Has anyone bought a pet and have it shipped?

[3weddings]

We are looking into a second dog and have found a breeder that comes with high praise from her peers close to us.

She is one of only a few that will have a puppy ready to go before the end of May which is important to me because of house breaking and training over the summer months. I have researched her, her dogs and no one had anything negative to say.

The problem is she is in BC and we're in Ontario.

Has anyone ever had a young animal shipped to them? How did the animal react? Were you pleased with the 'service' the airline provided? Did you encounter any problems?

She would be using WestJet, as she has shipped many pups around North America using them. I am starting to trust her but would love some more experiences from a buyers POV.

TIA!!

[Squiggles]

I see animals in cargo holds all the time. I think it's kinda cruel.

[kingsley]

Just get a dog from an animal shelter. If I was going to get a dog I'd do that.

[Squiggles]

Just get a dog from an animal shelter. If I was going to get a dog I'd do that.

I agree.

[Andro]

Just get a dog from an animal shelter. If I was going to get a dog I'd do that.

that's what i did with my cat :arrowu: deffinately best way.......and i would never let anybody ship my pet, it's not a plazma tv you know.

[CharmyPoo]

I had dogs shipped to me in the past. 1 from Texas and 2 from West Virgina. I found Continental or Delta to be the best. Delta has a counter to counter service although they still travel in Cargo. In both cases, the dogs arrived safe and sound. However, I would recommend that you fly down and pick up the pup if possible. You can find a cheap flight sometimes - it's worth it for the peace of mind.

What breed of dog are you buying?

[3weddings]

I completely understand, and we have two pets from rescue already. This time we'd prefer a pure bred to add to our family....we do have massive hearts, so please keep the judging to a minimum.

I see animals in cargo holds all the time. I think it's kinda cruel.

Could you please elaborate on this, what is cruel about it? I firmly believe in crate training, and the dog is not a stranger to being crated, so that is obvioulsy not cruel. Please detail for me what is cruel about the cargo hold....be gentle please

[UrbanPoet]

whats wrong with shipping your pets? Its like getting a ride on the bus or plane.
I take the TTC... and during rush hour i bet you a doggy in cargo gets more breathing space then me!
@ least the dog doesnt have to use TTC bathrooms =(

[Spidey]

I bought Sea monkeys years ago and they shipped fine

[Mattones]

I bought fish form B.C in the winter. Piranha's to be exact. they came in fine and thye wer ein bags ahaha

[3weddings]

Thanks for the input!!
I'd love to fly out, but with three young kids and a dh on the road it's out of the question, kwim?
I just spoke to an owner near us, and she's quite impressed with the breeder, and the care she took when shipping their puppies...they bought two from her because of her reputation.

She also believes in natural feeding, meaning raw! Something I had never heard of, but am very intrigued by and will be pursuing further.

Spidey...leave it to you to make me spit on my monitor!! lol


Here's my Peiby!!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/3weddings/Pets/Dark_Brown_Boy_8_wks___1.jpg

[MkmBandit]

After the first 10 minutes in the air, the dog will be sleeping anyways. The trip will be fine, just make sure the dog is handled with care.

[Impossibles]

Thanks for the input!!
She also believes in natural feeding, meaning raw! Something I had never heard of, but am very intrigued by and will be pursuing further.


Off topic, but I heard a vet on the radio the other day say he strongly strongly recommends against this for the same reasons we don't eat raw meat. The risks of bacterial infection outweigh any possible benefits.

[CharmyPoo]

Your baby is an absolute darling! I don't personally believe in raw diet and I know many vets recommend against. However, there are also many strong believers of the raw diet.

I also did not stay local because I am very picky on the breeding. I like the Maltese breed and we have very few breeders here for the breed.

Best of luck! I am sure the shipping will be fine. They usually arrive in cargo (not sure about west jet) and not the actual airport. I would suggest that you show up a little earlier so your baby doesn't have to wait around.

[3weddings]

Off topic, but I heard a vet on the radio the other day say he strongly strongly recommends against this for the same reasons we don't eat raw meat. The risks of bacterial infection outweigh any possible benefits.

Most vets will choose that p.o.v. as they do not understand it. I spoke to the breeder at length about it last night, and am very excited about converting the household to more natural diets.

http://www.pets4life.com/index.php?p=research/articles/11

[almostfreeman]

My dog is still scared of the car, I can't imagine shipping him on a plane. I'm sure this has to cause considerable stress to some dogs unless they are sedated.

[cookie-monster]

Re. raw food diet, this might be helpful:

http://www.caberfeidh.com/Safe.htm

Basically, unless you can really, really high quality meat, the bacteria on the meat you can find (e.g. grocery store meat) may do more harm than good. We have our dogs on Innova Evo - high quality grain-free food, plus an all-natural coat supplement.

Re. shipping. Since it's a puppy, if it was accompanied, would it be small enough to go in the cabin with you? If so, I'd try my hardest to find time to get out to BC and back. If it would have to go cargo anyway, it seems to make less of a difference to go and pick it up.

We're relocating overseas this summer, and are flying our dogs with us. We're very worried about it. The noises, strangers handling them, etc. make us nervous. Though both of our dogs are from the humane society (actually, more local equivalents), so we're mostly worried that the experience will exacerbate their problems, especially for the one that suffers from intense separation anxiety. Probably not so much of an issue for a purebred puppy. I've heard conflicting arguments for whether/not to tranquilise.... some advise to do it as it will help them relax/sleep; others say not as you won't know if something goes wrong with the tranquiliser while they're in the air all that time unsupervised. We thought briefly about rehoming them because we were so worried about the potential effects of, and problems that might arise with the flight. But they'd like be "unrescueable" if they were "abandoned" again, so we're just hoping the flight works out OK.

[CSK'sMom]

3weddings, ask your family doctor or ped. about feeding raw! As we've been through salmonella poisoning once before we asked our ped. She has seen an increase in cases all traced back to pets fed raw. Our public health dept. now actually has a handout concerning this. It's nothing to play around with when there are kids (or elderly) in the household...

[BlueMax]

These guys have been in business for years!

http://www.petsovernight.com/

[Impossibles]

Most vets will choose that p.o.v. as they do not understand it. I spoke to the breeder at length about it last night, and am very excited about converting the household to more natural diets.

http://www.pets4life.com/index.php?p=research/articles/11

Vets have that POV because of the 6 years training they have.

[ghostryder]

Off topic, but I heard a vet on the radio the other day say he strongly strongly recommends against this for the same reasons we don't eat raw meat. The risks of bacterial infection outweigh any possible benefits.


Of course you shouldn't feed raw, it would cut into the sales of commercial dog food which is perfectly safe. :twisted: And we wouldn't want to feed them the kind of food that they have been eating for thousands of years would we.

My sister has been feeding raw for almost 2 decades and not one of her dogs has ever had a bacterial infection.

http://www.urbancarnivore.com/

[ghostryder]

3weddings, ask your family doctor or ped. about feeding raw! As we've been through salmonella poisoning once before we asked our ped. She has seen an increase in cases all traced back to pets fed raw. Our public health dept. now actually has a handout concerning this. It's nothing to play around with when there are kids (or elderly) in the household...


Don't let the kids & grandma eat the dog food then. And don't forget to wash your hands after handling raw food.

Your ped. has had more than one case of the 3 cases in the last 6 years in all of Canada? These cases also didn't involve actual raw food but contaminated commercial pet treats that contained smoked or dried components.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/media/advisories_avis/salmonella_e.html

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2005/20050607e.shtml

Is there actual evidence that is is connected to raw pet food, or just raw food in general and poor handling?

[nickia]

Canadapost works fine

[Narci]

Maybe fly the breeder out accompanying the dog so you can meet the breeder as well?

[milhaus]

Vets have that POV because of the 6 years training they have.

Most vets also recommend Science Diet, which is one of the crappiest brands you can buy. Why? $$$$$

Buy brands like Wellness, Solid Gold, and Fromms, who spend their money on their food and researching animal nutrition, not on advertising and kickbacks to vets.

Or go BARF, but damn, that's a hell of a lot of work to do right.

[CSK'sMom]

Don't let the kids & grandma eat the dog food then. And don't forget to wash your hands after handling raw food.

Your ped. has had more than one case of the 3 cases in the last 6 years in all of Canada? These cases also didn't involve actual raw food but contaminated commercial pet treats that contained smoked or dried components.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/media/advisories_avis/salmonella_e.html

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2005/20050607e.shtml

Is there actual evidence that is is connected to raw pet food, or just raw food in general and poor handling?

Both of those advisories are from 05, this is 07. Oh, and the one link is for an actual recall of commercial product, the other warns of salmonella from feeding raw. There have been more cases since and will continue to be as more jump on the raw bandwagon in light of the recent recalls IMO. Unless you have experienced a health dept. investigation with a reportable infection you probably can't comprehend the experience. In our case they actually came in and collected samples from all over the house as well as specific food products, etc. It was very comprehensive. If it wasn't becoming a problem our local health dept. wouldn't have a handout on this very subject.

By the way, I wouldn't wish salmonella on my worst enemy. It's nasty and can last for weeks or even months. We had 2 kids with it who suffered for 2 and a half months. One was 6 months old and was hospitalized for almost 3 weeks and lost half her body weight. Our then 4 yr old was hospitalized for 10 days...