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We left our cat in the states in order to spare her a stressful journey and quarantine in a country that doesn't have many vets.

However we ended up adopting a cat here, or rather he adopted us. He just found us and never left, which is how many animal adoptions occur here. There are so many stray cats and dogs that are friendly to humans that it's hard to resist. Though formal adoptions can be made at the SPCA for a minimal fee. Otherwise many of the Facebook groups have people advertising pets everyday. Some are local breeds, others are pricy imported breeds.

The SPCA has vets sometimes, usually here for shifts on a month-by-month basis. A private vet center opened in Lami Town outside of Suva and is run by two licensed vets. They are wonderful and saved our cat's life after he was poisoned by an unknown substance. (That said, poisoning is not uncommon. I assume it is due to the rampant pesticide use here.)

Fijians for the most part love their pets, though we've heard some sad stories about stray animal abuse. Drivers don't stop and help when they hit animals, as we've witnessed on several occasions. Some people adopt pets to guard their properties. But most would appear to adopt them for companionship.

Other things— pet food variety is severely limited. Your choices are pretty much dry Whiskas brand or a canned mishmash of meats. I've seen one brand (BIOPet) at NewWorld IGA that contains garlic (poisonous to dogs and cats). Pet beds are super expensive. Pet crates (like airline compliant ones) are available from one retailer at about $700 FJD last time I checked. The vet in Lami sells some, but also pretty expensive. Flea medication is expensive.

Overall it's much easier to care for a pet in the US, but we have made due with what is available here. Just something to consider first if you have pets with chronic issues, Fiji may not be fun for them.

Hi  expats,

We have 2 dogs; one is  a Pharoah Hound and the other is a "Fijian" dog.  That means
she is a mixed breed as are most of the dogs in Fiji.  The fijian dog is about 1 year old and
has been spayed.  Her name is Maggie.  The Pharoah Hound is about 6 years old and he
has been neutered.  I strongly recommend that is you have a dog or are thinking about
getting one; that you have them "fixed" as soon as possible.  There are too many dogs
that are stray or not well cared for.
We had to leave our black lab in the states as she was quite old and our vet did not
think she would travel well and handle being in quarrantine.  A friend of ours in the states
kindly "adopted" her and cared for her until her death.
Pets are a good security measure as well as companions.  Cats are especially helpful to
keep the rat population down in compounds where fruit trees abound.
We are actually looking for a kitten now.It is important that if you have a pet and leave
home for vacations, etc. that you have someone who is kind to animals care for them
while you are away.  We see so many dogs neglected, kicked, stones thrown at them,
and malnourished.
Pets need love too.

Hi  dear
May i know your WhatsApp number?

I don't have one.

We have moved countries twice with our cats (and the will continue to move with us, it's expensive but they are part of the family). Quarantine  here depending where you're coming from can be as little as one week and taking pets back to countries such and Australia is relatively easy with a 10 day quarantine. Pet food is limited however CAN be imported providing it meets biosecurity regulations.

If you're lucky enough to live in Nadi petcare is a breeze as Animals Fiji is located here. Animals Fiji is a charity in which employees between 1 & 4 vets at any given time and stocks a vast range of medicine & preventative care treatments for pets. This includes worming, flea and tick treatment as well as the annual vaccinations all at reasonable prices. For example the latest vaccine for our cats was FJD50..plus a FJD10 consult fee. In Australia we would have been looking at well over AUD90 for the same thing! Their vets are also available for microchip-ing, assistance with the bio security process for taking animals to different countries , emergency surgeries and discounted neutering.

Hello,
Ee have had many pets in fiji which includes
Miners, Bats, Ducks, Dogs, Cats and different species of fish.
Pets which we have now are one Ridge Back female named Samhani and she has been spade, one wild cat female name cabul which also has been spade, one female farm duck called frigit.
Since we live right on the river which is located very close to the river mouth we are thinking of turning our pool into a full salt pool with constant fresh water pumping in and out from the river, then we would add preferably two black tip reef sharks as babies aswel as some banded sea krait, lionfish, baracuda, houndfish, mangrove jack, sturgon and stone fish.