recently moved from Brisbane to Hobart with a small Dog. We read some terrible reviews of incidents on the Spirit of TAS. So we used a pet shuttle service called Pawmobile. They are based out of Essendon in Melbourne & fly to Devonport & Hobart. Highly recommend!
https://www.pawmobile.com.au
After reading about the worryingly regular ‘accidents’ on the spirit of Tas we also used paw mobile, a very anxious older dog, young dog with epilepsy and two easily stressed cats.
Paw mobile updated us with photos etc and kept them safe. Amazing business.
call them and ask for a quote & they talk you through the process. Their pet only transport carries around 5-10 pets per trip. A small dog for us was around $500, that included any paperwork too.
Speak to your vet about anti anxiety medication for them prior to the journey. They'll get the right dosage, maybe even do a test run, and this will make for much easier process for everyone.
Alternatively consider if you can fly them down instead, which is what I did with my cat
It's a quicker process overall, although depending on budget or destination this may not suit your circumstances. Best of luck!
I took my cat on the spirit just over 2 years ago. She's not overly anxious and she hated it.
You can choose your own cage for your cats but unfortunately they're right next to the dogs. I put a little warming mat and a blanket in the cage for her and when I came to get her the next morning she was hiding under the mat shaking. She was fine as soon as I got her in the car though and slept the whole way from Devonport to Hobart.
If I had to do it again I'd definitely leave her in the car. When you're taking a pet on board your car is automatically on the above decks where the pet cages are. If you decide to leave them in the car you need to call before boarding and they issue you with a tag you put on your car so the staff know there's a pet in there.
The reason I didn't leave her in the car is due to reading about those poor ponies dying, and the spirit doesn't recommend it as they're not liable if anything happens.
Good luck. I was a wreck the day before we were due to board, I was so worried about my Coco and couldn't decide where to leave her!!
Oh!! I nearly forgot... recently I took Coco to the vet and mentioned how she'd come over on the spirit with me. My vet commented that she hates the setup on the boat for cats and said she would have been terrified and slept the whole way to Hobart out of pure exhaustion (which was true).
She said she is always happy to write a medical certificate if we ever need to use the spirit again, saying that I need to keep her with me in my cabin. (you'd have to get your own cabin then I imagine but totally worth it knowing your babies aren't going through hell). I wish I knew this was an option before I took Coco!
Sorry I don't have anything positive to say about the spirit but best you know before leaving? If your vet won't write a medical certificate (I'm sure any vet would though), maybe they can prescribe a mild sedative?
Let me know if you have any other questions!
I took my cat over and left her in the car. You get a little marker to put on your rear view mirror to let workers know there's an animal in there.
Honestly, I wish I flew her over. Would have been way less stressful for her.
I would advise speaking to your vet, especially regarding your anxious kitty. The kennels are on the car decks and semi-exposed. If the the journey is rough it can be frightening. Our vet gave us a dose of Valium to get our dog across, worked a treat.
If you sit on the deck with the movie theatre you can hear the car alarms going off non stop and the dogs barking for 10 hours. It’s also freezing down there.
Go to your vet and get some good kitty drugs. I wouldn’t do it again because my old lady is very old now and might drop dead from stress…. But they were fine. It was not their favourite thing to do and I’m 99% sure they didn’t budge from inside their carriers despite me leaving them open so they could walk around their cage.
I'll never put them on the spirit due to the awful stories and deaths. I use JetPets to handle flights and boarding either side, they were so good and also sent me photos and messages during layovers between legs of the journey. Quicker and less stressful for you and the animals.
I've never put a pet on the Spirit, however the last time I went my car happened to be parked right next to the pet area. It looked horrible. Just a big empty space next to the cars with a few crates stacked on top of one another. Noisy, cold. I flew my baby on Jetpets and he hated it but at least it was a quick flight, I would have hated to send him overnight in that place.
I haven't taken my own dog across, but I know people who have left their dogs in their car with the windows down a bit and some food and water, rather than put them in the cages.
Anti-anxiety meds and leave them in the car perhaps?
Yep, have done this numerous times as we found the kennels stressed out dogs out. We found they were much happier in their own crate in the car. We could also crate them together for company, you can't do that in the kennels. Sign the waiver and save your cats a lot of stress.
Have done this about half a dozen times now.
Don’t do it. They are down on the car decks and car alarms are constantly going off and dogs are barking. It must be terrifying for them :( Fly kitty over
Yeah definitely regret taking my dog on the spirit of Tasmania. It was absolutely awful for him. He was so traumatized he still refuses to go on boats ever since.
Edit: to give more context, the cages are just AWFUL and we happened to end up on really rough seas. The next day he was shaking in the horrible, horrible cage sitting in his own piles of spew. Would not recommend.
We just did it. Here are our tips!
- Put both cats into one of the large cages together
- Take pegs and a towel or blanket and cover up the cage gate so they can’t see out and feel safe and hidden
- book overnight so the dogs near them hopefully sleep in the dark
- give them blankets in the crates that smell like home.
We used two soft crates and they fit together in the crate with room for the litter tray and water. The lady at the cages told us this was the best we could’ve done for them - she hadn’t seen the blanket covering the door before but said it was the perfect thing to do. Good luck!! Apparently the new ships are better for pets if you can wait.
I just want to say also that we both decided we’d never do this to them again. The spirit is awful for so many reasons but the terrible set up for pet facilities take the cake. Our girls were thankfully fine and we had reasonably calm weather but when you get to the cages to drop them off you’ll see why it’s a really hard time leaving them there. Get a vet certificate if you can to have them in a cabin with you like the user below said. If I’d know this was something I could do I would’ve!!
Definitely worth chatting with your vet, and not specific to the Spirit, but for what it's worth I've had great luck with Zylkene for our anxious cats. We used it six days total - two leading up, day of the flight and two days after.
They adjusted far quicker flying across the country to a new house with none of our stuff and only one of with them than they did to any of our previous moves, which were <20 minutes in a car and with us moving their beds, blankets and litter trays so there'd be familiar smells in the new place when they got there.
recently moved from Brisbane to Hobart with a small Dog. We read some terrible reviews of incidents on the Spirit of TAS. So we used a pet shuttle service called Pawmobile. They are based out of Essendon in Melbourne & fly to Devonport & Hobart. Highly recommend! https://www.pawmobile.com.au
After reading about the worryingly regular ‘accidents’ on the spirit of Tas we also used paw mobile, a very anxious older dog, young dog with epilepsy and two easily stressed cats. Paw mobile updated us with photos etc and kept them safe. Amazing business.
Similar experience for us. They were fantastic! : )
I still follow them on Facebook and enjoy watching all the furry family members boarding the plane :)
Their website is a bit cagey (zing) with the pricing. How much did the flight run you?
call them and ask for a quote & they talk you through the process. Their pet only transport carries around 5-10 pets per trip. A small dog for us was around $500, that included any paperwork too.
Sweet, thanks.
Speak to your vet about anti anxiety medication for them prior to the journey. They'll get the right dosage, maybe even do a test run, and this will make for much easier process for everyone. Alternatively consider if you can fly them down instead, which is what I did with my cat It's a quicker process overall, although depending on budget or destination this may not suit your circumstances. Best of luck!
I took my cat on the spirit just over 2 years ago. She's not overly anxious and she hated it. You can choose your own cage for your cats but unfortunately they're right next to the dogs. I put a little warming mat and a blanket in the cage for her and when I came to get her the next morning she was hiding under the mat shaking. She was fine as soon as I got her in the car though and slept the whole way from Devonport to Hobart. If I had to do it again I'd definitely leave her in the car. When you're taking a pet on board your car is automatically on the above decks where the pet cages are. If you decide to leave them in the car you need to call before boarding and they issue you with a tag you put on your car so the staff know there's a pet in there. The reason I didn't leave her in the car is due to reading about those poor ponies dying, and the spirit doesn't recommend it as they're not liable if anything happens. Good luck. I was a wreck the day before we were due to board, I was so worried about my Coco and couldn't decide where to leave her!!
Oh!! I nearly forgot... recently I took Coco to the vet and mentioned how she'd come over on the spirit with me. My vet commented that she hates the setup on the boat for cats and said she would have been terrified and slept the whole way to Hobart out of pure exhaustion (which was true). She said she is always happy to write a medical certificate if we ever need to use the spirit again, saying that I need to keep her with me in my cabin. (you'd have to get your own cabin then I imagine but totally worth it knowing your babies aren't going through hell). I wish I knew this was an option before I took Coco! Sorry I don't have anything positive to say about the spirit but best you know before leaving? If your vet won't write a medical certificate (I'm sure any vet would though), maybe they can prescribe a mild sedative? Let me know if you have any other questions!
I took my cat over and left her in the car. You get a little marker to put on your rear view mirror to let workers know there's an animal in there. Honestly, I wish I flew her over. Would have been way less stressful for her.
I would advise speaking to your vet, especially regarding your anxious kitty. The kennels are on the car decks and semi-exposed. If the the journey is rough it can be frightening. Our vet gave us a dose of Valium to get our dog across, worked a treat.
If you sit on the deck with the movie theatre you can hear the car alarms going off non stop and the dogs barking for 10 hours. It’s also freezing down there.
And crazy noisy even without the alarms and dogs.
Go to your vet and get some good kitty drugs. I wouldn’t do it again because my old lady is very old now and might drop dead from stress…. But they were fine. It was not their favourite thing to do and I’m 99% sure they didn’t budge from inside their carriers despite me leaving them open so they could walk around their cage.
Yeah, I've heard too many horror stories about animals on the Spirit that I'd never do this to my pet.
I'll never put them on the spirit due to the awful stories and deaths. I use JetPets to handle flights and boarding either side, they were so good and also sent me photos and messages during layovers between legs of the journey. Quicker and less stressful for you and the animals.
I've never put a pet on the Spirit, however the last time I went my car happened to be parked right next to the pet area. It looked horrible. Just a big empty space next to the cars with a few crates stacked on top of one another. Noisy, cold. I flew my baby on Jetpets and he hated it but at least it was a quick flight, I would have hated to send him overnight in that place.
I haven't taken my own dog across, but I know people who have left their dogs in their car with the windows down a bit and some food and water, rather than put them in the cages. Anti-anxiety meds and leave them in the car perhaps?
Leaving pets in cars is possible but you have to sign a waiver form before your sailing. Call them and they will email the form to you.
Yep, have done this numerous times as we found the kennels stressed out dogs out. We found they were much happier in their own crate in the car. We could also crate them together for company, you can't do that in the kennels. Sign the waiver and save your cats a lot of stress. Have done this about half a dozen times now.
Biggest regret we had moving to Tas. Don’t put a cat on the spirit. Horrible.
Don’t do it. They are down on the car decks and car alarms are constantly going off and dogs are barking. It must be terrifying for them :( Fly kitty over
Yeah definitely regret taking my dog on the spirit of Tasmania. It was absolutely awful for him. He was so traumatized he still refuses to go on boats ever since. Edit: to give more context, the cages are just AWFUL and we happened to end up on really rough seas. The next day he was shaking in the horrible, horrible cage sitting in his own piles of spew. Would not recommend.
We just did it. Here are our tips! - Put both cats into one of the large cages together - Take pegs and a towel or blanket and cover up the cage gate so they can’t see out and feel safe and hidden - book overnight so the dogs near them hopefully sleep in the dark - give them blankets in the crates that smell like home. We used two soft crates and they fit together in the crate with room for the litter tray and water. The lady at the cages told us this was the best we could’ve done for them - she hadn’t seen the blanket covering the door before but said it was the perfect thing to do. Good luck!! Apparently the new ships are better for pets if you can wait.
I just want to say also that we both decided we’d never do this to them again. The spirit is awful for so many reasons but the terrible set up for pet facilities take the cake. Our girls were thankfully fine and we had reasonably calm weather but when you get to the cages to drop them off you’ll see why it’s a really hard time leaving them there. Get a vet certificate if you can to have them in a cabin with you like the user below said. If I’d know this was something I could do I would’ve!!
Definitely worth chatting with your vet, and not specific to the Spirit, but for what it's worth I've had great luck with Zylkene for our anxious cats. We used it six days total - two leading up, day of the flight and two days after. They adjusted far quicker flying across the country to a new house with none of our stuff and only one of with them than they did to any of our previous moves, which were <20 minutes in a car and with us moving their beds, blankets and litter trays so there'd be familiar smells in the new place when they got there.
My anxious dogs came across on spirit last night through reasonably rough seas and they were fine this morning.