Bringing Pets to Hawaii

[Kanela]

I would like to bring my two small dogs with me. I read about the requirements about having their rabies shot and all. For anyone that has done it - was it a big hassle? was it worth it?

[pzarquon]

Re: Has anyone relocated with dogs to hawaii?

Depending on how much you love your dogs, just about anything would be worth it, right? After all, people felt it was worth it under the old system - a grueling 90 day quarantine requiring frequent visits to an unfriendly facility with unfriendly staff. If you get your ducks in a row before you leave, the new system is a breeze.

We've covered moving with pets more than a few times. A quick search will turn up those threads.

[Kanela]

Re: Has anyone relocated with dogs to hawaii?

Thanks - i do love my dogs. Would not them to be be quarantine or mistreated. What I meant was it worth it for example by not being mistreated or sick - I rather try to give them away to a better home here - if their journey wont be good. Thanks I'll do the search.

[CranBeree]

Re: Has anyone relocated with dogs to hawaii?

you just have too meet the requirements..my in laws just moved here from Monterey with a toy poodle, they followed all requirements to a T and was able to get the dog upon arrival at the airport. check with your vet, the airlines you will fly, you also need to give a vet name in hawaii and check the quarantine requirements.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Has anyone relocated with dogs to hawaii?

I did it years ago, when the quarantine station was still the way it worked...and I was not happy, as my animals had come from another rabies-free island (Britain), but still had to go through the system.

My cat doubled in weight, and my dog barked himself hoarse, and padded back and forth so much, that the pads on his feet got all crooked.

Any system is better than the one that was.

[Miulang]

Re: Has anyone relocated with dogs to hawaii?

Thanks - i do love my dogs. Would not them to be be quarantine or mistreated. What I meant was it worth it for example by not being mistreated or sick - I rather try to give them away to a better home here - if their journey wont be good. Thanks I'll do the search.

If you plan on bringing in your dogs to the Big Island, you have to take into consideration one additional step:

The main Ag Inspection Station is at Honolulu International Airport. So you have to fly you and your "kids" into Honolulu International Airport (rather than directly to your final destination) first to have all the paperwork checked, then you gotta retrieve them from the Quarantine station, get them over to the interisland terminal and then you're home free. The bugger part is the animals don't arrive at baggage claim...the main ag station that receives pets is in the basement of the main international terminal. So you can expect to spend at least a few hours in Honolulu before heading for your final destination. Also, I believe that some airlines have limits on the number of pets they will allow to be transported on any given flight (check ahead with the airline you want to use). On one flight to Maui from the Mainland last year, I was sitting next to a guy who had moved to Maui from Seattle and this was his second trip to retrieve a pet (he already had moved one pet to Maui) so he was explaining how much money and time it cost to get both of his pets to Maui and what the process was. He obviously loved his pets and had the money to pay for it, but even he was peeved that he had to fly to HNL with the pet first instead of being able to go directly to OGG.

Miulang

[alexjp]

Pets!!!

How difficult is it to find apartments/rentals in Oahu that accept dogs? I read somewhere that many apartments/rentals don't accept animals, but whenever I visit I see tons of people walking, jogging, and playing with their dogs. With so many dog lovers on the island, I was hoping that many apartment/rentals would allow dogs (like in NYC). Will it be very hard for me to find a place for me and my three dogs?

[dick]

Re: Pets!!!

Unless you own your own place, it's extremely difficult to find rentals that allow pets.

[kimo55]

Re: Pets!!!

With so many do lovers on the island,

yea. If yer a 'do lover' ya get a do factory.
dog.

[LikaNui]

Re: Pets!!!

The Hawaiian Humane Society keeps an updated listing of pet-friendly properties. Click here to go to that page, and good luck to you!

[alexjp]

Re: Pets!!!

My goodness Kimo... I must have done something to offend you in a past life...

Thanks for the link LikaNui...awesome information!!

How easy was it to find rental housing/apartments for those of you that moved with your pets?

[anapuni808]

Re: Pets!!!

Aloha Alex and welcome to HT!

Don't mind Kimo - he has a big bark. In fact, he barks at me on occasion.

But let me ask you this: If you are not prepared for the answers, why ask the questions? Would you rather folks just said, "oh yeah - of course, come here with your dogs & you'll find a place to live (and a job) right away". At least here on HT, you will get honest answers.

For someone who dreams of living in Paradise - they need to know: This AIN'T the place! Sure, our weather is nice & there is a lot of pretty scenery. But there are also many, many good people who DO work, that have to live on the beach or in their cars because they can't afford the rents. Our rents have gone sky high because of all the mainland folks who want to come here, buy a home & live in paradise. They don't realize - this is an island & we have finite space. There just isn't room to build more homes for rich folks to buy and they are the only ones who can really afford to move here.

Sure,there is a very low unemployment rate - but not many jobs (uh, probably because most folks are working hence the low Unempl. rate).

Think of it as moving to another country (and many consider that it is!) - everything will be unfamiliar to you. The way we talk, the way we eat, the way we are all mixed up, race-wise. and the fact that your race doesn't make that much difference - it's how you behave that counts. As PZ said in another post - our PC meter here is way skewed

Everyone should be able to live their dream but this may not be the right place for that dream. The ones who have responded here are just trying to give you the facts - some in a nicer way than others but we're all basically saying the same things.

Whatever your decision, I wish you the best of luck!

Fran

[AbsolutChaos]

Re: Pets!!!

To second what somebody else said, most of the pet owners in Hawaii either own their own place or are illegally hiding their animals in their apartment. And if you get caught with the illegal pet, you'll most likely be forced to remove your pets if you don't want to move out.

I'm constantly seeing posts on the animals section of Craigs List where people are having to give up their pets because they could only find pet-prohibited rentals--either that or they are looking for someone to temporarily house their pets while they continue to desperately search for pet-friendly housing. Since Hawaii has low availability of affordable rentals, the landlords here tend to be anti-pet, since it saves them a lot of headache and they can still find TONS of tenants.

After living in a pet-prohibited apartment in Honolulu for three years, I'm hoping to find a pet-friendly apartment in Honolulu at the end of this year, but I'm not very optimistic that I'll find a place that's within my budget. My job means I can't live outside of Honolulu, which is very frustrating.

Your best bet is to live outside Honolulu--that's where you'll find more affordable pet-friendly rentals. Either that or the other islands, where it's a LITTLE less crowded...

Good luck.

[damontucker]

Re: Scared to death!

It's a lot easier to "hide" a cat in a rental then to have 3 barking dogs!

I know a few friends that rent where they are not suppose to have pets, and they have a cat. In one case they simply don't tell the manager that they didn't have pets just so they could secure the lease. The other case they were already moved in...and decided that they could get away with it so they adopted a cat.

I'm not saying that's the best way to go... however, I think you will get more response from prospective landlords if you don't mention the cat... at least at first.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Scared to death!

That POOR person with the three dogs! Perhaps they'll find a rental with one of the D.O.E. people...I mean, if teachers are wanted badly enough, 'love me, love my dogs' might be the order of the day.

Over here, it's illegal to discriminate against pets. So the French doorbell is usually the barking dog. Pets might not be a landlord's best friend, but they have a valued place in society, especially for children and single or elderly people.

Of course, the dog poop all over the streets is another matter. No pooper-scoopers, over here.