Pets in Qatar

Hi Priscilla,

I tried to do a little sum up of my knowledge regarding the life with a pet in Qatar. Note that this is from my personal experience (more than one year now in Qatar with a little doggy adopted here, and recently a little kitten taken from the street).

Before talking of how to adopt a pet here I would like to emphasis on how is the life here with an animal. If you are thinking of adopting a pet, I would strongly recommend to think about the implication of it especially in Qatar which is, I have to say, a difficult country to have a pet (especially a dog).

If you are sure that you want to adopt a pet, and keep him for all of his life (a cat can live more than 20 years, a dog can live more than 14 years) please also think about the cost expenses (highly expensive), the implication of walking your dog all year long during at least 1h30 (even in summer when the temperature are over 45 with high humidity), if your accommodation is allowing animals (most aren’t), the area where you are going to walk your dog (most parks does not allow dogs).

Here is a little bit more on those subjects:

The cost expenses: Everything is very expensive here for animals, I spend around QAR400/month for my dog between the food and the treats (I may buy too much treats okay...) then you have the vet expenses, a visit is a minimum of QAR150 + the extra charges for the vaccin, the medicines etc. You will need to go to the vet at least once a year (in one year I went already 6 times). To finish the expenses for the export are ridiculous (count around QAR9000 between the blood tests, the crate, and the flight expenses) you need to save in advance for this.
Note that there is a way to low down your expenses with the government vet which is doing the vaccinations for free, spraying and neutering pets for free, you can also go for a visit of your pet is sick. I used it to neuter my dog for example. They are only open in the morning from 7 to 1am and closed during the weekend and you can’t take any appointment, you just have to show up, take a number and wait for your turn.

The walks: Most of the parks does not allow animals (expect now for the Sheraton Park), I also heard that the Corniche is forbidden although I have not seen any sign indicating it so I walk my dog there sometimes. If you want your dog to run you will need to take him to a beach which is allowing dog (Al Wakrah, Purple Island, and other beach in that area). Check around where you live and see what the walking possibilities are.

On the people reaction I would say that clearly the majority of the locals are not big fans of dogs. They are either afraid, or very interested but still afraid. Very few of them will approach and pet your dog, I have to say that only happened 2 times. I sometime feel like I am walking an elephant. People will often ask you to take a picture of the dog, they will approach you to be next to the dog but will be afraid if the dog moves or something. Kids will run at you while screaming (some are nice some are not), they are like adults often interest but scared at the same time resulting in a lot of screaming’s and running after you and throwing stuff at the dog (breath, stay calm, breath again). You will hear people doing poor imitation of dogs bark when you walk next to them (even adult driving will do it).

Regarding the pet adoption, this can be done in the different association (PAWS, QAWS, 2nd Chance Rescue), but also through the different vet centers that usually have a board with a list of animal waiting for adoption.
Another good idea is to go in the facebook groups (Find me a forever home Doha, Lost & Found pets Qatar, Doha Dog lovers) where you will also be able to find animal waiting for adoption.
Usually if the pet is adopted from an association they will ask for some money to cover the expenses for the vaccins and care that was done to the animal before the adoption (I paid QAR1200 for my dog at QAWS).
There are a lot of little souls waiting for a forever home, if you do not find directly a pet that you fall in love with you maybe wait a bit, there is a lot of new pets comings every month. Please do not go to the souk where they sell animals, I know it is tempting and they are suffering out there but this will only encourage them to continue selling animals that are in poor conditions, badly treated and often sick.

To finish I am going to export my pet very soon and I am in the middle of the process of doing it. The requirement will depend on the export country. On that matter I will suggest to double check on the different process (should be available on the export country website).
As I said before this can be very expensive, the process can also be very long. You can chose to pay for a relocation professional (super expensive) or do it yourself (like me, you save money but you lose a lot of time).
The basics are:
- Ensuring that you have a crate that is IATA certified, the dog must be able to stand up in the crate with a 10cm gap between his head and the top of the crate.
- Checking as soon as possible the blood test and vaccins required by country your dog is going to (this can take a lot of time, it is then good to know what to do way before you leave). The process to go to SA can take up to 2 months, Australia 6 months, France at least 3 months.
- Deworming before leaving
- Health certificate and export permit done by the gov vet in Qatar.
- Import permit done by the country your dog is going to.

I don’t know really how difficult it is to import and animal but this website is listing the basic process (http://www.pettravel.com/immigration/qatar.cfm). I would also suggest to contact the Qatar Government Vet that you are following the correct process.


Hope that helps !

Lisa

Thanks Lisa for such a brief response and i am sure you are a proud guardian of your fur baby.
Nothing more to say beside one request if you adopt any pet make sure it travels with you when you leave, plz dnt send them back to shelter they become part of the family and we dnt dump our family members.

i don't have

Hi,

Most of my comments match @Lizounne as far as my experience is concerned. A bird could be much easier to maintain as pet here. And locals are fond of it as I know.

I need to buy a dog if any body have one but young in age just send to me ready to buy it

Any small dog for Sale?

Better to adopt instead of buying