[rmoleman]

Hi,

My wife, two dogs and cat are thinking about relocating to HK for work. My wife is concerned about the quality of life our pets would have in HK.

Can anyone post some of their personal experiences on the good and bad points of pet ownership in HK?

Her big concerns are:

Finding good veterinarian care.

Where do you walk your dog?

If you do not have a car how do you get your pets around town if they need to go the vet or something?

How traumatic is it for dogs to travel by air from US to HK?

[thewongs]

Are you pets used to an urban environment? Will they only to the bathroom on grass? Unless you get housing with a yard/garden, I don't think there are many areas for a dog to go to the bathroom on the grass. I know this was a problem for some pet owners who moved their pets to NYC and seems as though it could be a problem here. Our dog is coming to HK next month from NYC as we only just arrived here.

Our decision factors in bringing him here were:
1) how long do we plan to stay - for us, at least 2 years - this was long enough in our minds to justify flying the dog here.
2) medical care - for us, we weren't worried about general vet care as there are lots of trained vets all over HK but our dog has a special eye condition that is hereditary so he sees a vet opthalmalogist to monitor the condition. In HK, there is no certified vet opth but I have emailed with a vet in HK who has been trained in eye so I will have him monitor his eyes and work with a vet opth back in the States to decide if the dog needs to change his meds.

I have seen even big dogs get in taxis in Happy Valley and the Midlevels so that shouldn't be a problem. But if you live in an area where you can walk to the vet, it shouldn't be a problem.

Dogs get walked on the sidewalks here in Happy Valley, they run at the dog run, and some owners take their dogs on trails.

I have been watching the whole dog bathroom situation so we are prepared when our dog arrives next month. Dogs pee on the sidewalk, curb or in a designated sandbox around the city and it's customary to bring along a bottle of water and wash it away. Dogs also poop in these same areas and people sometimes slide newspaper under the dogs behind so the it doesn't get on the sidewalk. There are special orange bins for the dog poop. I've also spoken with some dog owners/walkers who bring the poop home and flush it down the toilet - I've never done that before .

Hope this helps.

[rmoleman]

Thanks for the info.

Our dogs have yard Virginia, USA. We are originally from Chicago so one of our dogs knows urban living and one know suburb living.

We plan to stay for 3 years. So the pets have to come with us.

Where did you move your pets from?

[rani]

There are also a couple of vets that make house calls.

[theflyingbeagle]

I agree with the wongs, life here for pets is not so bad. I have a dog and 2 cats. I live at the end of conduit road near the start of the peak trail and this is where my helper walks my dog each day. I made sure that i got a balcony with my apartment so the dog and cats are able to relax and get some fresh (almost!!) air rather than just being inside all day. Vetreinary care is fine, I use "The Ark" which i find to be very good with any problems I have had. I got my dog here from hong kong dog rescue and so cannot comment regarding the travel issues. Hope this helps.

[ontheroad]

It really depends where you live (some neighbourhoods are very dog friendly, some not at all) and if you live in an appartment or a house with a small garden.... and whether or not it's close to a place where you can walk your dog.
Also, as everywhere, some places do not accept pets.

[carang]

discovery bay is great for pets. and with the housing allowance that many expats receive, you get a lot more for your $. we have two dogs ourselves and for just over $20k/month we have a place with two gardens (although both are completely tiled, no grass). it's great as it still gives the dogs a place to run around.

we also board dogs when people are away and we've had many dogs arrive at our place after long flights from europe, UK, and USA. Most dogs handle the trip without too much trouble, although it does take them a few days to get back into themselves.

your pets shouldn't stop you from taking up this great opportunity to see the world!

good luck!

[PC_Man]

Quality of life generally should be pretty good but depends on where you chose to live.
HK has its own equivalent of suburbs as well as the more famous urban areas and there are plenty of good places to take dogs on hikes etc.

Vets are all trained abroad - common seem to be UK, Australia and South Africa. Standards are generally good but as mentioned there are very few specialists in any field (not just opthalmology).

Breed of dog would also need to be a consideration though as v hairy dogs or more Winter-country dogs can struggle with HK's summer - hot and humid.

[thewongs]

rmoleman - We moved here from New York City via Tokyo. We were supposed to be in Tokyo long term but the day we moved out of NYC we found out my husband's job was going to move to HK. Left NYC in June 06 for Tokyo, Dec 06 left Tokyo for HK. The dog stayed in New Jersey with relatives until we are settled in. Since it's been a long time, it's going to be hard for us to take the dog back from them as they really love that dog. They had been thinking about getting a dog so this was a great test run period for them - I also think they will now have to have a golden retriever just like ours.

We chose to live in Happy Valley for both the dog and the fact that we can walk to restaurants, grocery stores, ect. There is a lot of dog friendly housing here in HK, you just need to have an agent confirm that before you look at any place. The advice I got here on this forum was to be patient when looking in HV and it was true - we just signed the lease yesterday.

We did see a few apartments with private rooftops so that's an idea to think about with your dogs. It was a very compelling idea for us but we just didn't find the right space to go along with the rooftop.

[Submariner]

Thewongs,

Where is the dog run located? Our girls are anxious for a good run after being cooped up in our serviced apartment for weeks.