Vietnam is a country that attracts companies that want to settle in Southeast Asia. To develop these companies send teams of expatriates to establish their brand, their way of thinking and their expertise. The important point is to remember that companies who send their employees to Vietnam will send them with all their family including their animals. They can be confronted to this situation and won't understand how to deal with it. First of all, this service is called PET RELOCATION.
According to the definition, “Pet relocation is an industry that involves transporting animals, specifically pets, often by plane. This service is commonly used when the animal's owner is moving houses. The worldwide industry body for pet shipping is the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association” Pet microchips, vaccinations, rabies titer tests, import permits, and health certificates may be required to ship an animal. Certain breeds are banned from the process due to the increase in associated risk.”
To ask all the questions that can be interesting about this subject, I have the honor to be with Mrs. West and Will. So I’m here to interview you both. Could you, first, introduce yourself and your company please?
Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Will, the CEO of Animal Doctors International or ADI and I’m Phil West, the B2B relationship manager for ADI, specializing in Pet relocation and building new business relations. So, to introduce the company, Animal doctors international is Asia a full-service veterinary clinic driven by a passion for excellence. We provide compassionate clinical care, state-of-the-art technology and highly-skilled international veterinarians to deliver on our promise of exceptional service and personalized care for your loved pets. So, our company has 6 locations: 4 in Vietnam, one in Laos and hospitals in both Cambodia and Thailand in the works. It’s a group of thirty vets. We also do pet relocation with a team of 6 experts of this type of immigration, movement and relocation since 2014. The team is also a member of IATA (international animal transport association). and IPATA (International Pet and Animal Travel Association) These associations not only allow us access to other leading travel partners globally but also allow us to maintain the most current and accurate information related to moving animals internationally.
Ok thank you for this quick presentation, To continue with PET Relocation, the subject I’d like to focus on, I have a few different questions.
For example, which types of services can you offer? What are the specialties of your company in Pet relocation? Which animals do you take care of? And also, your specialties and all the differences that can be brought by your teams?
Sure, so most of our business is currently the import and export from Vietnam and Laos, but we also support other regions and destinations specializing in SouthEast Asia. We work with professionals in South East Asia including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong as well as New Zealand, Australia, the US and Europe. We mainly assist cats and dogs, of course, as they are the most common pets. Since beginning to offer the service we have moved more than 1500 pets, normally around 300-500 per year, we have also assisted in relocating some less common pets.
For example?
For example, rabbits! I think it’s rare to find a company, particularly here in Vietnam, which will do that. We can also manage some exotic animals but the majority of services are for dogs and cats.
Also we offer a range of services for assisting with international moves. For example, when you need a health certificate, vaccinations or blood tests for your pet when you want to travel with them. We can also assist with the international certificates for Government departments in South-East Asia and globally. This means, we are able to assist with the most appropriate service level when people want to travel with their pet.
Our service ensures that pets are prepared when they arrive in a new country. When they relocate using ADI the pet will not be stuck at the border because some paperwork has not been correctly processed or submitted.
In addition, we can offer domestic travel packages and services.We like to ensure that customers are able to have a quiet holiday either with their pet or, if they prefer, we can assist with boarding for cats in our pet hotels. Our business is ethically focused on the health of animals which means we don’t cut any corners or take any types of shortcuts. Sometimes, our services can be a little more expensive than other local private companies. But it’s something that we will not compromise on, we will not reduce the quality just to provide a cheaper service.
Ok! Thank you for this development But also, can I ask you some statistics to get the proportion of animals that you take care of every year please?
Of course, in totally we probably support a range of 300 to 500 pets’ relocations, that includes people traveling with their pets and cargo move. As I already mentioned, we help customers to handle all aspects of pet relocation! To explain a little bit more, we have different types of relocation, from the basic form where we assist customers with just the paperwork side of the move to the “all-inclusive” package or door to door service (collection from home town, all the required heath checks and and paperwork, checking in at the airport, flight updates and arrival procedures and then transport to their new home in the destination country)
Thank you! Can I know why the company decided to create this specialization?
Yes sure, ADI was founded with a passion for improving the quality of animal’s care and being a holistic service provider. In the beginning our focus was on the veterinary or clinical aspects, that means creating hospitals, supporting families with their pets care and providing leading pet services. Over time we found a lot of our customers requesting our assistance with pet travel or relocating their pets to a new country.
As a lot of people found out it is very stressful and complicated to move animals internationally. It can be overwhelming for people when they have to travel with their family and their pets. So, I think it was a normal progression of our service to offer to assist clients who already know and trust us with this process For example, clients that choose to make their own arrangements may not have the full information that the providers being used are knowledgeable and that all will be done to reduce the risks associated with moving pets. It is in fact a rather complicated process, there are export, flight and import rules and also the quality of care while in transit to be considered.
When you make these arrangements on our own you may not have access or the knowledge in relation to all the laws and conditions about pet relocation. So, we started to support people with their travel, arranging health certificates, booking flights, arranging destination and import services etc this was how this side of the business grew and that’s why we are now have a team focused on providing a seamless and high-quality experience.
OK, I have another question. In fact, what do you offer that makes you different from other pet relocation companies?
Firstly the team is a multilingual team, we have native english speakers who are able to communicate with government departments and local authorities, all our senior vets have the professional qualification to practice and work in vet clinics around the world.
We assure our customers that we are able to provide professional and knowledgeable information and verify that the advice or clinical data is correct. We can handle any of the international country requirements, from microchips through to complex clinical tests or procedures.We focus on the details to remove the stress associated with pet moves. We also have international vets so when a document is produced for a government department the client can be assured that it’s right.
Our teams are in touch with and work with vets across the world. This networking is an important strength as we can learn and adapt as the situation or requirements change. We are available and they can assist in almost all situations.
We also have taken some “practical steps” which are important. We are an active and participating partner in IPATA – International Pet and Animal Transportation Association, assisting within information and developing medical standards for global pet moves. We are required to follow a quality charter and integrate into this association and it’s really not just a simple process to be a part of this organization. We don’t take any shortcuts and don’t hide anything from the customer. We are working hard to make sure that all information is completely transparent and without any ambiguity.
In addition we are an accredited IATA member, we are the only dedicated pte shipper which has undertaken the rigorous IATA certification in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. This certification also allows us to be in direct contact with airlines which reduces response times.
So, your strength is to be directly in contact with other companies and agencies, isn’t it?
Yes exactly! We are in direct contact with the airlines, with other members of IPATA, with governments…Which I don’t believe other relocation companies have in Vietnam and Laos. We have many contacts and I think it’s really important to have them!
Thank you for all your answers. I would like to know if you have any projects for the future of pet relocation in Animal doctors?
Yes, we will soon expand to Thailand and Cambodia. We see this is a natural step as we want to continue to grow and expand the company across South-East Asia, always keeping in mind that the quality of services we provide must not deteriorate. We think the market will continue to develop, it is an attractive location for expatriates and as awareness increases the expectations of the local population will continue to increase.
Also for people arriving or moving to Southeast Asia, there is always a question about how their much loved pet will be cared for and looked after. For example, can they access specialized food or medication, where can I get the right care or pampering, who will take care of my animal if I go on vacation? So yes, I think the main goal is to keep improving the quality of services and provide customers with the right information when they arrive in Southeast Asia.
Ok! Thank you for all these answers! Would you like to say something else?
Yes actually! You know that our company takes part in many associations. For example, we work very closely with ARC, Animal Rescue Charity in Thao Dien. We provide a lot of support and veterinary care, advisory services and search for better services. We also do a lot of other work with Animals Asia in Cat Tien, for example vaccinating elephants, with local charities and NGOs. And we are planning to do is to host a series of events in house Thao Dien, District 2. We will open it up to anybody, any customers who are interested to learn more about pet relocation and travel and pet care. I will do some presentations, questions and answers sessions and people would have the possibility to understand our work well. We will do that soon! Yes, people have millions of questions about this subject of pet relocation! We are here to help them! Furthermore, we want people to understand that we are here for their arrival but not only! We are there for their pet’s everyday life. We can give them advice, help them with regulations if they need to move out and with all questions they may face . And finally we will soon open a new clinic near Vista Verde, it is a wellness clinic focused on the day to day happiness rather than clinical issues.This is really focused on pets which are fit and well and we want to assist them to stay that way.
Ok thank you for all this interview, it was really interesting! To finish, I’d like to describe your company with 3 words if it’s possible please?
Compassionate
Professional
Strive for excellence.
Thank you for everything, If you are interested in more information: https://www.theanimaldoctors.org/about/about-us/