Moving to Hong Kong from NZ with Cavalier King Charles Spaniel



ORIGINAL POST
Posted by Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
I will soon be relocating to HK and plan to live on HK Island. I would love to hear from dog owners but in particular those who own CKC Spaniels. Having lived in NZ all my life and being used to plenty of home space and grounds, I am wondering how I will go living in an apartment with a dog. In my earlier visits to HK, I have noted that there certainly are many dogs so gather that there should be no problem. The areas we are looking at living are Stanley or Happy Valley. Any and all advice on dog caring in a new country would be most helpful:-)

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COMMENTS
Ed 15 yrs ago
I am sure our members can help but you can also contact Santa Fe - they have relo experts who can answer most questions http://www.asiaxpat.com/movingquote/

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
Still hoping to hear from some folk there please. Any advice re apartment living with a small dog - any advice re good vets - pet insurance in Hong Kong???????????

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
Thank you for your reply and thoughts. I am also wondering about transporting a dog around HK. We wont have a car and if we need to go to our family' s home and want to take her how do we do it? You say that a vet does house calls - is that the norm as in NZ it is not done regularly but more for special reasons. Also wondering if all brands of pet food a easily available or only in select store.It is great to hear from a dog owner........any more out there?

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
Thank you yet again for that info. How do dogs cope with the heat, particularly in summer - I understand HK had the hottest summer on record for many years last year. We were there end of Sept and it was still pretty hot. I understand that aircon is an accepted commodity in dwellings but do the dogs adjust i.e. will their coats shed more with the constant exposure to temp adjustments? I dont relish the thought of taking her for a walk during the day in the intense heat so when do wonders find it best to walk them......and where it is shady perhaps??

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
We plan to be on HK Island. Our family live Shouson Hill and we want to live near them, pref on the bus route. Would love to be in Stanley but I believe Happy Valley could be good too.Looking more like April before we get there so def before the summer. And we will be coming without Emma initially until we find our accommodation so will give us some time to adjust before adjusting with her lol. Was disappointed to learn that we cannot have her vaccinated for Rabies prior to leaving NZ. Have been told that it must be done in HK. I guess I was a bit anxious that should there be any reactions I would have at least had my own vet on hand but now seems that I have to go with the rules. Also I am not clear on her having to have a second shot in 6months time???/ Do you know anything about that for dogs in HK?????

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joe317 15 yrs ago
where did u learn that you cannot have her vaccinated for rabies prioer to leaving NZ and must be done in HK ? i impored two poodles from Texas before and searched a lot of info from the agriculture, fisheries and conservation dept here, NZ is under "group 1 countries" which means you can ship her to HK when she's more than 60 days old (for US, must be at least 5 months old), please click this website : http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/quarantine/qua_ie/qua_ie_ipab/qua_ie_ipab_idc/qua_ie_ipab_idc.html for more info, all you need to do first is to apply an import licence, it takes 7 - 10 days to process, then arrange all the necessary documents (pls read it carefully cos e.g. health cert is only valid for 14 days), her micro chip must mee the requirement here, e.g. AVID + 9 digits, even though her micro chip is not 9 digits, this is not a big problem, she only needs to take another chip at the AFCD at the airport, she needs to have valid vaccination and rabies before she comes to HK, then need to take another rabies booster at the airport, taking a second shot in 6 months time is not a problem, my teacup poodle arrived HK when she was 5 months old, she was fine after taking the booster, so don't worry


i am living in Happy Valley and i like it very much, most people living in Happy Valley keep dogs, and more than one dog, they are very friendly, a few restaurants here allows you to have meal with your doggies, got a few pet shops with grooming service and selling of dog food + a few vet clinic, walking distance to Causeway Bay and very easy to get a cab, i have 5 doggies and during summer time, i will open the aircond when i leave home to work, i don't shed their hair during summer time but will keep it short, rental in Happy Valley maybe a bit expensive than some other places, but is a good place to live, FYI, there's a flat at my bldg for rent, 950 sq ft at HK$26,000


any questions, please let me know


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joe317 15 yrs ago
oh one more thing, most of the bldgs in Happy Valley allows you to keep pets

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
Thank you thank you thank you so much for your comments. Funnily enough, I have been in conversation just today with yet another pet transport company who do say also that the dog must be vaccinated upon entry to HK and it could be most likely that our dog would get another vacc regardless of the paperwork stating that rabies had been done. I have also spoken to my vet who did try to reassure me that there is unlikely to be any effect from the vaccine as it is not a "live' one. But I do appreciate your comments too and will continue to question this issue for a while yet.

I also appreciate that you live in Happy Valley and are able to pass on your knowledge first hand of the area. Rest assured that I prob will have lots more questions and will stay in touch some way. Dont know how on here really. Whilst we are moving to HK to be closer to our son and family, they do not own a dog so can be of no assistance and it will be a huge advantage to be able to know that I have some out there that will be able to help me through this huge adjustment :-)

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joe317 15 yrs ago
you are welcome, as a dog lover, i understand your feeling and concern about your dog's travel to HK, i just called the AFCD at the airport and confirmed this : your dog needs to have vaccination in NZ (not less than 10 days and not more than 1 year) before coming to HK, for rabies, this is not applicable, when your dog arrives HK airport, according to the AFCD law here, your dog needs to apply a dog licence, if your dog already have rabies in NZ, then they will only do the rabies booster for him (pls remember to ship the rabies cert together with your dog), if not, then they will do a normal rabies vaccination, import a dog from NZ and US is dfferent, last time my dog needs to have rabies done before coming to HK


Stanley is also a nice area to live but just far too expensive, include both rental and property price, a little bit not convenient unless you have a car, they have buses and mini vans to city area and takes around 20 - 25 mins depends on trafffic


for me, i think pet insurance is not that necessary unless your dog is an old one, normally for young doggies, they are quite strong, for mines, they may only need to visit the vet once or twice a year, so not worth to get the pet insurance for them


feel free to chat me if there's any further questions

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
Well today I am not feeling too great about this whole thing. It not only means that our dog will have to have Rabies vacc on entry to HK but now it would appear that the NZ microchips are not the preferred ones for Hong Kong and her welcome will also be having yet another microchip put into her upon entry!What a wonderful warm doggy welcome to HK. i am struggling to understand why each country cannot accept any microchip - afterall it is a database. Seems like a testing time while wanting to bring our best little friend with us :-?

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joe317 15 yrs ago
yes different country have their own rules, last time my teacup poodle also need to take another micro chip when she arrived HK cos the one that she got in US is not acceptable here (even though i mentioned to my breeder about the standard before !! amazingly she didn't scream or cry at all, she's only 1.5 kg, a brave girl, i am sure yr dog is bigger than mine, so no need to over worry about this, sure it won't harm your little friend

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Bubblzgal 15 yrs ago
cara......hello and thank you (an joe317) for keeping an "eye" out for me and my concerns....;-)I just feel for her at having had a 11 hour flight and then gets a jab plus the microchip procedure done to her. Poor wee thing! But then I guess she will be very excited to see us as we will be leaving her in NZ for about a month until we have found accommodation in HK. And we are still trying to get our heads around all the costs of relocating ourselves, our dog and the support financially to a family member who will be taking care of our 2 very elderly cats that we have to leave behind. So to learn of these 2 procedures on top of that....Anyway....what can you tell me about Happy Valley? There seems to be a huge lot of apartments available. Would we be better to look for ground floor of lower floors that would suit a dog? I really dont know if ground level is too hard to get and does it really matter anyway? Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated :-)

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jassy67 15 yrs ago
When we moved our cats back to Hong Kong a few years ago, they had to be micrchipped. We had it done in Canada, as well as rabies. Upon arrival in HK, they had to get another rabies shot.

Now we are leaving HK again, and our vet did a home visit, and both micro chips registered on their database.

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joe317 15 yrs ago
some flat on ground floor have their own garden but very rare, same like on first floor (ground floor is for shops), they will have their own platform, so it all depends on your luck whether you can find something like this, i will not recommend you to rent a flat with balcony, i think is quite danger for doggies, if you rent a flat which is big enough for your doggie to walk around + bring him out for a daily walk, garden is not that necessary

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