Moving from East Coast with Four Dogs (Honolulu, Hilo: rentals, movers)
Big IslandThe Island of Hawaii
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I am new here and appreciate the forum.
I am considering moving to Kamuela and have four (yes 4) large dogs, all rescue, which we consider family members. Can someone please share your experience and whether you used a company such as islandpetmovers or alohapets to help you. One of the pack has huge anxiety issues and I am simply not sure if I can put her through this stress. Thank you in advance. This is my biggest worry about the move.
We moved 2 large dogs and a cat with AkonaPet Pet Relocation Service. Moving in general is stressful enough, having someone else deal with all the paperwork and scheduling for the airport release was worth every penny. Even the airline agent that handled our check-in thanked us for having the animals and crates prepared correctly. One of our dogs also suffers from anxiety issues so to minimize her stress (and mine), we took a road trip to San Francisco so we could fly direct to Kona. (There were no direct flights to Hilo at the time)
Since you are considering the move, rather than committed to it, I'd consider whether or not your dogs should be moved... in other words, whether you should move, considering the dogs. The State brochure on the quarantine process mentions this early on, but I'm not so sure enough people actually pay attention. But it is a reasonable question to ask yourself. Not only is the trip stressful for pets... so stressful that certain breeds can't even be shipped during summer months... but island life can be tough on pets due to various insect pests and diseases.
Fortunately there has been a lot of discussion of the various issues here in this forum. Use the Search function at the top to pull up previous threads.
Other than the mechanics of moving four large dogs, there is the difficulty of what to do when you get here. Renting a house when there are that many dogs of that size might be a bit difficult.
Also, check with the airlines about how many dogs they can take at any one time. Some airlines have a maximum of two dogs per flight so you may need to make multiple flights or have some sent as cargo on a different flight than the one you're on.
I ship bunnies on airlines and they've all done fine, including some sent from the mainland to Hawaii. Bunnies have a much higher metabolism and are more delicate critters than most dogs, so your dogs will probably do fine with flying. Frequently, flying is harder on the people than the animals.
What you can do to make it easier for them to fly is to get the airline kennels ahead of time and get each dog used to hanging out in it's kennel. They actually kinda like them since they are enclosed and den like. Once they are used to their kennels and the kennels have become scented like themselves, they will fly better since they will have their "home" with them.
I would never consider leaving any of our pets when we moved. My family also moved from the East Coast Washington DC area in late 2012. Over all we shipped total of 12 pets which included dogs, cats, and two birds. It was very challenging and we could not have done it without having Island Pet Movers to help us out. Also make sure you have a vet that understands what Hawaii state laws are and that they have actually been involved with the process of shipping critters to Hawaii. The quarantine process is tricky but Island Pet Movers helped us navigate that without issues. They are worth a call or email for sure. They will give you a quote that you can count on not to change at the last minute. They will work with your vet to make sure the paperwork is right. Also they can handle the flight change issues that can come up in Honolulu. If you do call ask for Ashley at Island Pet Movers she is nothing short of awesome. And if I remember right the lady that did the animal flight transfer in Honolulu was Carrie also awesome.
Last bit of advice....start this process at least 4-6 months prior to your move. If your lucky like we were the required quarantine can be completed before you move under the supervision of your vet. Don't think you can hand it all off, you still have to stay on top of it but for us it would have been impossible otherwise. Good luck friend and feel free to direct mess. me for more details.
Yeah I like the posts here about how your dogs will do once in Hawaii. I was offered a job in Kauai after I adopted my boy from the pound. I looked into rentals that allow dogs in my price range and couldn't find any within a 35 minute commute. I found a lot of rentals (in the parts of town I looked at) didn't allow dogs in my price range. My dog also was my emotional support animal (had the paper work). I flew with him 4x and then eventually gave up (these were for 1 hour flights too). His anxiety was super high on the flight and I think SouthWest came close to banning me since he would sit on my lap or climb on the seat next to me due to the stress. He also was given tranquilizers from the vet but I found that just made him irritable. I gave up flying with him. I now just drive 8 hours each way to see my family and take him in the car and split the time in a motel. If I am going on a trip that more than a few days, I drive him to my family and have them watch him.
Anyway kudos to not be one of those people who dump their pets at the pound due to "moving".
Last bit of advice....start this process at least 4-6 months prior to your move. If your lucky like we were the required quarantine can be completed before you move under the supervision of your vet. Don't think you can hand it all off, you still have to stay on top of it but for us it would have been impossible otherwise.
Good advice, but sometimes even careful planning is not enough.
My wife and I handled all of the Hawaii paperwork and coordination. It wasn't easy and it was time-consuming, but the key is carefully reading and understanding the documents and procedures from Hawaii, along with having vets willing to assist.
There were two issues that almost turned into a nightmare for us:
~The mainland vet failed to properly complete the forms for Hawaii. We tried handling it via phone calls, but that didn't work. I created corrected drafts for the vet and my wife hand carried these to the vet so they could create correct originals. The correct docs were then overnighted to Hawaii.
~Our 3 Basenji were booked and confirmed two month's in advance to fly via United's Pet Safe (PS) program.
Two days before the flight I contacted PS to reconfirm and they said the dogs couldn't fly on Sunday because Kona's cargo area is not open on Sundays. Note: in two months they never called to discuss this.
I climbed the chain of management at PS until a concerned and helpful manager was found. It took her and us a full-hectic-day to get this handled, which included the PS manager making multiple calls to upper United management and Hawaii/Kona airport management. In the meantime, my wife and I called the Kona Vet who was scheduled (and prepaid) to meet us at the airport. (We called them for advice and info: Kona vet said Sunday pet delivery was common).
Written clearance was received from United 12 hours before the flight. Talk about stress!
The dogs handled the flights OK: looked somewhat disheveled but were fine. I'm still recovering.
We moved 3 German shepherds last year and used both of the mentioned companies. We had a bad experience with aloha pets and felt the were overcharging so we switched to island pet movers and they were much better. We organized our own air travel for them and just used the company for document reviewal of the paperwork. Alaska Airlines is the most pet friendly and by far the cheapest at $100 a pet regardless of size. You can message me for more detailed info if you want to.
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fellow pet parent....
