Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Mark Hedberg — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 23:23:42 GMT

[quote user="Ian Mostyn"]

Sorry, just trying to help. Google translate is probably good enough for a simple email enquiry about stockists and she may speak a little Arabic if she is going to live over there.

[/quote]

Absolutely, I 100% accept that, just saw the phone number and wanted to mention the new format, to save them getting a really annoying recorded message! :)

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Ian Mostyn — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 23:21:32 GMT

Sorry, just trying to help. Google translate is probably good enough for a simple email enquiry about stockists and she may speak a little Arabic if she is going to live over there.

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Mark Hedberg — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 22:22:33 GMT

[quote user="Ian Mostyn"]

She could contact the official importer for local stockists (from royalcanin.com)

Saudi Arabia

Royal Canin Country Importer
Saudi Company For Developing Construction

Phone: 00966 1 4540300 Extn: 130

[/quote]

Good plan, but distinctly possible that they may speak very limited English. (also there are two 1's in the number, Saudi changed the national phone system last year)

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Ian Mostyn — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 09:07:37 GMT

She could contact the official importer for local stockists (from royalcanin.com)

Saudi Arabia

Royal Canin Country Importer
Saudi Company For Developing Construction

Phone: 00966 11 4540300 Extn: 130

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 21:58:23 GMT

Glad to help! She will almost certainly be seeing an expat, there are almost zero Saudi veterinarians; they tend to go for government jobs. Getting a permit from the Ministry of Agriculture is almost impossible, and in fact has to be periodically reauthorized, which is why drugs and animal supplies have a frustrating habit of appearing and disappearing randomly in the marketplace.

Short version: she wouldn't be the first client I had who brought a few bags of food in her checked bags!

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Anthony Dennison — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 18:22:17 GMT

Thanks Mark, that's fantastic! I think she'll be going to the vets in Riyadh (well she mentioned the broker for the pet shipping company was there!) and will be seeing an ex-pat vet? Her husband works at BAE out there so I presume it's somewhere close by. I'll pass those details on to her.

Re: Obtaining Royal Canin in the Gulf

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 16:30:33 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]

Just a quick one as I know a few people on here have worked out in the Middle East.

A client is moving out to Saudi at the end of the month, and her Schnauzer is on RC Gastro-Intestinal, which she says she can't get out there. Is this correct, can it be imported in on a special license or will she have to do what she is planning, which is come back every so often and buy a load of bags to take back over?

[/quote]

RC is available out there, but it does vary. The big clinics usually stock it but also check the local supermarkets, the import situation is a little weird.

Jeddah: Jeddah Vet Clinic (Dr Ian) is off of King Faisal Road and Sari Street, Tahlia Clinic is on Tahlia street, Euro Vet Clinic (Dr Carlos) is on El-Semat El-Taibah Street (parallel and behind Tahlia). Happy Pet has good facilities but they used to have very high vet turnover and i don't know who's there now.

Riyadh: http://evcsaudi.com/ is Elite Vet Clinic, Dr Takura. Brand new, just opened a matter of months ago and he's doing a second clinic in Jeddah.

Al Khobar (east coast) is a little easier, the bridge to Bahrein is right there and you're less than an hour from central Manama; Bahrein is much more open and liberal and you may find more readily available pet food. Animal Care Clinic and the Noni Coutts Clinic are both in Bahrein and easily found.

Finally: there is a thriving, though unofficial pet support group in Saudi Arabia, due to the lack of any official animal welfare organization. No SPCA, RSPCA, government support, nothing - all charity is done by private citizens.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/24597253992/ is the Pets In Need group - while their main goal is rescuing strays and doing TNR programs, they will also periodically report on the availability of pet foods at the major supermarkets. Think of it as a pet food spy ring. :) They are really good people in there and can give your client very good support with local solutions to pet health.

The vet care in Saudi is solid; at the big clinics listed above you can get the basic first opinion ops, vaccinations, worming, xrays, ultrasound, some small animal meds; some large animal meds. VERY limited vet licensed meds. Blood analysis is limited to smaller in house machines or your local hospital. No referral hospitals in Saudi; good vet medicine is practiced there but you're not going to be getting a TPLO done or MRI or anything very esoteric. Soft tissue surgery depends on the vet; Carlos and Takura are pretty damn good; Ian's good but he's often away with a locum or permanent vet covering for him.

Every, and I mean every human medicine is available over the counter so very often a clinic will prescribe a human med for a pet. This is perfectly acceptable in Saudi as there is often no veterinary equivalent available.

I know I'm answering more than you asked but just thought I'd give you a little background on what she can expect.

Kind regards,

Mark
(lived in Saudi for far too many years!)