He’s young, he’s big and a total pussy. Yup, our cat Scaramouche, known familiarly as Mouche or at time “Doodles” is one big tough young cat who jumps at every loud noise and hides from newcomers.
In deciding to move we had to figure out his future. Should we haul him to France or leave him with friends. That was a no brainer and so he’s packed and ready to fly--sort of.
Many countries and several US states have long animal quarantines and even if Mr. M was up to date on his shots, he’d be sent to the cold, gray kennel in some airport hanger, an animal Stalag 13. Had we faced a multi-month quarantine, Mr. M would not have been able to be with us.
But France recently dropped its quarantine and so he’s coming along. Yeah there will be one long lousy day of travel but it will be followed by years of basking in the Mediterranean sunshine nibbling baguettes and croissants.
Our visit to the vet was momentous. Mr. M is a house cat in the truest sense of the word. He never leaves the house. Open a door and he watches to see what comes in but will not venture over the threshold to go out. So when it came time to go to the vet he was experiencing one of his first trips into the big, bad world.
After an obligatory 30 second freak out over being confined and a lot of kitty cursing, he settled down. By the time we got to the vet he was very Stoic. Cool and calm, no hissing or fighting. What a guy. Didn’t flinch when his microchip ID went in--now he’s a cat with a record and a number! He was weighed and in his bare paws topped the scale at 14.3 pounds. That’s well over the 6 kilo (13.2lb) limit for cabin flying so he is going to have to go cargo. Er… below deck with all the other pirate pet animals.
After a moment of panic at the idea of our baby being in a cold dark cargo hold, we realized that it would be best and Air France seemed very concerned about his welfare. Also we thought that stuck under a cabin seat he wouldn’t be able to move and that would be cruel. At least in his high end International Airline approved carrier he has room to stand up and move about, play solitaire and check his email.
There’s always a question about drugs and animals in transit. After talking to a lot of people and our vet we decided to give Mouche a little dose of sleepy-time powder. It won’t put him out it will just make it easier for him to sleep.
We’ve got a couple of small cans of food in our luggage and we’ll get kitty litter at the first Intermarche supermarket we see.
That should get us through that travel day and help him get settled in.
Then best of all we have to go to the local prefecture (mayor/police station) and get him a passport. Yup, a kitty passport so that he when he’s caught in some police raid of the local salmon bistro he can show his papers and be sent home with only a reprimand.
Photos and text © 2010 Steve Meltzer
How is your kitty faring in his new digs? Our grand-kitty has lived in Paris for 10 years and has had to move three times, but he's still enjoying his 'city' life.
ReplyDeleteScaramouche is adjusting to his French life by eating only the most expensive cat food (Sheba at an euro a can!) After all we are only his staff so wedo what we can.
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