...that when I adopted my two boys, it was for the long term, with all that entails.

I was speaking to my mother the other day, and we got around to talking about when I was going to be moving back home to Australia, and when I told her the current expected time frame (about 15-18 months hopefully), she asked what we were going to be doing with the boys when we moved.

I'm sorry but how is that even a question....What am I going to do, I'm going to pack them in a crate and put them on a plane is what I'm going to do.

Yes it will end up costing as much or more to get the boys to Australia as it will cost for hubby & I to get there, (add to which they have to spend a month in quarantine), but that was one of the things we discussed and planned for before we got the kittens. It's not like the moving thing was a new idea - we've been planning it since before I moved here. If we hadn't been prepared to take the boys with us, then no way would we have adopted them in the first place.

People wouldn't suggest you get rid of your children when circumstances change yet they seem to think nothing of getting rid of pets when it becomes inconvienient to keep them.

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notsure

Yep, some people just don't get it.

I get that with my chickens sometimes, when they get old and stop laying people ask if I'm going to "off" them. Ummmm NO!!! They are my pets, and deserve to live out their egg laying retirement in the same luxury as when they gave me eggs

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Debs

Lives with a wonderful husband, 2 adorable rescue kitties Harry and Sabrina, and a flock of pampered pet chickens.

Same here. I need to get special permission as we've got three and the rule is two per household. If need be than OH and I will split them and take them separately to the two diff houses.

People think we are crazy and wonder why we don't just give them to someone else or take them to a rescue I can't believe that people who know me think I would just discard one of my pets so lightly.

Would you consider going via NZ for 6 months? New rules mean that they don't have to do quarantine there, and then once you've been there for 6 months you don't have to do quarantine in Aus

To some people animals are seen as disposable assets

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Cats- Ivy, Grace, Jez, Bert
Rabbits- Marmaduke
Hamsters- Billie Joe, Mike, Mr Cool & Chewy

Checkout Ivy's FB page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-l...83943391665243

I always find this weird too, like when one of my friends' husbands asked another pregnant friend whether she would be getting rid of her cats when she had the baby. She had only had the cats for a year, got them as kittens and being married and of a certain age and always having wanted hooman babies too it was always on the cards that it would happen. Did he seriously think that she would take them on until she got pregnant and then ditch them?! I know, I know, some people do but I am pleased to report that my friend managed to cope with both furry and non-furry babies when the time came and everyone was happy!

There are always lots of kitties in rescue with that sad story

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Our lovely cat family: Zarco, Lily and their mum, Jess.

People just don't get it. My kittens have been biting cables and scratching our new carpet so when I told my mother in law she said "I'm sorry but as soon as cats start ruining things they'd have to go!". No way I said

These sorts of comments make my blood boil.

I come from a long line of pet ditchers, much to my embarrassment. My parents gave away our dog when we returned to the US from the UK when I was little. They KNEW we were coming back in a year, but they got a dog anyway. They paid to ship our car, but it "wouldn't be fair to the animal" to fly him back. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I could make an entire thread about how they systematically got pet after pet, then found some reason to get rid of it, all blanketed in the same sanctimonious poo about how keeping it "isn't fair to the animal." The three worst--rehoming our puppy at about 8 months because she chewed things; rehoming our epileptic dog at 7 years because he barked too much; and rehoming my mother's cat after she'd had him 2 years because he was eating pansies and vomiting on the rug.

I've cut ties with "friends" because they've turned out to be pet ditchers as well. And everyone thinks we're absolutely nuts for not having our oldest dog PTS instead of getting him back surgery and for contemplating expensive treatment for one of the cats now that he's hyperthyroid. They really don't get it at all. It's true. I'm so glad to have found a community of equally nutty pet lovers who do get it

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

I can't imagine deserting my 2 best friends in the world just because my circumstances changed!!

I agonised long and hard about getting 2 kitties, as I currently live with my parents, and if I moved or got married, I would certainly be taking them with me! I know some properties say 'just 1 cat' but I know that many places allow up to 2, which is ideal especially as Treacle is so social and he and Jumpy are so close! I think Treacle would've been very bored as an only cat, and if I ever had to leave them in a cattery for a few days, they would certainly keep each other company

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RIP Charcoal my shy girl 1987-2000, Patch the wanderer 1987-?, Tabby my darling fluffball 1988-2002 & Panda the rascal 1988-2008

In terms of Australian quarantine rules, I'm better off with the cats living here in Norway, than I would be with them in the UK. Due to the recent changes to the quarantine laws in the UK (and Sweden), cats entering Australia from the UK now require a rabies vaccination (in line with the rest of the EU), while those from Norway don't since it's not part of the EU (despite being part of Schengen & the EEA) and therefor has it's own stricter quarantine rules. One less thing to vaccinate against is a good thing in my eyes (especially as they aren't at risk here or in Aus).

All in all a month in quarantine won't be that bad - the hardest bit will be that I won't be able to see them til the day after we arrive so will have to rely on a phone call to ensure they made it ok and are getting settled in.

I will be able to visit them twice a week, on top of which I'll be jetting off to different parts of the country to catch up with friends & family (figured it was a good time since they wouldn't be with us), so from my point of view it should go relatively fast, I do worry that the boys will wonder where we've gotten to though.

ETA - Also I'd be quite surprised, especially in light of the new UK quarantine laws, if NZ would allow animals from anywhere other than Australia to enter without needing at least some sort of stay at a quarantine facility - and if they did, then you can guarantee that Australia would then require animals entering from NZ to enter quarantine on arrival instead of the free movement of pets that currently exists between those two countries.

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notsure