No, not to Abu Dhabi. But yes, that's right my friends, I'm potentially going to pay several hundred dollars to do it too. So, right now I sound crazy. Let me explain and hear me out.
I love cats and tend to get very attached to them. When my husband and I came to China, we had to leave our cat behind. We're only in China for a year anyway, so we'll see him again. No biggie. However, we missed having a cat so bad that we went out and bought one from a local market. He's the cutest cat ever. Of course he gets feisty and has ruined our curtains, but he's sweet and climbs into bed with us at night. I mean come on, how could I just leave him behind?
So, when we return soon from America, he'll be with us. With all the other people who love to travel and love their pets just as much if not more, it's easy to transport little fluffy even internationally. If your pet is small, it can ride in the cabin with you on the airplane under the seat in front of you. If it needs more space, it can be put in the excess baggage area for a larger fee. We're talking around $100. Aren't our pets worth it or are we way too attached to them? I might end up paying more and having him shipped separately by cargo before the summer since it gets so hot here. The airlines won't accept animals if the temperatures are too high for the animal's safety.
The other thing is the animal rights issues in China. I don't know what would happen to him if we did leave him in China unless we found him a good home. But pets left behind usually become dinner. Sorry if you're queasy, but some Chinese people really do eat anything.
Needless to say, our boss thinks we're insane. When I told him of our plans, he asked, "Wouldn't it be cheaper and much easier to just buy another cat when you get to America?" My reply: "Howie's great and our best souvenir from China. He's been with us the whole time." Even if it costs $500, it's worth it to me. I think of what I can buy with $500--two textbooks---and I look at my cat. No contest, he's coming home.
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That's so sweet.
I'd do the same thing. I'm glad you saved your kitty from being dinner, and I bet he's the greatest!
it is a little pricey, but i would do the same thing. i wouldn't want my pet to become someone's food.
I brought a cat home from Australia several years ago. It was a major pain! The hardest part was figuring out the legal requirements. It seemed like everybody we called told us a different story about how to go about it. We finally just ended up paying a company that specialized in pet transport a few hundred dollars to do it for us.
What they did turned out to be remarkably simple. The regs say you need a special kennel, with two layers of screening and a way to provide food and water to the animal without opening the door. That seems like overkill for a cat but there was a jaguar on the same flight as our kitty so I suppose the regs are generic and need to accomodate that situation. It sounded daunting but they provided something pretty simple nailed together out of plywood. And the regs required certain vaccinations which were not too hard to get. Finding rabies vaccination in Australia is tricky because there is no rabies in Australia so most vets don't have it. But they sent us to a particular vet that they work with for that purpose. They made a huge profit and the main thing they were selling was their knowledge of how to navigate the regulations.
Once we got the cat home to America she got beat up every day by the other cats in our neighborhood for about the first 30 days. Apparently they did not like her Australian accent. After that though, she got really tough and it was the neighbors who were hauling their cats to the vet until their cats learned to leave ours be.
...but I haven't heard about the double screening. Can you elaborate? It's so hard to be sure how to do it right, so we'll probably end up using an agency unless we figure out the cargo system. Since it'll be too hot when we leave, we want to ship him through an airline in May. Airlines will ship your pet for you through their cargo holds separate from your flight without much fuss. The kennel does have to be special and labeled. I haven't figured out the whole food dishes accessible from the outside thing though. This way, if something's wrong, the airline would at least tell us when we check in and we could have some time to fix it without missing a flight. Our worst fear is that if we took him on a flight with us, our cat would be denied at the last moment and we'd scramble to figure something out.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
I came home from Australia in 1991 so things could have changed a lot since then.
I seem to recall that after talking to the airline and some veterinarians and US Customs, and getting totally conflicting advice that the US Embassy finally faxed us some regulations and that they were nearly incomprehensible. Totally obtuse!
I barely remember the kennel. One tends to have a lot on their mind when they are organizing an international move. I barely saw it when I dropped the cat off with the transport company and I was brain-dead from an 18 hour flight when I picked the cat up at customs at the other end. It was made of thin plywood. Where there were windows, there was a pannel of course wire mesh screening stapled to the plywood on the inside of the crate and another panel of screening attached to the plywood on the outside of the crate. I don't remember how the food and water thing worked. I think it was just a little tiny door cut into the main door and there were little bowls that hung on the inside of the door for food and water.
I remember having the same "worst fear" as you. I think you are on the right track. Hire somebody and let them provide the crate and organize getting the cat on the plane.
Are you there for work? I turned the cost in as an expense to my company. They also payed to kennel my dog in the USA at his trainer's home for a year which wasn't cheap either. But it was my employer who turned my life on its ear and uprooted my family so I figured that it was right for them to pick up the tab and they agreed.
I loved Australia. We got the kitten for my daughter's 4th birthday which happened just after we arrived in Australia. My daughter went to pre-school and she looked so cute in the little school uniforms that all the kids wear to school there..
I'm teaching English at a high school and like I said, my boss thinks I'm nuts. I sorta threw it out there like, "You guys wouldn't pay for that, right?" He laughed. And said no.
Have you blogged about your experiences in Austrailia? I'd love to hear more. Was it hard being an expat and raising your family in another country?
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
I mention it in posts now and again when it seems relevant.
Yes, it was very hard on my family. I'm pretty sure it played a roll in my divorce. My wife always drank too much but her alcoholism got really out of hand in Australia. Maybe it was isolation. I was working really hard building a huge computer system for Telecom Australia on a very tight government mandated schedule and quickly came to know lots of people. She hung out with my friends some but never really developed her own group. Not long after we got home she graduated from a bottle of wine every day to a bottle of vodka. It was a long ugly story from there that after years of hospitals and treatment centers and tens of thousand of dollars and much unhappiness eventually ended in divorce. It is still wreaking havoc on my life and more importantly my daughters. It sort of cycles up and down in terms of misery depending on if she is in jail (the good times) or not (the bad times). Things are considerably better now that my daughter is over 18 (turned 20 yesterday) and does not have to be subject to her mother's custodianship. An awful disease!
I bet that was more than you wanted to hear!
None of this was Australia's fault. What a great country! Friendly, beautiful, well governed, wealthy and empty. While Australia was a bad experience for my wife it was great for my daughter. She was very young but still remembers a lot. And I think the pre-school environment gave her a permanent educational advantage. She has kicked butt in school ever since.
I can't get enough of people's stories. I've become addicted to blogging in the last few days and just can't seem to stop reading once I start. I've been at it for 4 hours now. It's better than being addicted to video games right? I want to be a pastoral counselor and I'm thrilled that I get to listen to people's stories for the rest of my life.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
Well at least you saved him from dinner. At least you treat your pet like a human because I know some other people that don't . I really did not know Chinese eat almost anything over there. That's kind of gross.Trust me when I say your cat surely does appreciate you.
It's become a huge inside joke among Chinese people. I forget exactly how the saying goes, but it's something like certain Chinese people will eat anything that lived. There's stories about Guangdong province, where SARS began, where people eat live monkey brain. Yes, the monkey is still alive and they eat it's brain right away. But, this is Guangdong province and my Chinese friends think this is gross.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
That's so sweet! I could never leave my dog anywhere. He is my family and my best friend (yes, I know it's corny), but I, too would pay whatever it takes to make sure my dog is always by my side. I completely understand why you're paying to have your cat shipped back to America!
I think it's the right thing to do. Creatures are awesome and should be valued more. I even got a new kitten a few weeks ago. So now I'll be sending two cats across the world when I do come back to America. Since I'm going home for a vacation soon and then returning to China for another school year, I'm even considering sending my American cat over to China... I'm not sure yet.
Thanks for your comment. I wrote this months ago! It makes me so happy that someone cared to read an old blog. Thanks.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina