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Pets and Animals
Bringing Domestic Pets to Portugal
Flying with Dogs
Driving with Dogs
Central Portugal Vets
Keeping Horses in Central Portugal
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Bringing Domestic Pets to Portugal
Having chosen Portugal for holidays or permanent living, many people like to bring their domestic pets with them. Whilst we understand that your pets may also be your best friends, we recommend that you give serious thought to bringing them with you, as it may not be in their best interests. We hope the following information will help you make your decision.
In mediterranean countries there is a fairly high incident of infectious diseases and parasites. As many of these illnesses & parasites do not exist in the animals' country of origin, they are particularly vulnerable as they may have little or no immunity. Thus it is recommended that your dog should be vaccinated against parvovirus, esgana, hepatitis, parainfluenza and leptospirose. Don't forget that the vaccines are only effective from 21 days after injection.
Parasites include fleas, ticks, flies and mosquitoes that can transmit diseases like leishmaniose and and dirofilariose. These tend to effect dogs more than cats. To prevent leishmaniose there is a collar called Scalibor;, that repels the mosquito flobotomo, the transmitter of this disease. There are two other products that protect against the mosquito bite: Pulvex Spot On and Advantix. Against dirofilariose or heartworm there are products capable of killing the microfilarias bloodsuckers before they grow into adults. Heartguard Milbemax and Interceptor. However, if your animal already has this disease, application of the product could be fatal. Consult you vet.
It is recommended that cats are vaccinated against panleucopenia, calicivirose, clamidiose, felinas rinotraqueite and leukemia. Cats will need a monthly application of a product against fleas and ticks and try to ensure your cat avoids contact with street/stray cats as the incidence of AIDS and leukemia in these animals is high, and there is no treatment for AIDS. Cats that never have any contact with other cats can be vaccinated against panleucopenia, calicivirose and rinotraqueite.
Dogs and cats must be re-vaccinated annually.
Dogs and cats in Portugal will need to have an internal deparasitation - an initial dose repeated after 15 days - every 3-4 months.
With regard to your pets' hygiene and diet, it's the same as in any part of the world. It's better to give dry food rather than left-overs or tinned food as higher temperatures lead to faster decomposition and higher risk of parasites. Never give raw meat to cats as it may cause Toxoplasmosis. Bath your animals frequently.
There are many stray/unwanted dogs and cats in Portugal that are desperately in need of good homes, so if you do decide not to bring your pets with you, please consider taking in a 'native' animal who will already be used to the climate and more resistant to diseases and parasites found in Portugal.
If you have any doubts or questions contact your vet or email cristiane_lima@sapo.pt
Flying with Dogs
Bringing your dog to Portugal by air: Wendy's experience.
Firstly I needed to book a flight which is easy if you have 1 dog but if you have 3 like I did it was a little more difficult. Border Collies. Several airlines would only take two and the third would then go on the same plane and everything but would have to go as cargo which is 3 or sometimes 4 times the price. I sought the comanies that flew dogs from which airport to where on the DEFRA website which is easy to use and folow. Armed with telephone numbers and e mails I set about getting prices.
The long and short of it all is that if you accompany your dogs on the same flight they can go as excess baggage. If you are not able to fly with them they go Cargo.
Personally I paid £420 for 3 dogs to fly from Gatwick to Faro. Charged at so much a kilo. Each cage weighed 10kg and the dog 20kg approx. The prices varied greatly and ideally i wanted to fly them to Lisbon but it was £1,000. I booked with GB Airways which is basically British Airways but if you book direct with BA again it is double the cost! I was told that Gatwick is much more dog friendly than Heathrow too.
I booked my seat and paid for it but I could not pay for the dogs as you can't book excess baggage in before getting to the airport. So all I had was reference numbers to pass over the desk as space is reserved for you in the hold.
Also on the Defra site it gives the sizes of the cages that you need, I ordered these on the internet and they came in 2 days. If anyone is interested I have one for sale that we will bring back to UK in February. Ample room for a collie big enough for a boxer size.
I went with a helper to the airport . All 3 cages stacked inside each other we parked got a trolley loaded the cages on top and pushed our way up slopes down lifts etc to the BA desk. As soon as they saw I had dogs I had one to one treatment, they looked at the ref number booked me in then took us to the special scales and the cages were made up and weighed individually with the dogs. I left my helper at this stage with them on gaurd they were all in their cages. I was taken to another desk to pay, then another to collect other paperwork then back to the dogs to offer last waters and wait for the baggage handlers to arrive. 3 men came with 2 large trolleys and my girls were gone.
As I got to the gate before you board I was able to see them sitting on the tarmac all safe and either sitting or laying watching procedures. i saw them being loaded and handled extremelycarefully up the conveyor into the plane. The next I saw of them was as I got off the plane they were again on the tarmac already unloaded looking very relaxed and I was so pleased to see them all looking this way. I had hand lugguage only so I raced through passport control and the where the cases came through and asked a lady in best portuguese where my dogs would be. As she pointed to these double doors they opened and they were wheeled in. My husband was waiting for me in arrivals with our car. The whole journey went very smoothly. The girls were not stressed at anytime I saw them and for country gals that do not have cages at all in the home they coped with that and the airport immpeccably.
I would reccommend travel this way to anyone that was thinking about it and it is true that the owners worry much more than the dogs do.
One thing, after all my dog passports and vet checks and vets signing passports. Not once at anytime were the passports looked at by anyone the Uk or Portugal end.
www.defra.gov.uk
www.gbairways.com
www.tfalogistics.com
www.baworldcargo.com
Many thanks to Wendy (aka wendyz) for allowing us to reproduce her original post on Expats Forum
Driving with Dogs
Natalie's experince
Thought it might help someone if I posted my own experiences. I spent a lot of time talking to the man at DEFRA and my own vet, so I am pretty sure that this information is accurate.
I have three golden retrievers, aged at that time, 13, 12 and 9 The eldest is deaf and blind, the two eldest suffer with arthritis and the youngest had a fairly bad mammary tumour, for which the vet gave a bleak prognosis in the UK.
The general consensus of opinion with friends etc was that I should have had them all put down or re-housed rather than bring them to Portugal. But one of the reasons I wanted to get here quickly was to give them a better quality of life (as well as for me of course!).
Despite the intense heat (we arrived in July) they have all become much happier, I would never have believed that a dog could get so depressed just faced with the same patch of boring grass and a walk along pavements to reach it - but one of mine did. (And yes so was I!)_ They all walk much further than they did in the Uk and have no trouble running now with no signs of any limping, which two of them did after a few hundred yards before.....even with all this rain, they are still healthier.
As for my little one, the first thing I did when I got here was to have her operated on for her tumour... this was something I simply couldn't have afforded in the Uk, I had already spent hundreds of £'s on her and seen no improvement. Here the operation plus all the change of dressings etc and excellent care cost just 150euros. Also the Portuguese vet was much more cheerful than the UK one and thought her chances of making a complete recovery were very high (unlike three vets I saw in the UK) Now she is healed she runs around and does somersaults just like a puppy, it was worth coming here just for that.
Anyway. .. this is what I did for the journey and I would recommend.....
PETS PASSPORTS....according to the man at DEFRA I didn't need to wait for the blood test after the anti-rabies...my vet and others all tried to get me to have two anti rabies vaccinations and the blood tests, adding possibly hundreds of £s to the bill.
On the way out of the UK no-one is the slightest bit interested in your animals, it is only if you want to return to the UK with them that there are regulations you must adhere to. I knew I wasn't going to return so I left as soon as they had had their anti-rabies, but you will NOT be able to return to the UK until 6 months after this has been given. I had already had them micro-chipped, as you need this if you do return to the UK.
As soon as I got here I took them to a local vet to make sure that they were covered for any local diseases. The vet fitted them with a Scalibor collar which protects against fleas, ticks and mosquito - You must NOT use this AND Frontline. Frontline does NOT cover for mosquitoes which carry the dreaded leishmaniose. I waited to get here as I wasn't sure that the UK version (Excalibor) covered for this either. You have to re-new this collar every 6 months.
Because it was going to be very hot I had them all shaved so that they would be cooler, not sure if I will do it again next year I shall see if they are used to the heat by then.
I bought silver screens to fit all round the car and I put them up every time I left it, they make a terrific difference to the internal temperature of the car.
I bought dog car seat harnesses so that they were secure and wouldn't fly through the car in case of an accident. I have used dog harnesses before and they were a disaster as they just hooked through the seat belt and the dogs turned round and round and became so thoroughly tied up that I couldn't unclip the belt and they couldn't move either. This time I did a lot of research and bought some that had a clip attached which utilised the seat belt clip and not the actual seat belt. They were a huge success. They were safer and I felt happier, also it was easier to manage the three of them on my own, they didn't all try to jump out of the car together...I just clunk clicked every trip.!!!...... Ooooh sorry about that I couldn't resist it!! it occurs to me that some people may not remember that Jimmy Saville advert when seat belts became compulsory!!-Oh dear!
I also covered in the space behind the front seats and laid cotton baby blankets(cooler) on top of the seat and across this 'filled in' space so they had no where to fall or get a leg wedged and it gave them so much space they could all lie down comfortably. (when I was trying to have a nap stuck behind the steering wheel I was really quite envious of them in all their comfort!)
Also, with them securely strapped in it was safe to have the windows wide open and they were always nice and cool, I don't have air-con.
I caught the night time ferry so it would be cooler while we sat around waiting to drive on board. You cannot book on-line for the ferry if you are carrying dogs, you have to pay when you get there, but do phone and check the price - they tried to charge me more than twice what they had quoted on the phone. You don't have to pay extra for the animals.
I also took the Dover to Calais crossing as it is the shortest and I didn't want to leave them below decks on their own for too long. There is a dog area at the docks, I was soon spotted walking across to it and someone accompanied me for my own safety, (because of the traffic) the dog walking area was just a tiny boxed in area, pretty awful, so I would recommend that you stop before arriving in Dover to make sure all dogs are comfortable for the journey over.
I avoided all motor-ways because I thought if the dogs became stressed I wanted to be able to stop immediately, not have to drive for another 30 minutes to a service area. France is very dog friendly and you can pull up almost anywhere to go for a walk.
I stopped one night in a hotel, it was too hot to camp, the French hotel welcomed the dogs and made a small charge for them (about a euro!)
I drove all through the night after I had come off the ferry, stopped the next night and then drove all through the next night across Spain, the dogs just slept, it was cooler and there was less traffic.
I was really dreading driving down to Portugal in such intense heat and on my own, but the dogs were far less bothered about it all than I was, I certainly think it was far less stressful for them than going on a plane, especially as they were elderly and ill.
I am really so glad that I brought them, but I am also glad that I took the precautions that I did.
I hope this helps dispell a few fears that any dog owners may have. Incidentally, they were never once stressed out by the hot summer. In the Uk they were my shadows, here they just stretched out in the sun or went and found a bit of shade if they got hot and they never bothered any more to follow me absolutely everywhere, so I think that proves that they are much more relaxed out here.
Many thanks to Natalie for allowing us to reproduce her original post on Expats Forum
Article about, and links to suppliers of, dog seatbelts and harnesses: www.parkvets.com/petsandvets-seatbelts.html
Central Portugal Vets
Sertã
Dra. Karen Isensee - Tuffy Vet - Sao Joao Do Couto Lote 4 R/C ESQ, 6100 Sertã.
Phone: 966457103
Tábua
Dr. Nuno Filipe Simões Batista Melo
Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 18:00-20:00 / Saturday morning by appointment only.
Phone: 966066165
Tomar
Dr. Marta Reis Goncalves - Rua Alfredo da Maia Pereira, Loja 2-H, 2300-449 Tomar
Phone: 249 321 747
Monday to Friday: 10:00-13:00 15:00-20:00 / Saturday: 10:00-13:00 15:00-19:00
Vila Nova de Poiares
Dra. Cristiane Lima - EN17 - Vila Nova de Poiares Portugal
Phone: 966926376 / email cristiane_lima@sapo.pt
Keeping Horses in Central Portugal
Sandra's Experience
We came to Portugal 11 years ago with our 3 horses, driving them ourselves in our 7.5 ton truck which was pulling a 25 foot caravan ... our new temporary home. We decided that the easiest route for the horses and ourselves would be to travel on the Santander ferry from Plymouth.
Our adventure started with 4 horses, my sister's 21 year old arab was with us but he developed a serious colic before we boarded the ferry, he had to be taken to Bristol vetinary university for an operation which he survived thank goodness, and he is still alive and happy today in Brighton at the age of 32 years old. He had a full vetinary check before we left and he was not prone to colic, so I would have to give a word of warning to anyone thinking of moving an older horse.
The other 3 horses, a thoroughbred, an arab, and a welsh cob, settled really quickly and happily, they are still with me today, all in their 20s, in full health and still working.
We arrived in Portugal in November, so the weather was cooler, similar to a cool English summers day, the main shock for the horses, and us, was that the flies really bite!! They are horrid and must be the only thing that I don't like about Portugal, or any warmer climate when you throw animals into the picture!
Central Portugal has not in the recent past, had a history of horses, the area was pretty ignorant to the needs of horses, but it is changing very fast, we now have good specialist vet's, good farriery, and we can get hay, and although my supplier still insists that hay is for sheep and straw is better for horses, he does supply me with excellent quality hay, often better than I had in England because the weather is more stable at the harvesting time of year.
I was speaking to my vet recently and he said that more and more people (mainly us fussy foreigners) are asking for pysiotherapists, dentists, and other specialist horse people. At the moment they are pretty thin on the ground, but it is only a matter of time........
In general, my horses say that they miss the big open grass fields of England to have a good gallop, but they like the milder winters, a lot of the tracks are stoney and rough but even my thoroughbred copes really well. I think we tend to molly-coddle our horses in England. When our guests arrive to ride my horses they often say "my horse would never go up there" or "surely we can't ride down that steep rocky track, my horse would have a heart attack"! but by the end of the week guests are saying " I'm going to be a bit tougher on my horse when I go home, I never realised how well horses can cope with rough terrain"!
The flies are definately the worst thing about the summer, the horses cope really well with the heat, as long as they have a cool stable or a nice tree to shelter under, but the flies are relentless, you will need a good fly spray, I have given in and now use nasty chemicals because my horses have to be ridden all through the day in summer and it is only fair to them to make their job as easy as possible. I know some other people use natural home made sprays, I will ask around for recipes .... watch this space ......
I think my horses are happy here, they live much closer to me than they did in England when they were at livery, they would like to have more grazing, but I'm working on that!
Sandra and her husband Steve live on a beautiful riverside property and run Gois Valley Riding offering fabulous trekking from a one hour ride to a custom-made holiday of a week or more.
Articles
I have always loved the satisfied hiss of air brakes on big trucks when they reach journeys end. Today, I liked the sound even more; it meant we had arrived. Steve, my husband, jumped down from the truck, and after stretching his limbs, gave a little sideways leap and clicked his heels as he walked towards me looking jubilant. "We've done it, we've arrived". I wound down the window excitedly ...
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