The pet culture in Thailand

I have not transported any animal to Thailand but understand that this can easily be done.
My partner and I rescued cats and help dogs.
We adopted five cats and they live in our apartment.
Flora found her as a kitten at the temple. Alexa was born not a litter of six and to costly for the family to keep so they asked us to adopt, we have invited the owner to our home to show them how Alexa and all our cats are doing. Next came Christmas Eve 2017, found two brothers, twins on Canal Road, we call them Tiger and Ginger because of the lovely gold stripes and last is our black cat found her in our building car park and she is named Mini. We love all our pets equally and they have such device characters and personalities, we love them. People normally love to have a dog or cat and some love Rabbits, birds and fish. To be honest not many condominiums allow a pet. Some might agree to having a cat as they are quiet and indoor cats. Some dogs are noisy especially when they are young. A large amount of money is spent on pets for not only food, soil, injections and sterilizing and in some cases operations for a pet hurt by a car or from neglect. Sadly many owners of dogs and cats won’t get the pet steralized and this cause so many unwanted and neglected pups and kittens. People just dum animals anywhere as well as at the temples. Many good Animal rescues are founded by foreign organizations but the overload of unwanted pets is heartbreaking. I urge people to adopt and not buy a pet. I hope my comments are helpful to you.

Considering their beliefs, many Thais think that a dog can be a reborn person who didn't do well in his/her life before. Plenty of people in northeast eat dogs, it's not just a fable.

Thailand has just started last year to give needed shots to dogs for free, anybody could go to the city hall and get free rabies shots for their pets. But honestly speaking, young dogs are often only bought when they're young and so "cute." Once they're older, people do not really care as much as we Westerners do.

I haven't seen the pickup trucks with cages in it where they give poor villagers a piece of plastic for a dog and these poor dogs then have to sit in the heat, often without water and food until they reach Nakhon Phanom for a long time. As far as I remember was an existing law enforced to stop this brutality against animals.  From there, if not eaten they'll be sent to Vietnam, where dog meat is quite expensive, a kg around 160 baht.

Is it common for families to have pets?

Where I'm staying, most people have a pet, stray dogs are everywhere, but people also have cats, some have a hamster, etc...

I guess the most kept animals are dogs in all shapes and colors. It's quite difficult to keep a snake as a pet. There are families who've got snakes and I'm sure that also other animals are kept as pets.

How about the infrastructure needed to cater for pets? Can you find everything you need for your pet in terms of pet food, veterinary services, accessories, pet grooming etc...?

Not too many pets are usually seeing a vet, some vaccination can cost a fortune for people who haven't got enough food. Vets are in all bigger cities, dog and cat food available at all Big-C's, Macros, and Tescos.

  I do not think that ordinary people spend that much for/on their pets. A lot of people bring their dogs to a temple and leave it there.

  I've always had dogs and they've got a good life. But I've also seen too many dogs who live in circumstances, I better not write about here. I guess you can your imagination.

As a real estate agent here in Bangkok, it is important for expats to know that your choices for a condo or house become very limited if you have a pet. Very few buildings here are pet friendly.  The buildings that are pet friendly may have size restrictions on pets as well.

I have been living in Thailand for over 10 years and have had pets for much of that time. In some areas, particularly in the South where there is a greater proportion of muslims keeping dogs can at times cause issues with neighbours. However, small, fluffy, well groomed little dogs are generally well recieved, and many Thai families feed the dogs that live around there house. Very few Thai families have these animals neutered and so there are many unwanted animals and feral strays roaming around. If you want to take very good care of your pets it may cost quite a lot. However, basic treatment at a local vet is usually cheaper than the monthly cost of food. A single vaccine usually costs around 200B, deworming is cheap - around 20B, and a neutering operation is a one off, which will cost between 800 and 8000 depending on the type of veterinary practice you use. This applies to both cats and dogs. I also have rabbits, chickens, ducks and a snake. This is not a problem where I live, but most rentals will not permit animals. It is easier to get permission to keep a house cat or small caged animal than for dogs or outdoor animals. In my experience around 5-10% of rentals and hotels allow animals.