A routine appointment was made for two family dogs one evening and it turns out they are international travellers.
Magdalene is a 4 year old Dogue de Bordeaux and Linda is an 8 year old Cocker Spaniel belonging to Silvia and Alberto who were originally from Verona, Italy. The Zanon’s decided to immigrate to Australia early in 2014 and it took over 6 months of preparation to have their dogs ready to travel by the end of October.
Strict Australian quarantine regulations need to be adhered to for the protection and safety of all of our animals before international animals are allowed access. Initially the dogs needed to start their course of vaccines required for Australian entry, meet the stringent intestinal worming protocol and have blood profiles taken to screen them. Once the time requirements had lapsed and the paperwork was completed the dogs were ready to start their trip.
They were transported from their home in Verona to Milan where they boarded an Emirates flight to Dubai. In Dubai they were offloaded overnight under strict Veterinary observation. Dubai airport has an animal care area where animals are kept in customs but can be fed, watered and exercised while in transit. The Zanon’s were not allowed access to their girls but they seemed to be well looked after and were able to be released from their transport crates until they reboarded their flight.
Once they arrived in Melbourne they were transported by customs to the holding area in Spotswood. Coming from Italy they are held in quarantine for 10 days. Once cleared from quarantine the Zanon’s collected their family who they had not seen since leaving Milan, almost 2 weeks earlier. This is when we were to meet the family. They came to Greensborough for a consultation where we routinely scanned them for a microchip. As microchips are international it scanned immediately and gave us their registration numbers. This number still needed to be registered with the Australian Animal Registry and the local council and it gave Silvia the opportunity to update their new contact details. This just shows the importance of a microchip and how easy it can be to reunite a lost pet. Who would have thought that a microchip implanted in Verona would be read in Greensborough?
We wish the Zanon’s the best, with lots of fun play time in our parks which will be an exciting adventure for their dogs.
