Jami

I used to have this problem when I lived in California, Rapture my GSD would get skunked all the time if I didn't have her in the house by 6 PM. I got this recipe from the net years ago, it works wonders on the pet (unlike tomato juice which does close to nothing) but I am not sure what it will do to your upholstery or carpet. Anyways, the recipe is: 1 large box of baking soda (arm & hammer) 1 large bottle of hydrogen peroxide (any drugstore) 1 gallon warm water a squirt of any dishwashing liquid to provide suds Mix everything in a bucket and apply directly to the dog, be carefull not to get it in his eyes, nose or mouth, let it rest a couple of minutes, rinse and wash pet as usual. Hope this helps.

Try contacting the Australian Embassy in Washington, or the local Australian Consulate if you live in one of the major cities. They should be able to help you or at least inform you of which Australian government entity is responsible or regulates the import of exotic pets. Talk to as many people as you can asking the same things over and over again. You will find that most everyone will have little pieces of information and eventually you will find someone that will know what they are talking about and puts all the pieces together, at least that was my case. As someone else suggested also look into the airlines, you will find that most do not accept pets and the one that did only allowed one pet per passenger (UNITED). I had to buy my best friend a roundtrip ticket so that I could travel with both of my fids (CAG & DYH) in the cabin. My poor GSD and cat had to travel cargo with a lay-over in Chicago, I still think of what a nightmare it must have been for those two. There is the CITIES permit (takes about two months) and that has to be signed off by the Department of Fish and Wildlife the day of your departure (my local agent met me at the check-in counter - SFO). Not all airports have these facilities, there will be a list of authorized exit ports which to choose from on your CITIES permit. In my case each bird had to be accompanied with a couple of U.S Origin Health Certificate (VS From 17-140) issued by a veterinarian authorized by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and endorsed by a Veterinary Services (VS) veterinarian, usually this involves a trip to the State Capital. The certificate could not be more than 7 days old and I had to meet all sorts of requirements. Quarantine (did at home), tests for Avian Influenza, Newcastle Disease, Salmonellosis and have a letter from the VS stating that the birds came from an area free of the West Nile Virus. My birds required to be either banded or tattooed while my local guy with the USDA preferred the use of microchips. Tuko was banded since he was a baby so he only got a microchip while Birt had to get both banded and microchiped and to this day he holds a grudge. It took me 6 months and literally thousands of dollars to make all this happen but eventually it did. Everybody has different laws and although the requirements that you must meet might not be the same as the ones I had to meet I hope some of this information is useful to you.

Tuko is a little over 4 yrs old. His longest phase to date is; Twinkle, twinkle twittle star, how I wonder what you are. He speaks in English, Spanish and one phase in Dutch.You can hear some of the things he has to say by visiting the vocabulary page on his web site

Thank you

I've finally uploaded three Windows Media videos of Tuko & Birt. They aren't the greatest since Tuko seems to know when I am taping and he seems to be camera shy. Anyways, for those interested this is the link: http://www.prodigyweb.net.mx/lidemi/Tuko/video.html

Rigel my cat was here first. He was used to being alone and had never seen a parrot or dog in his life. I received Tuko as a gift when Rigel was 6 years old. I was a bit worried that things would not work out between the species but the cat just looked at Tuko and walked away and still does that to this day, four years later. He is not curious in the least bit about the CAG or the DYH. I think it is a size thing because he does likes to pester Sky and Luna the budgies from time to time.