquired about bringing our two sheperds out with us the vet told us the dogs would adjust to the climate without a problem as long as they had shade you would need to have them chipped and issued with all there up to date injections. We decided after lots of thought that it would be to traumatic for them so gave them to a good friend so they are still together and are now very happy in there new home.I think you should think about the well being of the dog altough i know how hard it is to leave them behind.

Nattusbs

I have got a microchip put in my german shepard since I am planning on taking Lufthansa and they require it - also Lufthansa flies direct from Frankfurt to Hyderabad and that will be convenient since our vet can come to the airport to sign off. He will have all of the necessary shots and vaccinations. Our home is his home, he will be comfortable and well taken care - plus he will have my parent's dogs to play with.

Cheers

Nattusbs

Flindia

If you are relocating with a corporation, the company may cover the cost of a professional pet transportation company. When we moved to Mexico (from USA) our company provided this service. The name of the company is Animals Away and they provide all the necessary importation paperwork needed to safely transport your pet. Due to the heat restrictions some airlines impose(necessarily), they will provide overnight accomodations if necessary and will transport your pet on overnight flights when the climate is cooler. They safely delivered our dog directly to our home the next day. We found them to be very professional in caring for our dog.

We too are considering a move to India in the near future. The importation of pets into India appears to be straight forward. You can check on the Indian consulate website,it explains the regulations for the importation of pets. It appears all you need are the necessary vaccine records, a certificate of health from your veterinarian (USDA certificate in the USA, all Vets should have them on hand) and an additional form that can be printed from the Indian Consulate website. The animals need to be current on vaccines, and as an added precaution I have had our dogs vaccinated for ghiardia, and kennel cough, developing countries (Mexico)seem to have a high infection rate for ghiardia. Again, common sense in the form of prevention is the best option. In addition, you may import 2 dogs/cats per passenger.

Hope this helps!
Flindia

edwardseco

In this case I would strongly recommend taking your dog with you. The emotional attachments far outweigh the potential hazards and inconveniences. People will drag on an effort to keep somebody or something alive without regard to the quality of life. I see my mother kept alive by a damn machine, helpless and begging to be allowed to die. Take your dog and enjoy each other with my sincere best wishes..

rangichangi

is this a play on the forster novel?

capt_mahajan

A sausage to india? Only if it is a daschund

gkj

Hi, I have heard much about the need to hire a company to handle the paperwork and the bribes in bringing a pet to India. Is it not possible to do this yourself? We are educated people and would think that we can handle the forms, but is bribery necessary in order to get the dog into the country? Any advice or tips would be so appreciated.

Nattusbs

gkj

No need for bribery or third party company for the paperwork.

It is very simple. Check with your vet . they will give you the correct form to use. Have them do a general health certificate and a rabies certificate. Take that to the USDA animal dept - http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_exp...rts_pets.shtml

Check out the nearest office location and take the documents to them. They will charge $25 and endorse the certificates. This is required by all airlines. At the Indian airport where you land, just show the documents to the customs person - they normally do not charge anything. I went through this in June when I took Nattu to Hyderabad - rather simple.

Cheers & best

Nattusbs

gkj

Wow Nattusbs, I am glad to hear this. Does anyone think this will be different for Chennai?

Nattusbs

gkj

No, it will not be different in Chennai. It actually depends on the particular Customs guy, regardless of the actual city/airport. In general should be smooth sailing as long as you have all of the required documents.

Cheers

Nattusbs

birds

Before taking you pet to India, please read the thread below.

Thanks.


To Those Dreaming About Moving To India

Stephen Jones

My neighbour in Lanka has a German Shepherd; no problems and there are quite a few more.

I had a Doberman that was fine until it got rabies!

I would make sure you have a trustworthy vet. I'm sure they vaccinated my dog with water!

anjuna mark

I have to disagree strongly with most responders to this thread.
My wife and I have been traveling to India and back with our pet dog for decades. We would never leave him behind with strangers while we go off to relax. It really upsets me every time I read comments implying that it’s inherently “bad” to travel with your dog. We know lots of other nut cases who do the same.
Traveling isn’t much fun for any of us, but we all love meeting our old friends [yes, the dog has friends too] and being in our other home for a while.
There are dangers in India for us and the dog; as there are everywhere.
We all love each other and don’t like to be apart.
If some of disagree of even despise me for this; I don’t care much. I’m not talking from theory, but from real life, and this is how it is for us.
Here is a copy of what I wrote on this site a few months ago; this is important reading for anyone keeping an imported dog in India, and is from personal experience of myself and many others.

Real experiance
My wife and I have been traveling to India with our dogs for 21 years.
If we travel, we all go; we once left our dog behind for a 6 month journey, and despite being well cared for and even loved, he was very traumatized. It all depends on the strength of the bond between human and animal.
About dog health; Good vets are like good doctors, hard to find anywhere. Look for a wealthy looking local or expat who has a foreign breed dog. Ask for a recommendation.
IN GOA; Marilyn Ribiero in Porvorim is responsible for keeping all the foreign dogs alive, I recommend her unreservedly. Any Goan taxi driver should know her clinic.
Try to order this book; dog owners home veterinary handbook by Delbert Carlson and James Griffin.
Everyone has been going on and on about rabies, but that isn’t a worry for your dog as he will be vaccinated. What you do have to worry about is heartworm and Erlichiosis.
Have your dog checked for heartworm before you travel, and then treat him with Stronghold drops every month. That will also take care of ticks and fleas.
Against Erlichiosis there are 2 regimes; daily doxicycline 100mg as a preventative, or test every 2 to 3 months so that you catch the disease early enough for treatment to be effective.
Erlichiosis is the main killer of imported dogs into India, and is why imported dogs need special care. Local animals have considerable resistance, but will succumb when old or weakened.
Many Indians are afraid of dogs, and no one will enter your room without knocking.
Getting hotel rooms can be hard. I have only 1 in Bombay that lets us in, we found one in Delhi as well but that was about 10 years ago. Best to find your hotel before you travel.
As for flights; I don’t think the animal is any more stressed than a human is. I am 100% sure my dog is less stressed by flying in the hold than he would be if we left him behind.
Food; Can be difficult. Depends on how flexible you and your dog are. We usually feed ours freshly cooked chicken. Sometimes we ordered room service! We used to travel with a cute little pump up camping stove [if you get one before you travel, you can get one that doesn’t leak in your bag]. Now we travel in our own truck with a kitchen, so there’s no problem.
You can get Pedegee brand dry food now, in wealthy areas at least [Goa and big cities].
Traveling with your dog is difficult and expensive, but great fun for him and you. The things they smell there!
The way they smell there....
REMEMBER ABOUT THE ERLICHIOSIS!! THAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN THIS POST!!
And enjoy your journey.
Regards, Mark

Ehrlichiosis [correct spelling is Ehrlichiosis] is a blood parasite [like malaria in humans] carried between mammals by ticks.
It kills horses [which made horse breeding in India so difficult that the animals were imported from Arabia for centuries before anyone figured it out] and can be [rarely] caught by humans.
Legend has it that Ehrlichiosis was first discovered by US army veterinarians in Vietnam who were trying to figure out what was killing their sniffer dogs.
Heartworm is a parasite of the heart, the spores are carried by mosquitoes. It’s well known in the US, and it is also present in India. As far as I know, very few people seem to be aware of it there.
Again, the local animals have evolved resistance to these diseases which imported dogs don’t have [as I explained to my European vet; ‘they still have natural selection there’]. However, for anyone reading this who keeps a local dog as a pet, it’s worth checking for these diseases if you want your animal to live as long and as healthily as they have the potential to.
It’s important to note that both of these conditions have hardly any symptoms in the beginning, and by the time there are symptoms your animal is in real danger.
Blood test every three months for residents, or prophylactic [preventive] 100mg Doxicycline per day for tourist dogs staying for shorter periods.
[Thanks to Peter J. Irwin, BVetMed, PhD, FACVSc, MRCVS Division of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia]
Doxicycline is a common antibiotic available at any pharmacy in India.
Go to the pharmacy with the big crowd waiting to be served. The ones with few customers are probably the ones the locals know carry counterfeit drugs.
This is important for your own medicines as well of course!
Quarantine is only for a few countries of origin, notable Britain and Australia.
I’ve very rarely had any trouble with “street” dogs, and I’ve traveled with my fuzzy little Tibetan terrier through a lot of India. They usually either fall at his feet in supplication or else run away. Of course you have to be vigilant like anywhere else you take your dog.
Now I will tell you what you do need to worry about; big cats. I strongly advise against taking your dog into any jungle areas. He really is likely to be eaten, leopards are so fond of dog that they will take him right from between your feet. An old sadhu with tears in his eyes told me of his “huge ferocious” dog being taken from him in Hampi.

All the best, Mark

birds

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your comments and for taking care so well of your dogs.

Travelling with a dog is possible but as you say expensive and difficult.

With regards to vets, yes Marlyn is great but I have seen very, very few vets of her calibre in India (there are of course many with good intentions but that does not equal skill and capability). Also, Marlyn is completly stretched, everybody wants to come to her and you often have to wait 2 to 3 hours before your turn (of course with an emergency she will give you priority).

I also travelled with my own vehicle which indeed allows more flexibity travelling with pets. In fact in Pakistan we picked up two sick stray pups and somehow managed to take them back to Europe where they are now in good care of my sister. But there are few of us who travel with their own vehicle, most depend on public transport, not a great options with dogs.

Also note, that even if a dog is vacinated against rabies, if it gets into a fight with a rabid dog you dog needs to get a booster so you have to make sure you have that with you and know how to give it. In India any bite of a stray dog, should be considered as high potential for rabies.

With regards to packaged pet food for sale in India, please note that Pedigree and Royal Canine are produced using animal tests, often very cruel ones see: http://www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm.

Lastly, you are very well travelled in India and know how to deal with lots of situations but many others are not and are likely to underestimate the situation. Lots of travellers have difficulties in India just taking care of themselves, let alone a dog.

S,o overall for most people I would say travelling with a pet in India should be highly discouraged.