Cat Supplies (Tamarindo)

We came with two cats and litter was a problem.  They were used to their litter in Canada and quite particular.  After a lot of searching and trials we found similar litter at Pricesmart.  It comes in 42kg units.  Litter boxes are very hard to find, they are for the most part way to small and flimsy.  Luckily we shipped two in our container.  Dry cat food can be found in most agricultural supply stores in good variety, but not cheap.  Luckily ours took to the Kirkland brand at Pricesmart for a couple of years before wanting something different.

Cat supplies are poor in CR.  Most cats here live outside.   Bring a litter box with you.  Good quality cat food is available at any vet.   They have Royal Canin, Hill's, etc.   I recommend Dra. Karla in Villa Real. 

Forget Walmart.  It's not like a North American Walmart.  It's mostly Tico groceries (ie.  whole isles of cheap canned tuna, rice, and beans) and not much better than Maxi Pali (Walmart owned).

Hi!
I was so happy to find your thread!  I will be moving to tamarindo in June with 2 Maine coon cats and a little Short Hair kitten.
Did you end up finding royal canin cat food and decent litter? My cats are used to top quality food. They're spoiled.
I'm worried about finding a large cat scratcher and litter box situation/litter. I've been using the tidy cat breeze system which I LOVE but no clue if it is available in CR. It has its own special box which I would bring, but since we are flying with all our stuff, I really don't want to wait suitcase space for something I can't use. It uses special pellets and a puppy pad underneath.
I'm fine traveling to San Jose, it seem that's the only place to get a lot of specialty items so I can see myself needing to do regular trips there anyway.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Andrea

Hey,

We actually delayed our move and are now planning on moving this June... depending on Covid-19 quarantines.  Where are you moving from?

We're still bringing our cats.  We found a vet that specialise with cats (Hospital Tranquila in Huacas - they even have a separate cat waiting area and access to all the standard cat treatments we may need).  For food I ended up contacting the Royal Canin distributor directly who told us they could order in 10KG bags of the Maine Coon cat food if needed.  If you e-mail via their website I just got into a WhatsApp conversation with the person running it after that.  If of interest we could certainly buy in together if you go with Royal Canin.

Litter I never found quite what we wanted and that's still a question mark for me.  Thinking of trying to find some industrial sand (without creepie crawlies in it) and seeing how that's good for litter.  If not I may end up bringing it back from the UK when I visit for work.

Cat tree I was going to just get custom made when we arrive - there are so many talented wood-workers locally that it's going to cost me no more than shipping an existing one in but be so much better quality.

Litter box is a source of contention as no idea where I'm going to find a giant one - I'm tempted to just post two in original shipping boxes from UK to CR as we leave - shipping isn't going to be crazy expensive but may make it a lot easier for us.  I'll let you know if we come up with better idea!

I'm sure I'll see you in June!  I'm the one covered in cat tattoos wearing tie dye and harem pants

Oh no way! We just book our flights for June 4. Fingers crossed the borders will be open and all goes smoothly. My boyfriend and I will be moving from NYC.
Thanks for the vet recommendation. I followed them on instagram and they seem lovely!
I am contacting a few vets to see if they carry the prescription Royal Canin food I've been using but if they don't, I'd love to go in on a Royal Canin shipment with you! From other websites, it sounds like vets in the area carry Royal Canin though so lets see!

I haven't had luck finding out if my specific litter system is available in CR but i read that there is a store called Pricesmart in Libera (the Central American version of Costco) has a good selection of litter in large quantities.

Such a good idea just having a cat tree made! Right now we have this giant one - https://pioneerpet.com/product/3832-ult … hing-post/
which you're right, is probably not that hard to make. Its super tall so its great for Maine Coons. Maybe we can have the same carpenter make 2 at the same time for us?

For the litter box, I think I'm going to get a new regular large box and pack it in my giant suitcase. It actually probably wont take up that much space since I can pack in and around it.

Looking forward to seeing you in Tamarindo! I'll be the super pale girl with the catnip tattoo haha!

Pura Vida!
Andrea

Totally up for any of that - feel free to drop me a message here when you're over and settled.  We're currently looking at first week of July (all UK flights to CR cancelled until then) - so let us know if you find good litter trays/litter and are there before us.  Otherwise we're just going to use some plastic storage crates as boxes for now.

Our current scratching post isn't a looker but at 4ft they love it ***definitely not coming as hand baggage!

Recent info doesn't seem to think that International  travel will occur for quite a while...

I did read 'somewhere' that the few airlines that previously transported pets, will cease doing so, for the forseeable future.

Also, before this crisis, 1 traveler could bring in only 1 pet 'in cabin' if under 10lb. including crate...and any additional animal  has to travel either as 'extra baggage' or in some cases, cargo.

Can't find where I read this though...

Just saw the June 15 news
We have registered 2 of our cats as ESA, and the kitten is still small enough to fit in the same carrier with my oldest cat, so we will just have 2 carriers with us (each carrier can be up to 20lbs.) , and we will only have to pay for 1 pet fee. We were sure to book through a call with a rep to make sure we were doing everything right. I could never put my pet in cargo, I'd be so nervous about their safety.

We're still tentatively down for July 1st (first day of UK flights) but very aware it depends both on flight availability and CR's borders opening.  The cats are a whole other variable to add in to the mix with no options whatsoever at the moment from UK to CR.

Yea, we are still looking at flights now. Fingers crossed the border opening stays at June 15 but who knows. CR cases are going up a little ever since they relaxed restrictions. I'm looking at Tico Times multiple times a day. Sort of obsessing now. We are now looking to possibly get a flight down around July 3-5. But yea with the cats is makes things so much more difficult. Is it the same in UK that you need to have them examined by a vet within 14 days of travel? Vets in the US are booked up so far in advance now since they kept pushing non emergency visits back. So now they're seeing all the delayed visits on top of newly scheduled visits. So, tricky to schedule a visit while also not knowing when we are flying. 😬 also- airlines only allow so many pets per flight so ideally we would love to book far in advance to get 3 pet slots but that's not really an option.
It's strange to be in this limbo waiting game. How is it in the UK now? We've been staying at my parents vacation home in South Carolina for a few months where it seems like covid is cancelled. No masks, bars packed, like it never happened. But when we went up to NYC to pack up our apartment last week, totally different story. Total ghost town, everything is closed, few people you see are wearing masks and gloves.

With you on checking Tico Times several times a day.  Our flight is booked on 1st which is interesting with borders now shut until end of June.  We tried to move over in March - just before border closures.  Had a ticket for what would have been on very last flight out of UK to CR... if it does go ahead on 1st we'll be back at the airport for the "next flight".  It's just taken 3 months!

No option of flying pets in the cabin if you're not in USA (thankfully pet handling at airports and in containers is also different).  Right now we actually have zero options for the cats on the same flight as us.  Currently closest option would be to get them to Mexico but then we have to go from Mexico to CR wit them.  We'll board them for a period of time in UK or we will rehome with family temporarily.  We need to obtain an export certificate that is certified by a vet.  The cats are up to date on all vacinations, etc. but without us in the UK it means they'll need to board for a minimum of 14 days before flight then it's a direct flight from London to SJO.  Our handling agent will handle all of it and co-ordinating with vets, etc. but it costs more for that and 3 cats than us to get there.

We're in Scotland which has generally been more reserved than rest of the UK until this weekend where it seems like the whole population has said at once "I'm done" and we're back to relative normality apart from no shops, leisure facilities, schools or restaurants open.

Crazy times for sure!

As a general update for anybody interested (we made it to CR at start of August and our cats are now in the country too although not with us until Monday):

- Price Smart has a selection of cat litter (2 different brands in large sizes) and a few types of cat food in 10KG bags
- We've got a local furniture company to make us a cat tree (J&G Furniture in Huacas)
- Pequeno Mundo and Walmart also have cat litter and cat food options
- If you want Royal Canin it's not available in 10KG bags here - biggest we can get is 2KG (2.5KG for special diets).  Did contact them to ask about ordering it in but told not an option so that would make 10KG 85k CRC.  In the UK we'd pay 50K CRC for a 10KG bag so it's about 70% more expensive
- Price Smart currently has some good "air-tight" food containers for pet food to keep bugs out if buying large quantity
- No luck on large litter trays yet - we're using plastic storage crates from Pequeno Mundo but will check out San Jose area
- Maxi Pali between Villareal and Huacas have cat collars
- Walmart have cat treats
- Pet Lounge CR were our clearing agent and have been very helpful

Congratulations on finally making it! We just got to Tamarindo this Monday! Are you in town yet or somewhere else in the country?

I stopped by The Dogtor in Tamarindo and they had 2 flavors of Taste of the Wild cat food which I'm trying out right now. The woman who helped me only spoke spanish but I got by with my limited vocabulary. She mentioned the vet speaks english if I want to use him as our vet. They also had big bags of "canada litter" there. Maybe 30lbs big?

Cavallini Vet in Villareal by the MaxiPali also had some cat food options but my cat is allergic to chicken and all their options had chicken. I think I may have seen some plastic litter boxes at Cavallini? Right not I'm using a travel litter box for 3 maine coons so it's not ideal but we ended up shipping our car down and should get it in a few weeks and I put my boxes in there.

Were the food brands at the stores you mentioned decent quality? All I've been seeing is a bunch of Purina Cat Chow

We should meet up now that we're all finally here!

We spent the last month in Tamarindo but moved just outside to Hacienda Pinilla last week.  We still come into Tamarindo a few times a week though.

Our cats were on Royal Canin Maine Coon when we left the UK but they're OK eating "Maintenance Cat" (delicious sounding name) from Price Smart for now.  I have no doubt it's less premium than the Royal Canin but they all seem happy and well.

We ended up getting litter boxes from San Jose - there's a lady Ericka (search Concierge Tica) in San Jose who shipped them down for us and delivered to our door - if you need anything she's super-useful to save you scouring San Jose area.  They were about $45 each though.

The litter we have at the moment is 45lb tubs but it's just clumping-clay and it's not great.  Trying to find some better options.

We've got a custom scratching post made from J&G Furniture in Huacas and they're working on a cat tree at the moment - will share pictures when it's done.

Thought I would share the hand-made scratching post and cat tree we had made for our cats - this is by Jaime from J&G Furniture in Huacas.  If you're looking for any wood furniture it's the most beautiful we've found in the area so we also got him to make us these:

I just happened upon your post because of cats!  I'm in Las Vegas and have been hesitating  moving cause so worried about cats. there is no way I can let them be away from me. They both have health issues, and one is deathly allergic to many outdoor things. She has anaphylaxis attacks frequently and I never know from what?  Can I ask what your cost was getting them there? They also have special food requirements. Would appreciate any info you can share.

Unfortunately I can't really comment from my side as it's very different travelling from UK vs USA but maybe @Yahyahtamarindo can.  From the UK with boarding and everything else for 3 cats it was several thousand USD.

Special food requirements - I've seen Hills dietary food over here.  Ultimately you can get anything shipped over here if you're willing to pay for it - roughly double the cost from the US to get it landed in Costa Rica.

Thanks for your response.  Right didn't consider your from another country! Duh!  Having somewhat of ballpark is good though. Yes I did message person you suggested. Saw your post together so messd. both?!  First time I've seen current  post of people traveling with their cats!  Not on here much, but can't stand being in US any longer!