Pets in Hungary

Priscilla wrote:

What are the formalities to import pet animals in Hungary?

Well discussed here:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=103034

and here:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=600494

Priscilla wrote:

What do Hungarians think about pet animals?

Where I live, in the country side, many people here seem to consider animals as simply tools. Dogs are for guarding. Cats are for killing mice. Rabbits are raised for food.

Priscilla wrote:

unusual pets

The most "unusual pet" I have seen at a local pet shop was a Chinchilla (which is not really that unusual).

Hi Priscilla

Yes I have a small Chihuahua and terrier mix. I brought him from Los Angeles California to Budapest.
He loves it here and made a few new doggie friends.

Hungarians love Pets. Cats and dogs. Almost every house have a pet.
In the country its the same, farmers keep dogs to heard sheep and cats to catch mouse there are always barn cats. They are working animals. But in the city they are spoiled pets with toys and clothes and raincoats in the Winter, and they sleep in the bed. They are family members.

gabi12 wrote:

Hungarians love Pets.

Yes, many people here love their pets. And animals in general.

And other people here do not.

And "having" a pet is not the same same as giving that pet all what it needs socially, environmentally and structurally in a way that is best for it.

I have seen pet/animal abuse and neglect first hand here. Like most issues, it is complicated. For example, abuse is sometimes just a consequence of simple ignorance by the animal's owner. But it is still abuse.

In other words, it is a simplistic view that pet love is universal here, or that animal cruelty is not an issue, or to assume that work or farm animals are considered as "pets" or are even treated well by default (because they may not be). Else, why would people that care about animals be out protesting the issue of Animal cruelty in Hungary?

gabi12 wrote:

Hungarians love Pets. Cats and dogs. Almost every house have a pet.
In the country its the same, farmers keep dogs to heard sheep and cats to catch mouse there are always barn cats. They are working animals. But in the city they are spoiled pets with toys and clothes and raincoats in the Winter, and they sleep in the bed. They are family members.

I would say that HU country people think of their animals as things, not living creatures.  If it gets sick, it will die unless it has a higher utility value - e.g. a horse, a cow, etc.  They will see a vet if sick.  Cats and dogs easily replaced and therefore not  worth the vets fees. 

Took ages to persuade one of my in-laws to take his cat to the vet.  Found out its ongoing problems, visually a distended stomach was not cancer but that it had been shot with a pellet gun.  Too late to save it.

I had to have a fit before my MIL finally had her cat fixed.
The poor thing was having a litter several times a year. It was insane to me.
I sat overnight with her poor cat, it was we found out post surgery already pregnant with it's 4 th or 5th litter.
They just took everything out of the poor cat. I felt sorry for it so had it in my room for 3 nights, even though I am far from being a cat lover. Dogs anytime.
People were tossing kittens into my MIL yard all the time because they knew she had a soft spot for them.
82 year old cat women, not exactly fun to be her house guest!
I was unable to eat because of the smells etc. Never could eat a meal in her home without feeling sick.
My husband and I even paid someone to take a cat off of us!
We gave several other cats to one of his country cousins, we just didn't know what to do with all the cats after my MIL passed away and we were leaving the country.
Horrible, really horrible experience for anyone who cares even a pinch for pets.
I will not even get into my ex DIL house of horrors for pets. Wow coming home to find little bunny had been chewed into pieces by one of the dogs, the 3 legged cat, the dead birds in the cages. Man it was a nightmare every time she told me she had a new pet. I knew the poor thing was a goner.
My MIL German Shepard dog died from eating a fish bone, horrible.
Several of her cats and one dog died from poison. We believed the nasty old widow living across the st. feed them something to be rid of them. Other neighbors also had pets poisoned.
I didn't know much Hungarian when I saw that women on the st. but I went up to her and called her a Murderer.  I then said the word Cica and drew a line under my throat so she would get the hint.No one else ever said a thing to her about it.

Hello Pet Lovers,

I am temporarily living in hajdúböszörmény; small city in an agricultural zone. I have a tendency to rescue animals in every country I live in or visit we have five foster dogs (and always available to take on more) and I volunteer often at the local shelter. I am very passionate about animal welfare and have many years experience working with troubled animals (captivity, neglect, abused, etc). I also specialize in working with troubled horses so I am trying to get involved with a few riding stables in the area. The horses are not exactly in the best state of mind, but that happens everywhere around the world. I hope to continue to help many animals in need while I live in Hungary.

Cheers

Thank you for your service to animals.

Kelli.Horses wrote:

.....with troubled horses so I am trying to get involved with a few riding stables in the area. The horses are not exactly in the best state of mind, but that happens everywhere around the world. I hope to continue to help many animals in need while I live in Hungary.

What can you tell us about the psychology of troubled horses?  Or animals in general.  Manifestations? Treatment?

Charlie, my elderly Basset Hound is a rescue dog. He was brought to Hungary from USA by a man called Roger who was teaching English in Budapest. Roger became ill and had to go back to USA for treatment. He never returned and Charlie was in kennels for over a year before I got him. I still keep in touch with Roger by email and a few times he has sent Charlie parcels of treats, medications etc.

When taking Charlie for walks around the village he has been twice attacked and injured by other dogs. These dogs would normally be chained up but sometimes manage to escape. Last time this happened Charlies throat was torn open and he needed a lot of stitches. I am fortunate that we have a good vet in Nagykanizsa who speaks English and is not too expensive.

I have also experience animosity from other villagers since I got Charlie. I am the only person in the village who takes a dog for a walk and when they see him, most of the other dogs start barking. It is the noise of this barking that annoys the other villagers. Charlie is the gentlest of creatures and would not have tried to antagonise the village dogs but after a few months of this he did start contributing to the barkfest!  For a while I tried taking Charlie out of the village in the car and we would have our walk along quiet country lanes. One day when we got back to the car it had been vandalised, the passenger door glass had been smashed. I suspect this was done by a young man from my village as we had been passed a couple of times by him in his silver Suzuki Swift.

I eventually gave up taking Charlie for walks altogether in Hungary but he still gets walks when we are in Croatia. The different attitude to dogs in my tiny village in Croatia is quite marked. Most people leave their gates open so the dogs are free to roam. When I take Charlie I sometimes start off with one dog and end up with 3 or 4! My next door neighbour also has a couple of dogs and they sometimes come round to play with Charlie. At one point, their dog got particularly cheeky and used to come and tap on my door. I would let him in and he would go straight for Charlies food bowl to see if Charlie had left any of his meal!

Wow, Fidosba , I would move out of that insane village ASAP. I I were you.
Nasty people for sure.
Sad because I know most Hungarians are kind people, for some reason they are very envious of you, it is obvious they are making your life harder then it needs to be.
I thank you for helping poor old Charlie, I love animals and dogs are my faves.
One reason I could never share my life with a dog again, I worry about them like they were another human child.
I love Hungary for the most part but even we experienced some odd behavior with villagers.
My husband and his whole entire family are Hungarians to the core.
We often drove through a village to visit lake Velence and once stopped at a village restaurant for lunch.
They food was really good even though the  waiter tried his BS double charging on a few side dishes.My hubby called him out on it and  he backed off.( nice to be able to speak the language at times)
We decided to take my BIL and his wife there on a Sat. night for dinner. They lived in Erd so we thought we could just pick then up with our car and drive to the village to eat and drop them off on the way home.
My BIL and his wife are typical Hungarian middle class working class people. Ok, my hubby and I are odd balls , me with my  odd sense of fashion etc.
We all entered the restaurant which was packed with locals. They noise level went very low and everyone just stared at the 4 of us.
The wait staff never even bothered to come ask us what was up.
We stood there like jack asses for a few mins. before my husband got mad and said we should just leave that dump.
So sometimes "villagers" do not even take a shine to anyone outside of their villages let alone a "darn foreigner".
We drove my BIL back into Budapest for dinner, no reservations so we couldn't get in anywhere on a Sat, night, finally found a mid level dinner.
I have actually not gone out for dinner on a Sat, night since then, over 12 years ago!!