Squishy00

Hi Angie,

We're in a very similar situation to you. Our cat (Pumpkin) is also 8 years old and absolutely hates travelling. I have nightmares about just taking him for his yearly jabs to the vets as he gets himself so worked up - messing himself and being sick. We will be heading to Brisbane hopefully in March, so still have sometime to go. We won't have any jobs to go to in Brisbane, so that means the very likely possibility of one or two moves once we're there.

We would really love hubby's sister to take Pumpkin, but although she would love to, her husband doesn't want a cat. She's the only person I'll consider, as our cat can be very difficult and she has had lots of difficult cats in the past. She seems to prefer cats with a bit of fight in them as she says it gives them character :scared:
She's also the only person that would want him, as his reputation precedes him - and is much exaggerated
He's mellowed a lot with age but still bites and scratchs sometimes for no reason whatsoever

If she can't take him he's definitely coming with us, but I have the odd sleepless night thinking about it now and it's still 8 months away.

Anyone out there faced with this decision - You have my sympathy!!!!

Angie - As you said, you're cat will be better of and will probably settle in much quicker then you do. I know you and you're family will be very upset when the time comes, but you just have to keep thinking that it is for the best.

(((((hugs))))) to you and your family
Karen

iPom

Cats get checked by the animal welfare/vet at each port of call. Given that this happens, they will make sure he's clean and has soft bedding for the next haul. Don't worry too much.
Ours didn't like going on trips to the vet either and here we are now nearly 3 months in and he's loving it.

poppets

Our cat (10yrs) used to hate going to the vets, sick, poo etc,( & it was only 2 mins away) but on her last trip there i devcided to simulate the conditions of the hold in the plane eg dark & warm, so i put a blanket over her carrier, & turned the heating up & she was fine, not a peep. This gave me reassurance that she'd be ok on the flight. On the way to heathrow she had a little poo but nothing major, we took her huge blanket & the pet shippers put it in her crate for her. She was collected from her destination airport by the vetenary nurse from the cattery where she would be staying, i rang a ouple of days later when we arrived & they said she was fine & settling in well. She loves it here been here 3 months & its like she has had a new lease of life. when we collected her from said cattery to bring her to her new home (an hours drive) we again made the car dark & warm , no probs at all.
best wishes

Squishy00

I'm probably going to sound really paranoid now, but the thought of somebody opening up the carrier to change the bedding is even more scary.

Our vet always puts on the huge leather gloves as soon as he sees our little darling and checks that all the windows and doors are shut
He's a bit of an escape artist on top of all his other crimes.

On the plus site though, he is incredibly tough and I'm sure it would take more then a very long flight and a stint in quarantine to bother him
Back in February he had some sort of infection in his paw, which was the size of a fist within 2 days. The vet gave him the normal injection dosage to knock out a cat his size, but to no avail. After finally recieving the dosage which would apparently knock out a horse, he was only at that drunken stage where they bump into things

Squishy00

He's due his yearly jabs within the next few weeks, so I shall give this a try.
I'm sure that once we're settled he'll love it too, it's just the waiting before we are at that stage which will be hard

Thanks
Karen

zoe13

i can totally sympathise with all the cat-lovers panicking over flights, quarantine etc. i was exactly the same this time last year at the prospect of the trauma i was about to put our two through. one is fairly chilled generally but hates car travel, the other i rescued from a squat when she was teeny and loves me, tolerates my partner and is scared stiff of everyone else - so i knew i definitely couldn't leave her with anyone in uk. we used airpets based just out of heathrow and they were great. the poor mog who hates car travel pooped on the way down and so the cattery girl had to bath him - that didn't go down well at all as you can imagine! anyway they showed me the crates they were going in and were friendly but professional.

they had to stay in eastern creek (nov-dec last year) and i was in adelaide so i couldn't visit them - if i could of done i'm not even sure if i would, not sure if it would have upset them. i rung every few days and spoke to the girl who was allocated to care for them and she sounded lovely too. i then had to arrange getting them picked up from eastern creek, taken back to the airport and put on another flight, poor things. i used dogtainers and they were brilliant too. i picked the mogs up from adelaide airport and they were just so pleased to see me!

so they have been here a few months now. they have only just started going out as we were in rented accomodation for a short time to start off. they love the sun (even though it's chilly, it's not like winter in uk!) and haven't met any snakes..! they do go out the front and on the road which they couldn't in the uk, so that's a worry but fingers crossed..

from my experience i would advise that if you want to bring them do, they are very hardy creatures and adaptable. the staff at the quarantine places must have seen all manner of cats with all sorts of 'issues' so i'm sure they are properly set up to cope.

best of luck to all !

astonished

of all the creatures that could survive the transition from UK to OZ cats have got to be the most resiliant. I implore everybody to give their cats a chance when emmigrating. That first view of the cat stretched out in the sun legs in air so happy in the new life is worth the cost. as cats get older (mine are 16 and i just moved) the new enviroment is a huge boost to their often boring lives once they get over the initial shock. besides we need more cat people here to ward off the tiny minority of feral greens who want to get rid of cats and dogs. meouw

zoe13

quite right - i am amazed that cats are thought of as the scourge of all things natural - do people think cats run over kangaroos and koalas and all other manner of wildlife you see dead on roads? do ythey not connect this to the cars they inevitably have in their own driveways?? us non indigenous types are just as alien here as cats and dogs!

one of mine always brought me pressies (if i was in and saw him stalking i would always do my best to stop him murdering) but he has not caught anything here, he has just made little dens for himself and follows the sun round the garden, and when it's summer it will be too hot to go chasing stuff. my female mog goes off exploring god knows where but she hasn't the patience to stalk.

ditto the meow

markrj

Hi there,

Cat has now been introduced to the person and seems to like him(change of people), he is going to visit cat again and then when she finally goes I am going to go and see her settled, what more can you ask of than to actually see with your own eyes how loved the cat will be.
Thanks for all kind wishes, there is a treat for me in exchange for loosing the cat I am getting a dog (perhaps Puppy) when we get settled, I have always wanted a dog and I may even get a pet lizard in the garden as well,although Hubbie still wants another feline, so we will sure have a house full of pets.

Angie(and Mark)