Goinghomesoon

Would appreciate advice from those of you who read Thai.  My partner needs to source some non-fiction parenting books in Thai for some study he is doing.   Which of the Thai bookstores has the best online search and delivery services?

As we left Thailand late last year, we planned to take our Thai cat with us.  I was going to write a summary of the process once we got her home to Australia, hoping that might help others through the process. What I am writing is slightly different to what I planned, but I do hope it helps others avoid the problems we have had....read on!

As animals cannot be directly imported from Thailand to Australia we spoke to a number of companies and colleagues that have been through the process, and decided that import via either Singapore or Malaysia would work best for us.   Following discussions with a number of companies, we chose to go with the Malaysian option.

Getting our cat to Malaysia was relatively easy.  Our vet (Thonglor Pet Hospital) provided the vaccinations, information and documents we needed and it was a quick visit to the airport vet at Swampy to get the necessary documents stamped the day before we travelled.  I booked the cat as excess baggage on my ticket with Malaysian Airlines and flew to Malaysia in mid-June with her (total fee for the cat and cage was about THB 1,200).  All good.

On arrival in Malaysia our import agent - recommended to us by several sources - met us at the airport and collected the documents from me.  The import went smoothly, and after about 30 mins I waved off kitty, secure in the knowledge that we would be reunited in Australia in 6 months.

Fast forward 6 months and it was early December. We were settled in Australia and looking forward to our cat arriving.  Suddenly the agent went suspiciously quiet. No answer to emails, not answering phone calls.  Christmas came..and went...Australian Quarantine was closed...still no news from the company in Malaysia.   I figured perhaps Aussie quarantine had just been a bit slow with their import approvals pre-Christmas and maybe we had been held up for that reason.

But no...it is now early March and our cat has still not arrived.  The company failed to apply for the import permit, despite assuring us they had done so in December.   They rarely answer the phone and never answer emails.  When they do answer their phone, the staff yell and virtually accuse us of causing the delays.   The final blood test was completed 3 weeks ago and staff at the Australian testing agency (CSIRO) warned me that this agent is not well regarded at all.   And today I was advised by Australian Quarantine that they also have major problems with this particular company, and they advised me to engage a different agent.  They are unlikely to approve import of our animal through this particular service provider.  Because the necessary blood tests are all about to expire, we are literally going to have to start the entire process all over again.

For what it's worth, my colleagues shipped their cat through an agent in Singapore at the same time, and their cat has been home since 2 weeks before Christmas.  

Reading back I sound like a fool, but I did not know the process very well and trusted that the company was providing me with good advice. I can only hope that our experience helps others.

I do not intend to name the company publicly, since they still have our pet.  But would be happy to release their details to anyone that PMs me.

Congrats are in order for the RueFangs on the birth of a beautiful little boy last week!   And equally huge belated congrats to Redfish44s on arrival of baby girl a few weeks earlier.

We have been packing to move to Australia and have found that we have enough room for more stuff.   We have a bunch of electrical goods bought in Thailand like our DVD player, rice cooker, toaster, printer. Since we have space I'm thinking maybe we could just ship them instead of buying new ones when we get there.  Will this stuff work in Australia with only a plug change? Sorry guys, I am both female and a no-hoper with electrical questions!

I'll ask here, think perhaps the pinned threads don't get too many reads....

Can anyone tell me what documents the Thai Govt vet requires to issue an export permit?     We have originals and copies of our cat's microchip details, vaccination certificate, flight details &  the photo page of my passport.

Do they need to see the import permit for the receiving country?

Also how long does the medical check and issuing of the export permit take? We're wondering if we could do this early in the morning when they open and then make a late morning flight?