Emigration - sick dog

Fittle

We are emigrating soon (UK) and had fully intended on bringing our 8yr old staffie with us. In the past few weeks she has gotten very sick and we haven't been able to get her well enough to travel - she has aspirational pneumonia which the vet says is manageable but not curable.

I am at a loss as to what to do. A family friend had offered to mind her for us for a few weeks until the medication worked and she was fit to travel.

She is generally in good form and hardly seems sickly at all, but obviously is.

We didn't want to rehome her and I doubt a pound would even take her from us now. What on earth will we do...?? Is there a staffie owners group who might care for her??

aonb

how are you travelling to UK?
We recently spent 2 months in UK. We had to bring our dog who was recovering from major surgery with us. Hes not a good traveller at the best of times. We took the high speed ferry, and drove across UK for 5 or 6 hours.
Its very do-able. We gave our boy some meds from the vet so he was pretty much zonked for the trip. He didnt care where he was when we arrived at our destination, it was business as usual, as long as we were with him.

An 8 year old staffie has zero hope of being rehomed - because of her age, her breed, her illness. The rescues and shelters are jammed. Staff/bull breeds are being dumped on a frightening scale (I volunteer with a rescue) - staff/bull puppies are 10/penny, so your poor old girl wouldnt have a hope of being rehomed from a shelter. Bring her with you - get some meds from your vet to make her trip more comfortable, and she will settle as soon as she arrives, happy with her humans. Good luck!

muddypaws

I would consider emigrating to the UK the same as moving to somewhere else in Ireland, but with a short ferry journey. She can stay in your car on the crossing, you can do the quick crossing to make it even shorter. I don't know how many of you will be in the car, but someone could sit on the back seat with her while you're driving. Its not a contagious disease, so no reason for her not to travel.

As said above, zero to no chance of getting a home for her unfortunately.

strandroad

Absolutely you can take her with you on the ferry. If you don't have a new place set up yet and it might be too much stress and commotion for her, leave her with the friend for a little while and then do the ferry trip. It's just a few hours of travel for her and she will be fine, you can ask your vet how to make sure she's comfortable (mild sedative perhaps).

Fittle

Thanks all. I should have said the vet wont give her rabies jab to travel and is insisting she is unfit to travel.
We are leaving next wk and brought her to the vets a mth ago to start the process.
The vet has said it could take up to 8wks for her to be fit..

muddypaws

Ah yeah, that will change things. The vet is absolutely right though, with the pneumonia.

Will your friend look after her for the 8 weeks do you think? Has the vet then explained that the dog can't travel for another 3 weeks after the rabies vacc, so it would be 11 weeks before she can travel.

strandroad

Fittle wrote: »

Thanks all. I should have said the vet wont give her rabies jab to travel and is insisting she is unfit to travel.
We are leaving next wk and brought her to the vets a mth ago to start the process.
The vet has said it could take up to 8wks for her to be fit..

Looks like you need to take your family friend on his/her kind offer... she will travel when she gets better.

Fittle

There are more test results back next week which will determine what will actually happen. Yes, I'm aware that the best case scenario is that she can't travel for 11wks. Sadly, my friend can't mind her for that period of time - the plan was a 'few' weeks (she is going on holiday herself)...

Will kennels take her and give her medication etc etc??

I have asked the vet to suggest somewhere but they are clueless - they are quite a new vets surgery in the area and are all very young girls (straight out of college I would imagine) but her tests have gone to UCD for results etc etc....

strandroad

Can you contact a staffie/bull breed rescue to ask if they have any fosterers who could help? You can donate to the rescue in return. Better than kennels !

muddypaws

Fittle wrote: »

There are more test results back next week which will determine what will actually happen. Yes, I'm aware that the best case scenario is that she can't travel for 11wks. Sadly, my friend can't mind her for that period of time - the plan was a 'few' weeks (she is going on holiday herself)...

Will kennels take her and give her medication etc etc??

I have asked the vet to suggest somewhere but they are clueless - they are quite a new vets surgery in the area and are all very young girls (straight out of college I would imagine) but her tests have gone to UCD for results etc etc....

If she is up to date on her other vaccinations, I can't see why a kennel wouldn't take her, it depends though, how poorly she is. If its just a matter of giving her medication each day, that wouldn't be an issue for good kennels, but is there a real danger around aspiration pneumonia, with eating and drinking?

A home boarding situation would probably be best for her, possibly with an ex vet nurse, who would feel comfortable with the medical situation. I think there are some like that around, just trying to remember who, off the top of my head. Even if your friend could have her for the first few weeks, and then she went into the home boarding place.

Sorry OP, it seemed quite straight forward with your first post, but I can see how stressful and upsetting this must be for you.

Fittle

Can anyone suggest a staffie rescue I could contact?
She is off her food, but not contagious.
We had anticipated the move would be stressful, but didnt think for a moment it would be our dog who we were worried about the most.

njs030

Fittle wrote: »

Can anyone suggest a staffie rescue I could contact?
She is off her food, but not contagious.
We had anticipated the move would be stressful, but didnt think for a moment it would be our dog who we were worried about the most.

Whey are you looking for from a rescue? They generally don't do free boarding-I know your stuck but a rescue is for dogs who are homeless and in dire straits.

I think you would be better off looking at home boarding of some kind as someone suggested earlier. You could probably negotiate costs etc.

Edited to say I didn't see the above post about fosterers.

Fittle

I thought a staffie rescue could mind her for us until she is fit to travel, and as a poster above suggestd, I would make an appropriate donation?

njs030

Fittle wrote: »

I thought a staffie rescue could mind her for us until she is fit to travel, and as a poster above suggestd, I would make an appropriate donation?

Have you tried home boarding?

I don't think many rescues would be willing to mind a dog for almost 3 months at the expense of other dogs who could be put to sleep.

I'm not trying to offend you or the previous ppster but rescues are closing their doors because they can't cope!
Maybe you could find one if you trued hard enough, but wouldn't it be easier to just get home boarding if you're going to pay anyway?

Fittle

We are leaving next week, where would I even begin to look for a home boarder at such short notice? And i still dont know the full extent of how ill she is until the rest of the test results are back monday.

njs030

Fittle wrote: »

We are leaving next week, where would I even begin to look for a home boarder at such short notice? And i still dont know the full extent of how ill she is until the rest of the test results are back monday.

Where are you based? I just had an idea I shall pm you!

muddypaws

I'm asking around. Do your vets not have any boarding facilities on site?

One thing though OP, is your girl a Staffie, or a staffie cross? Are you aware of the legislation in the UK regarding dogs 'of type'? Does she look like a full Staff?

Fittle

muddypaws wrote: »

I'm asking around. Do your vets not have any boarding facilities on site?

One thing though OP, is your girl a Staffie, or a staffie cross? Are you aware of the legislation in the UK regarding dogs 'of type'? Does she look like a full Staff?

She is a pure staffie and not on the list of restricted breeds for the uk. I am dublin northside.

muddypaws

It may be worth contacting IPTA, I know they are mainly for Pit Bulls, but a lot of Staffy owners belong to them, and go along to their shows and events.

https://www.facebook.com/Irelands-Pit-Bull-Terrier-Association-Bull-Breed-Registry-264553606918456/