Pet cats in Johannesburg

Hi Charlie

South Africans love their pets, especially dogs and cats, and living in a secure complex with them is not a problem. Most apartments/town houses have security gates and bars on the windows, so even if you leaving the windows open for your cats, your house should be fine. Also, most burglar alarm systems can be set so that movement by a cat in the house doesn't set it off, and normally there are settings for the beams at windows so that the alarm won't go off unless the window is opened wider than a certain point. My sister lives in a security complex with her two cats and she has a catflap on her back door which the cats love going in and out of and she has not had a problem. The alarm is set every time she leaves the house and it's secure. 

I would suggest having your cats properly identified with microchips and collars with name tags, with your details and the details of your local vet in case they do go wondering. You won't struggle to find a good vet in Joburg; almost every residential neighbourhood will have a local vet who also normally has a shop attached selling all the necessary vet food supplies. There are also a number of 24-hour emergency animal clinics in the city.

When moving to a new home, it can take quite a while for cats to adjust, so it's best to keep them indoors for a few weeks before you let them explore the neighbourhood too much. Moving to a new territory and away from what they're used to can be quite traumatic for cats. It's also likely that as they are moving from another country, they may have to be in quarantene for a while so it's best to find out about this.

Good luck with your move! If you'd like to read more about living in Johannesburg, have a look at our Moving to Johannesburg page

Hi Charlie,

while we didn't bring a cat with us, we have meanwhile adopted one, and I must say that South Africa (Joburg) has been the best place to have a cat. We lived in the woods in North Carolina before and that was pretty dangerous for a cat from a wildllife perspective, whereas here our cat  has been in no danger at all. We don't have a cat flap but just leave a window to the garage open, but if we did have a cat flap I'd feel perfectly safe. We live in a gated security estate and never feel unsafe, for ourselves or for the cat. 

Regarding bringing a cat here, I have a friend who did bring two and there weren't any problems. In fact, her cats used to be pure indoor cats back in London but here she's let them  outside and everyone seems very happy with this.

I'm not sure how it would be if you lived in a freestanding home, i.e. had electric fences around your very property, so I understand your concern there. Our house has walls around it, and the cat happily climbs on top of them and into the next yard.

Good luck,
Sine

I don't have cats, but I do have dogs that we have shipped onto 4 continents. Every single country has the require that all domestic pets have microchips and health certifications,(VHC) from a government registered Veterinarian before you can import them. In the case of South Africa, a Veterinary import permit,(VIP) is also required. They also have to have their basic vaccinations up to date, and for South Africa, there are certain blood tests that have to be preformed. As I am preparing to move to Joburg, I had to have a vet come to my home and draw blood from my dogs jugular veins and he will ship that blood to SA for testing. When they arrive in SA they will have the same test performed again. They didn't seem to mind the test as much as I did, LOL! The quarantine period is no longer than 14 days, if there is nothing majorly wrong with your animal. You need to know that if you do not have the paper work in order for cats, they will get quarantined. ALL dogs are quarantined for various amount of time depending on their point of origins. I think that it use to be 90-180 days for quarantine, but now it has changed and it does not normally exceed 14 days. You need to know that when you are shipping a pet,pretty much all testing and vaccines have specific windows of validity. You need to check out the requirements of testing with either the South African Embassy in you country, or with a pet shipping company. Also, for SA, please make sure that you maintain flea and tick control for your pets aggressively. While in most parts of Europe and the world ticks can cause issues like Lyme diseases and rocky mountain spotted fever, in SA they can cause life threatening conditions such as tick bite fever and Biliary fever, the latter can cause death within hours of contraction in your dog, but you too can get Tick bite fever. While it will cause you to be infimed, it normally does not cause death in humans. Both conditions are treatable in dogs, if you notice the symptoms right away, but prevention is the best weapon. Let me tell you, ticks are hard to get out of you home once they get in and if they can't feed on your dog, you go on the menu. Please read up on them. Coming from a country that has serious issues with resistant ticks and fleas, I recommend finding a local vet ASAP when you land and speaking with him/her about using a tick collar in addition to the flea drops and if he thinks the vaccines are worth it for your pets.

Hi Charlie

Cats would not be able to touch the fence without getting shocked. It won't harm them, but they will very quickly learn not to go near it. Apparently they have the ability to sense the electric field and so stay away from it - this according to a number of electric fence company web sites I had a look at. Whether that's true or not, I can promise you that lots and lots of people have cats in Johannesburg and if fences were harming them, the SPCA would probably have had them banned by now!

Having an electirc fence would mean your cats couldn't freely roam the neighbourhood, so it depends on you whether you want to restrict your cats' movement to your own yard in that way. Of course if there was some way around it (over a tree or whatever) the cats would quickly figure that out.

Another alternative it to just have burglar bars on your windows and alarm system in your home, as others have said. If you want to protect the perimeter of your property you could use razor wire or have beams installed instead - these would trigger an alarm but of course would be invisible and wouldn't shock an intruder.

Charlie - another thing to consider is that many expats live in residential estates where the individual houses don't have fences around them, so your cat(s) would be allowed to roam freely within the estate, as ours does. If you need more information on transport/quarantine etc, contact me via my blog (www.joburgexpat.com) and I'll put you in touch with the friend who brought her two cats from England. I'm sure she could thoroughly answer all your questions.

I am looking at a transfer to Joberg and have a 4 year old labrador. With respect to safety and security in general is dog walking the norm, as he loves his long walks? If OK do you walk your dogs in parks or residentail areas? Also is there much hassle importing a dog? Thanks