Bringing Your Pets To Thailand Things to Look Out For

[Oliver]

Hellloooo.

Wasn't sure what section to post this in.

Anybody ever taken their pets to Thailand? Was wondering how you got on, whether this was a shrewd thing to do or not.

Last stay in Bangkok, there seemed to be a lot of stray cats and dogs around the sois. Are your indoor pets from the west in more danger from fights etc if they weren't raised in that environment?

Appreciate any experience ppl have. 

Many thanks

Ol.

 

[Tyler Byers]

I brought one of my dogs with me (I intend to bring the other eventually). The biggest thing is making sure you can get them back to your home country in case something unexpected happens. It can be really expensive, but there are a few services here that will help out with information and transport. You definitely need to be careful about soi dogs here. I've gotten into it with the ones in my neighborhood a few times, but luckily they haven't been able to take any bites out of my dog. Socializing dogs here can also be a problem as most of the city isn't really dog friendly. This means most people don't like dogs, and the dogs you will run into aren't used to being around other dogs. I've gotten really lucky with the apartment I live in (there are a lot of dogs here and all the owners seem to be relatively well educated and open to socializing their dogs). That definitely is not the norm though. 

[Oliver]

Thanks for the info, that kinda makes sense. One time we were walking down the street and one Thai friend just randomly smacked a cat off the top of a brick wall for fun and I was like...wtf... But nobody else was remotely surprised. Guess that kinda thing is normal.

[MadelineGrace]

On 8/27/2019 at 9:55 AM, Oliver said:

One time we were walking down the street and one Thai friend just randomly smacked a cat off the top of a brick wall for fun and I was like...wtf... But nobody else was remotely surprised. Guess that kinda thing is normal.

That’s disappointing and sad. 

 

[Tyler Byers]

On 8/27/2019 at 8:55 PM, Oliver said:

One time we were walking down the street and one Thai friend just randomly smacked a cat off the top of a brick wall for fun and I was like...wtf... But nobody else was remotely surprised. Guess that kinda thing is normal.

Unfortunately this doesn't really surprise me. Pets seem to be a relatively new idea here. People mostly still treat them like they are all totally wild. I get really funny looks when I take my dog for a walk and get him to sit at crosswalks or anywhere else we are going to stop for a bit. 

[Oliver]

11 hours ago, MadelineGrace said:

That’s disappointing and sad. 

 

I know right. Was one of those things that totally disgusts you but then you gotta keep a straight face because you're not in your home culture any more. Awful. This, and one time in Cyprus were the worst - a dad beat his little daughter in the middle of a coffee shop and nobody cared. Wanted to force feed him cinamon from the shaker until he puked. Scumbag.

[Oliver]

6 hours ago, Tyler Byers said:

Unfortunately this doesn't really surprise me. Pets seem to be a relatively new idea here. People mostly still treat them like they are all totally wild. I get really funny looks when I take my dog for a walk and get him to sit at crosswalks or anywhere else we are going to stop for a bit. 

Yeah, came across this in my research of this, apparently the US and UK have the highest rate of cat and dog ownership, but Asia not so much.

Guess I'll just have to get a goldfish or somethin...

[MadelineGrace]

1 hour ago, Oliver said:

I know right. Was one of those things that totally disgusts you but then you gotta keep a straight face because you're not in your home culture any more. Awful. This, and one time in Cyprus were the worst - a dad beat his little daughter in the middle of a coffee shop and nobody cared. Wanted to force feed him cinamon from the shaker until he puked. Scumbag.

Yeah. That would be rough on me. I’m an animal lover.

and beating kids is a major hot button issue for me where I go crazy (note- I’m not ‘really crazy’) but child abuse makes me crazy!

so.... I think that would be mentally and emotionally harmful to me to witness not just once but... commonly 

yikes

[Oliver]

100%

 

[Tyler Byers]

15 hours ago, Oliver said:

Yeah, came across this in my research of this, apparently the US and UK have the highest rate of cat and dog ownership, but Asia not so much.

Guess I'll just have to get a goldfish or somethin...

If you find a place that is pet friendly you could always volunteer to foster cats/dogs. There is a Facebook group called Bangkok Pet Lovers and they are always in need of people to foster animals. 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

It it extremely difficult to find apartments or hotels that will allow a dog. They do exist, they are usually run by a dog lover, or dogs somehow found their way into the DNA of the the place, but they can be very difficult to find at times. When we traveled, driving all over with Jaidee, we mostly were relegated to staying in cheap "hourly" hotels if you know what I mean. Some sites like AirBnB do allow filtered searches, but generally the idea of having a dog in your living space is not widely acceptable. It's changing some, but it's still is difficult.

When we moved to Thailand we had a plan to have our dog sent over in a few months but we really couldn't find any apartment what would accept one, and ended up having to leave her with Sylvie's father. That was Chiang Mai which can be more conservative. But even in Pattaya a dog friendly apartment is pretty rare.

On a sidenote, a story that always stuck with me was a fellow that brought his two beautiful dogs with him, so he could have companions while hiking in the North. I can't remember the details, but he went out on a bit of a hike only a few days into his travel and they both were bit by a snake and died. I can't imagine. I only mention it because it's one more parameter in thinking about bringing your pets.

We of course had Jaidee with us, a soi puppy we rescued, and traveled everywhere with him. He went to probably 100 fights. He was a huge part of our life. Sylvie went running with him in the mountains, he rode on the motorbike, so yes, it can work. But there are always complications.

[Tyler Byers]

20 hours ago, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

they both were bit by a snake and died. I can't imagine.

This and motorbikes/cars are my biggest fear with Brody. He almost got taken out by one of the neighbors the other day when he ran ahead of me as I took him out to go the bathroom. He's just to short for them to see. Luckily a lot of people have dogs in our apartment and almost no one has them on leashes (not to mention all the kids running around also not on leashes lol). Most folks who do have cars know to be fairly careful when driving down our street.