That’s a lie, it’s all a hassle but first things first. First, you must determine if you’re even going to bring your pets. We currently have one young dog and an old cat. We quickly decided not bring the cat because she’s 12 years old and already a cranky mess; I cannot imagine what a trip around the world would to do her assuming it didn’t kill her. Instead, she will be left in the caring hands of our good friends who so sweetly said “It will be like having a piece of you with us.” Jokes on them because I’m not an ankle biting monster who demands to be fed every 3 hours.
Second, you then must truly waver back and forth about bringing or not bringing your dog. This must be done no less than four times a day which ensures you’re properly driving your husband insane. For me, personally, it’s questioning how fair it will be to bring our dog. We currently live on an acre and a half of fully fenced-in yard and which she has total free reign. Moving to Singapore will drastically reduce her freedom and it worries me because who would I be if I were not a worrier? With that said, though, how can we leave her?
So, now that you’ve determined you’re definitely (maybe) going to bring the dog (FYI, snakes and basically any reptile are not allowed to be kept as pets in Singapore but from what I can tell birds and small mammals are allowed) you must wade through the information that is the “Exporting a dog to Singapore process.” Hold-on to your hats, people. It will take no less than two weeks for you to begin to really understand what that process is. You will need to have started it one year ago, before you knew you were moving to Singapore. Most importantly, you will want to invest in a vineyard or a distillery, pick your poison.
Alright, we’ve made it this far so let’s get down to business.
- The process takes time so you will need to start 6 months before your estimated date of arrival.
- Ensure the breed of your pet is allowed in Singapore. The obvious breeds of dog are not allowed, i.e. pit bulls, but there are even certain types of cats not allowed.
- Ensure your vet is USDA qualified to administer the necessary vaccinations and sign the paperwork. If your vet is not USDA certified you will need to find one who is. Lucky for us, one of the vets at our practice is.
- Have your dog vaccinated for rabies. This will then be followed by a blood test no less than one month later. Even if your dog has had their rabies vaccine it may be worth contacting your vet because sometimes the blood test will come back negative because there are not enough antibodies in the dog’s blood. In our particular case, Lulu was 8 months old and had a 1 year rabies shot so we assumed the above mentioned scenario would relate to her.
- Give the dog another rabies vaccine directly after drawing blood for the test.
- Receive more guidance from the embassy to include having a pet in Singapore.
- Come to the sad but necessary conclusion that, for real this time, the dog should stay in the States.
- Before judging me, read the next blog post entitled “How to Break Your Children in One Simple Step.”
If you have read this far and really are looking for tips on bringing your pet to Singapore, check out the websites below.
Official Singapore site for importing pets: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/avs/pets
Official United States site for exporting pets: https://www.state.gov/pets-and-international-travel/
A personal blog I found that helped clear-up some of the questions I had (please note, they traveled from Russia so that makes their experience a little different but it is still helpful): http://meridian103.com/issue-5/tips/
The Traveling Tepaskes 