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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Rescuing a puppy from the Philippians

44 replies

Bryonyberries · 08/10/2025 16:59

My daughter is on holiday and just rescued a puppy off the side of the road. She’s taken it to the vet and it is quite poorly. Anemic and a flesh injury to its hip. They are treating it and compared to the UK the fees are tiny and manageable. A rescue can help foster once it leaves the vets.

However… in the longer term she now wants to bring it back to the UK.

Has anyone had any experience of bringing a dog back to the UK from an unlisted country? How long did the process take and how expensive was it to get the pet passports etc?
I’m not convinced it is going to be feasible and pup may not make it anyway. It’s probably 2/3 months old, but I said I’d help her research.

OP posts:
boulevardofbrokendreamss · 08/10/2025 18:07

Whose funding, you or your daughter?

Musicaltheatremum · 08/10/2025 18:13

A neighbour of mine did this with a dog from Morocco. Cost him best part of £10000 to get back and quarantine etc.
He was a lovely dog.
Can't remember how long it took. Not too long but I was shocked at the price.

PurpleChrayn · 08/10/2025 18:22

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Bettyandthebunion · 08/10/2025 18:41

Just putting this here…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwq40vjw8lo.amp

ResusciAnnie · 08/10/2025 18:44

There are many people between here and the Philippines that could give it a fine home. Don’t put it on a day long flight. Dumb idea.

Bettyandthebunion · 08/10/2025 18:45

Apologies - it won’t let me attached the link properly for some reason!

Allelbowsandtoes · 08/10/2025 19:10

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Don't be a dick

CalzoneOnLegs · 08/10/2025 19:13

Allelbowsandtoes · 08/10/2025 19:10

Don't be a dick

Show quote history

There is always one looking for a reaction isn’t there ? Reported

Tumbleweed101 · 08/10/2025 19:14

My daughter can't see an injured animal and leave it. She has been like that since she was tiny, she has done animal care training etc and given our own pets top quality care over the years.

Obviously I'm here in the UK and I'm trying to give a balanced view. My personal view is she's done her share. She's probably saved it's life and got into accepted into foster care where it will be looked after. I don't know how feasible it is to get it to the UK, I have shared my doubts with her of course but I just wondered if it was actually possible and said I'd look into it. She's mid twenties, I'll not be funding it and I will be discouraging her to bring it home but she's the kind of person who needs to 'know' this not be told. I was just hoping for real life stories of anyone who had done similar, good or bad. It looks to be a very involved process and will take at least 6 months. I've pointed out that the little puppy she found will be a teenage dog by then and not have had a chance to bond or learn with us.

ACynicalDad · 08/10/2025 19:25

Get it flown to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, then drive out and meet them (or somewhere with a ferry rote into Hull or Liverpool if you’re northern - might be Aberdeen options too) then drive out to meet her, you will save thousands.

SadOldLadyOfTheLowlands · 08/10/2025 19:28

If anything, she could look at sponsorship somehow.

She should not bring back to the uk though.

thisishowloween · 09/10/2025 13:24

It will cost her a small fortune - and that’s assuming it passes all the necessary health checks to be allowed into the UK in the first place.

ScarilyClose · 09/10/2025 13:28

I hope she hasn't been scratched or bitten by it. Rabies is a significant concern in the Philippines - and a woman died of rabies in the UK after being scratched by a stray puppy in Morocco recently so it's very much something to be careful of.

She should just sponsor it to stay there though, not drag the poor thing back here. And get medical attention ASAP if there is any risk at all that it's scratched or bitten her, even slightly.

OverNotOver · 09/10/2025 13:36

Having brought an animal to the UK, I’d be surprised if she could do this for less than £4k, not counting foster/kennel bills.

But what I’d be more worried about is how inappropriate this is given the age of the dog. It needs to go in to a stable environment as soon as possible, it does not need to get shipped around the world. The minimum time period would be four months if she could line everything up perfectly, more realistically six months.

Time for a hard talk about judging what’s best for the dog versus what she wants. What she wants is to be its personal saviour. But she’s done that by getting it treatment. Now what’s best for it is working with the rescue to get it a happy home there, where it can settle in at this really important life stage.

SkaneTos · 09/10/2025 13:41

Please tell your daughter to be careful. In 2019 a young Norwegian woman found an abandoned puppy in the Philippines and took care of it. She contracted rabies, and died a few months later back home in Norway.

Digdongdoo · 09/10/2025 13:42

The Philippines is high risk for rabies. She should know better than to handle stray animals.
She should instead donate to spay/neuter initiatives and adopt a dog already in the UK.

SkaneTos · 09/10/2025 13:43

@ScarilyClose
Yes, that was the woman I was referring to.

Lollypop701 · 09/10/2025 13:44

We are bursting at the seams with unloved animals in the Uk.. honestly any money would be better spent on supporting the dog in its own country and adoption of a pet in the uk . The relocation costs would pay for care for lots of animals not just one.

maybe dd could volunteer at a rehoming centre in the uk too?

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 09/10/2025 13:50

CalzoneOnLegs · 08/10/2025 19:13

There is always one looking for a reaction isn’t there ? Reported

Edited
Show quote history

While I don’t agree with the wording, I do think she has a point.

Personally I think it should be illegal to import animals into the UK in this way, and all these so called foreign rescues need banning. Most of them are just money making rackets, and the people adopting these animals which on the whole have 0 socialisation, significant behavioural problems, and a large number of which end up either back in UK rescues or being destroyed, have no idea what they’re letting themselves in for, and the majority aren’t vetted as suitable homes.

Aside from that there is a huge puppy farming sideline at play there.

With regards to this particular dog and others like it, let’s not forget that a woman recently died from rabies caught from a dog fought in from another country.

You have no idea what a dog found in those circumstances is carrying, or what it will cost to treat it, only for it to potentially die. And ringing it over here is absolute madness.

A dog like that isn’t likely to find a home over there, and so yes, I would pay for it to be put down.

Lennonjingles · 09/10/2025 13:52

I would also be more worried about the age of the puppy, it’s going to have to spend a long time in quarantine and will miss out on crucial interaction with other dogs, she may end up with a very stressful puppy. Friends of ours bought a dog home from Greece several years ago, he was an adult dog though, it did take about 6 months and about £5000, presume it would be nearer £10000 now.

KitsyWitsy · 09/10/2025 14:05

Is she made of money?

Hope the vet she took it to has tested it for rabies as pp have pointed out.

reabies · 09/10/2025 14:11

We adopted a dog while we lived in Hong Kong, and then brought her home when we came back. It cost nearly £4k to bring her, and that's from a country where there is no quarantine needed. We had to cover the flight, agency fees (we could have done it ourselves but it's tricky so we paid for expertise), the crate, pre-vet checks and vaccines etc.

Our dog was healthy and didn't need any medical work, that will add up too.

My advice would be to find a similar agency on the ground in the Phllippines who can advise on costs and quarantine.

CameForAVacationStayedForTheRevolution · 09/10/2025 14:17

Look on tiktok for the PaddingtonFromPeru account, a girl did just this….obviously from Peru.

Notagain75 · 09/10/2025 14:19

Try and persuade her against it. It would be much better for the dog and for your daughter to try and get it cared for wherever it is based.