Cats and Japan

[Deror]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My wife is interested in adopting a cat. I am wondering what the guidelines are should I get orders to Japan after flight school. Would the cat be allowed to go to Japan with us and live in base housing (I've heard there is no more off base housing allowed)?

Thank you

 

[Tomodachi]

Hello,

I am stationed in Yokosuka, Japan so probably not the area you will be living but the people on base here who have all the answers are called PAWS. Its like the animal shelter here, they have a website as well which may answer your questions about pet ownership in Japan which may apply to you. http://www.pawsyokosukajapan.com/

Also, a great website for people coming to japan is www.japanbases.com . There is a wealth of information there for you and your wife to indulge in. A quick search found this thread regarding pet ownership http://www.japanbases.com/forums/aft/6955.aspx

It seems like the main thing that I have heard of is the 6 month quarantine required by Japanese law for pets entering their country.

Any other questions you were wondering about Japan? I've been here for 3 years.

Mouse

 

[revan1013]

I don't live in Japan. But I am interested in going there in the future, so I did some research and found this site which may help you out.

http://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/english/animal/dog/import-other.html


There's a way around the 6 month quarantine. It requires you to jump through some hoops though.

 

[lowflier03]

Yes, you can bring a cat to Japan. However there are some caveats. My wife and I brought our 2 cats over when I was stationed there.

They have to be microchipped before any of the shots are given.
They have to have a series of rabies shots over the course of 6 months.
That is followed by a blood test.
Right before you leave you have to send the paperwork/test to the local FDA office so they can sign off that the animal(s) are good to travel. (Only good for 3 days iirc)
Once you get to Japan you have a quarantine period. If you live in base housing then the quarantine is considered "in house" and is transparent to you. If you live out in town then they normally make the quarantine happen in an approved kennel for 4-6 months. Sometimes they lower it to about 4 months with the last few being in house.

Oh and you will have to pay out of pocket for their transportation. The military will not pay to fly them. But the military will pay up to $500 towards their kennel cost. They have to be in a hard shell carrier, with screws or similar holding the 2 halves together. (Not the easy take apart ones that use latches to hold the top and bottom together) and the carrier must have enough room for them to stand up and turn around.

If the trip is longer than 12 hours, then they will spend the night somewhere in an airline kennel. It cost us $400 per cat for the airline tickets.

 

[Deror]

Wow, thank you all for all of the information.

 

[Flugelman]

Sounds like the best bet is to wait until you get there to get a cat. Bringing it back stateside might be a skosh easier.

 

[lowflier03]

Sounds like the best bet is to wait until you get there to get a cat. Bringing it back stateside might be a skosh easier.

Till you see the cost of buying a pet over there. Over a grand for pretty much any basic pet, much more for anything "designer" or desirable. ie Shepherds, Rotties, a Persian, etc. Unless you pick up a stray on base...but those are hit or miss. I know people who have done so with good results, and others who ended up with terrors that destroyed their house.

 

[MasterBates]

My take.

If I was up for orders overseas, I would NOT get a pet. Would I do what I can to take the Foul Beastie with me? Yeah, but she was there before overseas orders were on citizens.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[lowflier03]

Actually bringing our cats worked out well for us. They kept my wife company at night when I was on deployment. At least its better than an empty house, and she said having them around helped her get through all my time away.

 

[MasterBates]

It's just stage one of becoming an International Crazy Cat Lady.....

(I will now duck as your wife tries to choke me thru the interwebs)

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[helo_wifey]

Said wife here. Not a crazy cat lady, but thanks lowflier03 for painting me out to be that.

Honestly, sometimes it was a PITA when we wanted to travel but most of the time we got someone to watch them and didn't have to use the kennel (which is over at Camp Zama, but very busy during holidays, etc like kennels in the US). We did use the kennel a couple times, once over the Christmas leave period when we went to India and another when I was gone for a month for work and he was out to sea. We lived on base.

We're taking the cats to Guam, which has the same requirements as Japan for the most part. This time its a little different because we'll have 2 kids to take as well, and I'm finding it even more a PITA because of that. I'm trying to find a home for them here in Jax but if not, so be it and we'll happily take them. If you're thinking of starting a family any time in the next 5 years, I say wait. If I would have known we'd have 2 kids by now I probably would have waited on getting pets.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Flugelman]

I'm trying to find a home for them here in Jax but if not, so be it and we'll happily take them.

OK, I'm gonna be the smartass here and ask the question everyone wants to...

Are you talking about the cats or the kids???

 

[revan1013]

The info I've read makes it sound like if you get all the requisite blood work and tests done in the right timeframe, then you can forego the long quarantine period. Has anyone heard if that's true? Technically it says you can work the quarantine down to a few days if you follow all the steps. Obviously, I have no idea if that's what happens "in reality" once you get there. I have a dog and a cat and I'd be interested to hear if anyone has seen this.

 

[Tomodachi]

Also don't forget what happened here in March 2011. The earthquake and nuclear reactor scare sent everyone into a frenzy when the "voluntary departure" was set in place. I witnessed first hand how crazy it got with everyone scrambling to get to the vet to get the travel documents ready and pack their lives in their bags. Having animal(s) made things a lot more difficult for wives especially if they had kids and their husbands were underway. Wives+kids were standing in lines for 8 hours straight trying to get their travel documents completed and on the busses to take them to the airport. The busses and aircraft themselves could only hold so many animals so often, people were leaving the country with their animals stuck back in Japan, and had to pick their pets up afterwards.

Now what was really crazy is a lot of families went back to the states but left their cats, dogs, ferrets, everything else at home. However, concerned citizens called security and complained and the pets were rescued from these homes. Also, because of all these last minute plane tickets that were being given to people to leave Japan the airlines could not handle all the pets that were coming to Narita Airport. Narita Airport police called the base complaining that when some people found out that they could not bring their animals on the flight they decided to let the pets loose in the airport. Kind of dramatic if you ask me.

 

[villanelle]

Yeah, pets were beyond a cluster during the evac. I stood in line for 3 hours to get someone else's dog seen by the vet to get his evac certificate. It was insane. I was grateful not to have a pet, even though I do really want a dog.

But yes, you can bring them.

Also, I don't know what you fly or what base you might go to, but for Atsugi, people can definitely still live off base. Many do, myself included, and many have pets. A cat will somewhat limit your choices, but that's really no different than trying to rent in the states. I know people with cats and dogs (including a lab, so not just little ankle biters) that found houses offbase with no problems.

Having a pet also limits which houses on base you can live in. This is where it can be tricky. They will offer you the first house (in your alloted bedroom size) available. If it isn't pet freindly and you have a pet, you have to turn it down. However, at that point, they have met your obligation (which is to provide a house for the people, and not to accomidate your choice to have a pet) and if you end up being in the Lodge more than 30 days before they offer you a place with does allow a pet, you most likely will lose your TLA (or whatever allowance it is that pays back your hotel costs?) and be out of pocket until housing has a pet friendly place for you.

I don't know how many places restrict cats vs. dogs, so I can't say how much of an issue it might be, but I thought I'd throw it out there as another factor to consider.