Moving Countries with your Pet - Singapore to New Zealand
"Spending all the money we have to have Maggie be with us on our moves has been worth every cent. We have had so much joy exploring the world with our best doggo by our side and can't wait to explore more of New Zealand with her!" Read more about Maggie's latest move to New Zealand ...
LD: Tell us a little bit of background about your dog such as breed, age, where did you get her from?
Sophie: Maggie is a 9 year old mongrel who was adopted from Australian Working Dog Rescue in Queensland as a 4 month old. She has visited 9 countries and lived in 4 of them.
LD: How long were you living in Singapore (including with your dog)? How much time did you get to plan your move to NZ?
Sophie: We had lived in Singapore for four and a half years. We were planning the move since 2021, however due to covid everything was on hold. We finally got the go ahead to start the moving process around May 2022, and finally put the deposit down with the pet transporter in September 2022. We arrived in NZ in December 2022.
Xmas in Auckland, New Zealand at work with Mum Sophie
LD: Did you move your dog on your own or through a Pet Transporter? Why did you choose to use a Pet Transporter or do on your own?
Sophie: We chose a pet transporter, Mitchville Relopet https://mitchville.com.sg/about-us/
Maggie has moved internationally three times prior to this move and I’ve always used a transporter. None of the moves allowed us and Maggie to be on a direct flight with her as excess baggage. Usually because she was flying with a premium airline, and we weren't! If this had ever been the case then I would consider doing it myself. Also, with all of her flights bar one, there have been stop-overs to refuel etc, if there were any issues there I always feel a pet transporter company would have a bit more access to figure out the problem, rather than just me the owner trying to call LAX or DXB from the other end of the world.
LD: Have you moved countries with your current dog or any other dog before? From where to where?
Sophie: Yes, Maggie has moved from Australia to New Zealand, New Zealand to UK, UK to Singapore before our latest move Singapore to New Zealand.
LD: Can you run us through the process of moving your dog to NZ –
- A list of things you purchased and if you can recommend any products.
Sophie: As Maggie was fully grown when she left Australia, I had always kept the airline crate that I bought for that move. I recommend people crate train their dogs with the actual airline crate, it’s very different to a regular crate and can take time for them to get used to it. I had to teach Maggie it was safe by starting to feed her in there with the lid off, then slowly move the lid on day by day until it was fully on. She is a bit of a baby with things like this, especially if it moved! But she got there, and it soon became her happy safe space.
- The checklist of paperwork (online site people can refer to, your own list) required. How much time did it take? (so people can build in a timeline).
Sophie: We put the deposit down with our pet relocator Mitchville as soon as we knew we were 100% going to NZ. This way we had access to them to help with the planning. One of the biggest things to remember with entering NZ is unless you are coming from Australia, you will need to book at least 10 days in quarantine. There are only four approved quarantine centres in the country, which obviously can get booked out: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/resources-and-forms/registers-and-lists/registered-quarantine-facilities/
Even having fun playing at Pethaven Quarantine in Auckland, NZ.
We put Mitchville in touch with our chosen quarantine centre (Pethaven) and they handled a lot of things directly, with me just copied in on emails. That was a huge help. Once we all had dates we were happy with pencilled in, I went ahead and put the deposit down for quarantine, then booked the human’s flights (as the human’s flights could have a bit more leeway).
The other massively important thing is your dog will not be allowed into NZ if they’ve had diseases which don’t exist here. If your dog tests positive for heartworm then they won't be allowed to travel until they’re treated, which can be a long process. There are also some tick diseases which stay with the dog for life, if your dog has these then unfortunately New Zealand will be off the cards. They screen for all this in the month prior to flying, but if you have any concerns I would pay for the tests to be run as soon as you have decided you want to move to NZ. The tick test results come back 2 weeks before flying and if they’re positive, there is no way around it.
This is the import website which then has links to all the individual things you need: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/bring-send-to-nz/pets-travelling-to-nz/
LD: Which airline did you use and how was the experience with them? How long was the entire journey and did you fly together?
Sophie: Maggie flew Singapore to Auckland direct with Singapore Airlines in about 10 hours. Neither of us were on the flight with her.
LD: How easy was it for your dog to adjust to their new home?
Sophie: Super easy! She doesn’t care where in the world she is as long as she’s with us!
LD: When you lived in Singapore what were your dog’s favourite things to do?
Sophie: To go running and swimming at Sentosa with her best friends at Pet Friends SG! https://www.instagram.com/petfriendssg/
LD: Now living in NZ, what are the main differences your dog is experiencing and also your family living with a dog there in comparison to Singapore?
Sophie: Maggie hasn’t had a winter in a while so she’s starting to feel the cold! We need to buy her some coats and PJs. There are also more bakeries and restaurants that are pet friendly here compared to Singapore, we saw a woman last night holding her puppy at the supermarket checkout! We are also planning some road trips with Mags as there are a lot of dog friendly accommodation options. https://www.facebook.com/dogfriendlynz
LD: Maggie has lived in so many different countries now, do you think she has a favourite!?
Sophie: I think she likes the coconuts of Australia, the mountains of Wales, the tropical heat of Singapore and the countryside of New Zealand all equally!
As long as she’s with us then she doesn’t care where she is.
LD: How much did your move cost in total? (If can give a breakdown be good or general mention of what this covered.) If you did the move on your own, how much do you think you saved?
Sophie: This move was about SGD$7000. SGD$5000 for everything Mitchville organised, which included but were not limited to vet visits, flights and permits, and the rest on quarantine and vet checks in NZ. Maggie needed 2 or 3 vet checks in Singapore and Mitchville would pick her up and drop her off, which would save us at least $50 in taxis if we’d have taken her ourselves as we didn’t have a car in Singapore. I’m not sure how much we’d have saved, I didn’t look at all the parts individually and add it up.
LD: We consider pets as our family. But sometimes people get worried or realise the cost may be too much and leave their pet behind… what’s the one thing you’d like to say to such people so that they would reconsider?
Sophie: It’s only a flight for one day out of their lives and they won’t remember it when it’s done. They just want to be with their family and of course don’t understand why they get left behind when people move countries. If you are a transient family and don’t think you would spend the money to take your pet with you, don’t get one. You wouldn’t leave a child behind so you shouldn’t leave a pet behind.
We hope these stories help keep more furry family members together so no one is left behind. You can read more in the series here:
SERIES ONE: MOVING BETWEEN SINGAPORE & THE UK
SERIES TWO: MOVING BETWEEN THE USA & SINGAPORE
SERIES THREE: MOVING BETWEEN AUSTRALIA & SINGAPORE
SERIES FOUR: MOVING BETWEEN SINGAPORE & GERMANY
SERIES FIVE: MOVING TO SOUTH KOREA FROM SINGAPORE
SERIES SIX: MOVING TO PORTUGAL FROM SINGAPORE
SERIES SEVEN: MOVING TO THE UK FROM HONG KONG
SERIES EIGHT: MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND FROM SINGAPORE
SERIES NINE: MOVING BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND SCOTLAND
Help us keep families together! If you have a moving story you would like to share please email us at: customerservice@loyald.com