aston man

i am going to have to tell my daughter a lie and its going to break my heart..

i have decided not to take our cats,my daughter loves them but i just cannot afford to take them,also i dont want to have problems getting a rental..

it will kill me telling her but i have had to make a discission for all of us,i dont want problems when i get out there..

i can not tell her were not taking the cats,as it will cause major upset before we go..

has anyone else been in the same situation?any sujestions?

thanks,

ast

curly

Are they old M? if so you could explain it wouldn't be fair on them being cooped up on the plane, and that they might not survive so would be kinder to find them another home here in the UK

shiels

Ast im in a quandry over taking my cat too!!! I adore my cat but i just cant decide if its the best thing for her. At first i thought it was the worry about her being bit, stung, eaten, etc. but now im over that and want to take her but just cant decide if its fair on her or not??
My kids have said that if the dog and cat dont go nor will they..........

anybody want a couple of kids!!!!!!!! No only joking!!! kids will have to go along with whatever we decide. C x

herrchook

Oh Ast, what a nightmare. It's sooo expensive isn't it? Do you know someone who you can rehome your cats with so you could maybe stay in touch with them?

My OH would rather we didn't take our moggies too, but I've had them since they were teeny kittens and my girls just love them to bits. I think I could leave them with someone I knew well but noone wants them so they need to come with us. Will sell stuff even if I need to to pay their fare. However, I know tha'ts not always possible and I fully understand your decision mate.

I think a little white lie about it being safer for the cats here (aussie wildlife probs and not an easy flight etc) might work. Bribery might work too - maybe the promise of a pool (in our case, I suspect the promise of a hammock in the garden would work).

Of course, depending on your little one's age (i.e. under 3ish), you could say the cats are on a long holiday and they might just forget

It's a truly difficult decsion, good luck with it mate.

aston man

shiels,we used to live next door to fields and my two cats would bring back a rabbit every day and eat it,they are like farm cats..
i honestly think that they will only last a week,we want to live in the hills so i would of thought there may be a few snakes and spiders up there..

there are not lots of rentals in the town we want so ,what about if i cannot get a rental?then i wont be able to get the kids in the local school..

sometimes you just have to be cruel to be kind,and i mean that for us and the cats..

TRF

I told my 5 year old that Cats are not aloud on planes as it can make them poorly and she accepted that really well! Although I have been lucky as one of our friends said she'll have the cat for her little girl (also 5), so were happy and I think the Cat will be aswell.

herrchook

that's a great solution, you're lucky.

esperanza

Tell them if they can save up a couple of thousand pounds then you'll match it! It will never happen!

Clippy

Well my son knows the cats aren't coming, he's very unhappy about it and does get upset if he thinks about it too much.

Firstly, there's no way Dale would pay thousands to ship the two cats over and secondly they're knocking on now and it probably wouldn't be fair to put them through the flight and quarantine.

My brother in law is having one of the cats and I've told my son that but he's still not happy about it.

Guess we'll just have to grit our teeth and hope he gets over it quickly Don't know what else to do

godfrey family-lets go!

My OH thinks I am daft as I am so worried about our 2 cats, 1 of them is such a softy and follows me around all of the time, I am worried how he will cope when we are gone!! But, like a lot of people can't afford to ship them over.

The other thing is trying to find someone who will take on 2 cats as I don't want them split up, I am hoping that when we sell the house, they will be lovely people who will keep them!!

Haven't told the kids anything yet though!!

Kapri

Aston - you are right to do what's best for your family. If you tell your daughter they have gone to a loving home where people will look after them she will be fine.
We are taking our dog because she's 7 and would find it difficult to live with anyone else but cats are different.
We had to rehome our puppy recently because our older dog wouldn't accept him. The kids were upset at first but have got over it a lot quicker than I would have expected.

Dorothy

We too were on limited funds when we moved here. We left our cat and our dog in Canada when we left. Our dog went to a lovely family who owned a couple of acres of land just north of where we lived. We simply explained to our kids that he would be much happier living with young kids on a farm where he could run and play all the time. Our cat went to live with a family with a severely autistic boy. We also explained to the kids that this little fellow was very sick and Tabitha made him feel better when she was around him. Although they were heartbroken, my kids realised that leaving their pets behind was best for not only the pets, but we were helping another family by letting our cat live with them. We've been here 6 months now and to me a house is not a home without a cat. So for my birthday in January my family took me to the RSPCA and bought me the most beautiful black and white 3 year old cat. We've named her Magpie.
Why not explain to your daughter truthfully that you don't have enough money to bring her cat with you and that once you are settled you can look into getting a new one? It's never a good thing to fib to your children. They're far too smart to fall for it usually.

sasbear

My cats were rehomed - still makes me sad to think I left them behind - but now in hindsight I did the right thing.

My cats would have never coped with it here. White cat would have had trouble with the sun and maybe skin cancer - she absolutely hated staying in the house. The black cat would have like it but I couln't bring one and not the other. They are both very settled in their new homes and I miss them so much.

I even got an ozzie blue cat when I got here and didn't bond with it (still haven't really) because I felt guilty about leaving my other 2.

Tough call Aston - but do what you have to do mate
xx

thepomandozzy

Hi Aston

We have had to tell our son that we are not taking our cat because we dont think she will survive quarantine because she is a fussy cat and when we went to scotland on holiday even though the inlaws were coming round twice a day to feed her and spend time with her she hardly ate for the 3 weeks we were away. My OH brother and sister-in-law have offered to give her a home which we are pleased about and ryan is happy about that although if he thinks about it too much he sits and sobs about it, he is getting better with the decision.

Good luck with telling your daughter cause I know how you feel.

Tracey x

Munchmel

We have just had a similar dilemna, at first our kids point blank refused to go without animals (1 dog, 1 cat, 2 x guinea pigs) It was a bit shifty but we watched a few "Australias deadliest animals", and started a family discussion about what would happen if said cat ate a spider, tried to get a snake...My daughter then asked if she could get one of her mates to adopt her cat as she was worried about its safety in Oz, their Gran is taking the dog (kids thought she wouldn't survive the flight as she is a little nervous yorkie!), and my daughters school have accepted a donation of 2 x guinea pigs & hutch. None of this has had to be put into action yet, so don't know how it will go but didn't want anything causing them any additional upset post arrival eg pretending it hadn't made it through quarantine

Good luck!