Comments | expatsjapan: Ferrets in Japan

serria in expatsjapan

Ferrets in Japan

Mar 31, 2010 17:25

Hey everyone! A question about pets. I'm a die-hard ferret lover, and I'm toying with the idea of getting a ferret soon. However, in this hypothetical situation I probably wouldn't get one until I was back in the US, because my current Japan apartment doesn't allow pets (plus ferrets are like ¥30,000+ here, and a third of that price in the States ( Read more... )

pets

Comments 10

xelloss_poo April 1 2010, 01:13:29 UTC

For a cat or a dog, there are animal shelters here that you could always see about adopting from. It would help the already ridiculously high kill rate of the unadopted animals.

serria April 1 2010, 04:07:01 UTC

Definitely. I read something recently about "gas trucks" that pick up stray animals off the street and put them into a compartment in the truck that instantly euthanizes them. I was shocked that these animals weren't even brought to some kind of shelter first! But then I heard it's also common for pet owners here to throw their pet on the street once it's no longer a cute kitten or puppy, or worse, directly euthanize them after that because they are unwanted.

I'm not accusing all Japanese pet owners to be like that or anything, and I'm sure this is a problem worldwide, but man... I'd much rather support an animal shelter.

world_meanderer April 1 2010, 01:37:12 UTC

Indeed. The ARK volunteer group can help you with that, they have two shelters, in Osaka and Tokyo.
I believe they also have other animals besides cats and dogs.

serria April 1 2010, 04:03:13 UTC

Thank you! I'm checking out the ARK website now! :)

(The comment has been removed)

serria April 1 2010, 04:02:49 UTC

Thanks so much for the information about ARK! I checked out their website and have already contacted them, hoping to volunteer! :D Unfortunately, I'm unable to foster an animal (as much as I would love to), as my current apartment doesn't allow pets. But I really want to volunteer during the day, anyway!

That's interesting about yakuza and pet stores, too. I dislike most of the pet stores here because they keep their animals in tiny cages, and are very strict about letting people pet or play with them unless they are obviously committed to buying. I wish these pet stores had to follow a stricter code about allowing animals room to stretch their legs, but it seems to me like they're just treated like dolls - instead of living creatures.

Still, though, the animal I'm really interested in is the ferret and whether or not one can import them to Japan... I imagine it would be difficult to find a ferret in a shelter here.

lordameth April 1 2010, 03:47:51 UTC

I'd be careful about thinking about getting a pet in japan, or bringing a per to japan, though. Yes, there are these shelters and such, but I get the impression that, at least in the big cities, many many apartment buildings and other living situations do not allow pets. So, particularly if you don't know yet what part of the country you'll be in, or what your living situation is going to be, well, suffice it to say that it may be quite difficult to find a place that's affordable, convenient, comfortable, willing to rent to foreigners, and on top of it all, also allowing of pets.

serria April 1 2010, 03:57:58 UTC

That's a good point. I would want to make sure the apartment I got would be pet friendly. One of the things I'm looking at is the JET program, do you know if they are sympathetic at all toward employees bringing pets over?

I'm curious about how many apartment buildings cater to pet owners. In the States, at least in my area, it's usually the very cheapest or most expensive apartments that allow pets. Yet, I see so many pet owners in Japan, with people walking dogs everywhere, so I'm curious.

lordameth April 1 2010, 04:20:41 UTC

Unfortunately, and extremely frustratingly in my opinion, the answer to basically any question you could ask about the JET program is "It Depends." It depends on whether you end up in the city or the countryside, whether you end up in Tohoku or in Kyushu ( ... )

shingomama April 1 2010, 11:53:37 UTC

In the JET Program, the Board of Education that contracts you provides you with an apartment (that you pay for, sometimes they subsidize it a bit depending on the situation), so if you brought a pet and they say No Pets Allowed you would be kind of screwed. You usually have a couple months were you can contact your location and find out, but it would be really iffy, and it's very difficult to get a new apartment when one has been provided for you. The JET Program itself would have very little to do with helping you in this situation, because, as they told us, "Every Situation Is Different." It's really up to the town that actually contracts you, because once JET links you up with a location, their job is kind of done. JET just places you, and your contract and your employment is with the local government that they place you in ( ... )

luckydragongirl April 2 2010, 03:25:53 UTC

I've had three cats in Japan, and none of them cost me anything. They were/are all strays (1 died a year ago.) If you want a cat, basically anywhere in Japan is crawling with stray cats. Many of them are feral and wouldn't make good pets, but it's not hard to find friendly strays that have no fear of people. Also, if you make it known to people around you that you want a cat, probably someone will know someone whose cat just had kittens, since many people don't spay or neuter their pets. The same is true to some degree for dogs--if you don't care about breeds and have no problem with mutts, it is really easy to find a dog for free, and once you let it be known that you are looking, you'll probably be inundated with puppies. This site http://www.satoya-boshu.net/ is where people list stray animals that they've taken in that need permanent homes. Finding a free/cheap pet in Japan is not difficult at all ( ... )