Urgent advice needed from cat lovers!

[AussieSim]

I am moving home to Australia in about 3 weeks. When the original decision was made I checked out the quarantine regulations about taking my cat back and came out with the general impression that she needed a rabies booster shot 8 weeks before we fly and then she would have to stay in quarantine for only 30 days, so on this basis I decided to take her back. I had thought that if the quarantine was too long then I would find her a new home - and even lined up a couple of options.

Anyway, so today I find out that I must have read the stuff in a complete haze and that she has to have the shot (which she already had on 12 May) and then be tested for antibodies 8 weeks later (round about now) and then stay here in germany for another 60 days before she can leave and then when she gets to Australia she has to stay in quarantine for a further 110 days.

I love her dearly and she has been through thick and thin by my side providing all the unconditional love at her disposal. She is 15 years old and has dropped quite a bit of weight since we came to germany but the vet thought she would survive the flight ok. She has always been a fairly high strung cat and does fret when I am not around. She is great with DS, although finds him a bit more annoying now that he is walking.

I want to do the right thing by her as well as taking into account my feelings.

So I have 2 choices. Give her to a friend of mine who has 2 children and a small garden and wish her a good life with them OR

Give her to my BIL's mum and dad, who have a big house (that she wouldn't be allowed into) and yard but ask that she stays with them for about 150 days (by the end of that it could be getting pretty cold in the yard) and then send her over to Oz where she will spend 30 days in quarantine before rejoining us.

I feel like I can't really get an impartial view from my DH who is not her biggest fan, especially as the flight alone costs €1,250, plus vets fees, plus daily rate in quarantine.

Congratulations to anyone who is still with me. I look forward to hearing what you think.

Could your friend with the children and the garden have her for the 150 days, then send her on to you in Oz? Your friend could perhaps treat your cat as a "guest" to get her children used to having pets around. At least she could be indoors and comfy.

But, um, I hate to say this, at 15 is she really going to be "with" you in Oz for any length of time. And do you think that she'd stand up to the flight? Sorry to sound heartless but perhaps your cat might be better off having some a new owner.

Oohhh I don't know, I can't decide either.

That's a tough one.

We had two cats we brought back to the UK via Denmark. Leaving them where we were was never an option (we even discussed smuggling them in as we thought quarantine cruel) but then they were only 4 years old.

They stayed at a friends flat (they were flat cats at the time anyway) for what amounted in the end to 9 months and then came over here - via Holland. Firstly DH took flight to Denmark with them, then we obviously paid for their upkeep, many vet bills and then the final journey from Denmark to Holland and Holland London. We never totted up the final bill - DH couldn't live knowing he'd spent that much on a couple of cats (and one of which ruined his very expensive leather coat!)

Having said all that - I think the story would have been different if they had been much older. I think (maybe) that if I was in your shoes I would think about letting him have new owners (or servants as they really are) if he is in good health.

Sorry it seems I cannot be impartial either - but you did ask for a cat lovers point of view (I think).

Some good points BH. I just thought that the trauma to the friends kids would be too much, and so hadn't even planned to ask her to do that, but I guess I could discuss it with her.

I am mindful that puss is old (but she caught two mice just yesterday). But no vet has ever thought that she is close to kicking it. It is only in the last 18mths that she has dropped some weight. Having said that I would seriously consider leaving her here out of concern for her health, but then I get so depressed about it.

She has moved house with me 14 times, seen me through 3 boyfriends and one ex-husband, had 6kittens in my wardrobe, not to mention coming to the other side of the earth with me and seeing me through my pregnancy and my first child. I would just feel like I was abandoning her in her twilight years .

Any other opinions welcomed!

aussiesim - reading through, i think your answer is already in your question. i haven't moved country but i moved house recently. we had to put one of our cats to sleep before we moved as she had cancer and couldn't eat. that left her sister (they were both 15)who at that point seemed healthy. over the last 6 weeks she became very ill - her sister dying and the house move must have contributed to this and we found last week she had cancer too and she died last week. this has been very upsetting as we were so looking forward to new house/life. very difficult with your situation as you are willing to wait. i have 2 ds's (1 and 4 years) and would say old cats and children aren't the best mix - they can't comprehend that the cat may need quiet etc. depending on age and temperament of your friends children i would at a push home her there. or even better keep searching for a quiet elderly lady with a warm lap and a big garden that needs some company - 3 weeks is a long time - big advert in local paper/put the word about..?

You are so right Shrub. I was just thinking about kids and puss. It is so hard for me to do stuff like put ads in papers etc here though what with my limited language skills. The two options I have found are expat or extended family. I have an ex-neighbour who said she would have her too - but she has a big silly dog - so a definite non-starter. But as you see, people just love her - she is very stunning to look at and a little eccentric in her behavious (she will go for a walk with me sometimes around the streets while I push the pram). But you have given me something else to think about. If she died shortly after arriving in Australia I would surely blame the trip and myself. But if she gets hit by a car or disappears from her new home I think I would torture myself badly over that too. Oh god, some people will think I am mad to get so worked up about a pet.

not mad aussiesim - your just trying to make the best decision for your old friend what do you think your cat would want?

Aussiesim, Iwill post tomorrow when I have given this more thought. We have 3 cats - until quite recently we had 4 - who are all between 13 and 15. We have moved house 6 times with them and moved countries twice so I understand a bit of what you are going through. My immediate reaction is to ask your friend to have your cat on the understanding that she will be coming to live with you asap. I couldn't imagine anyone loving our cats as much as we do but then realise that maybe I am very selfish. Will think about this and post tomorrow. What a difficult situation for you

You made me cry shrub, what would puss say if I asked her what to do. First I think she would be just outraged about the red tape and secondly I don't think she would understand me even thinking about leaving her here. But what does she know, she's just a cat and I have to be the responsible adult - I hate that sometimes.

I did some travel paperwork for someone taking a 16yr old cat from uk to usa. I had to write a special dispensation that the cat was fit to travel because although healthy it loooked about to keel over. 3yrs later I was amazed to have same cat back for vaccination, the owners had returned from the states and brought the cat back with them, through 6 mths quarantine. It lived for another year. I originally thought they were a bit mad to take the cat in the first place but I was wrong. So now-I would say take the cat-she sounds like a sweetie anyway.

have a look atthis info
Looks like you can travel anytime after rabies bloods done (which you could have done tomorrow), then take cat when you go, and she would do quarantine for 6mths minus any time since blood test,ie be released 6 mths from tomorrow.
At least if you did that you could visit her.
Cats do really well in quarantine-much better than dogs.

Thanks for your yes vote miggy. I just don't think my puss would do well in quarantine. When I travelled for business or went on holidays I used to put her in to a cat hotel and she would just about go on a hunger strike, the attendants would barely see her as she would hide in her box during the day and if they went to her for maintenance or to give her a pat she would hiss at them. It was always better if I could leave her with a friend or have someone come into our place to feed her, which is what I have done since I have been here. Even after I get home she is very aloof and p*** off for a few days. Soooo, I would be aiming for minimum time in quarantine. Plus visiting the quarantine station in Sydney I would need to take a packed lunch - it is at Eastern Creek - way on the outskirts and we will be living in one of the beachside suburbs.

sorry - didn't mean to make you cry making the decision is the most difficult/upsetting bit, after that, its upwards and onwards. completely understand when you say you hate being a responsible adult. i expected both my cats to sort of walk off into the woods when they felt they knew it was their time to go. i am terribly sentimental when it comes to animals - i use to rescue slugs, worms, snails from pavements still do sometimes! (i blame walt disney myself!)god - when i was about 7, i remember crying when my dad decided to sell his car - yes i thought it was real and had feelingswhat i'm trying to say is that i can project a lot of my feelings onto animals. anyway i am going off the question. if you think your cat won't do well in quarentine do you mean you worry that she might not survive? if this is your worry then if there really is no luck with little old lady scenario (posters around the neighbourhood?) then i would try asap to start settling her in with the family with children (if you think those children will understand she is old and needs quiet and strokes). when you say you want to do the right thing by her aswell as take into account your feelings - i think your feelings must come after. i felt very guilty (should have spent more time, tried other treatments etc.) but essentially i had to make the best decision i could given the circumstances. hugs x

I am meeting with the friend with the kids tomorrow and I will see what she thinks of my dilemma. I am leaning toward doing what I can to get her to Oz with as short a time in quarantine as possible even though I am not sure that it is a selfish decision.

Poor old puss. I would go for the shortest possible time in quarantine. I have a very well travelled cat. She has lived in six countries and has thankfully only done quarantine once. They had to tranquilise her for the first few weeks as she went beserk. She is now almost 19, very thin but still quite sprightly. Unfortunately she has now started pooing everywhere, which is not nice and I am not sure why or what to do about it - not sure if it is an age thing or something is distressing her.

I also sympathise with you on reading the rules/not reading the rules properly. I did this when I was leaving Vienna and discovered that Puss needed her jabs three weeks before leaving and her certificate of good health three days before. I misread and thought both had to be done within three days of travel. Fortunately I had a sympathetic vet, who lied about the vaccination dates, which enabled me to take Puss to the city vet the next day for her health certificate and fly out the next day.

Could you ask friends to look after her for a few months? I have (so far) always found people who are willing to help out for a limited amount of time. If you pay for everything yourself, and organise a company to collect your cat and get her on the flight, that will also help (in my experience!).

Well my friend has agreed to look after puss for 5 or 6 months. She has explained this to her 6yo who is over the moon, but probably doesn't understand that this is just temporary.

My friend is worried about how long it will take puss to realise that her place is her new home and where she needs to come back to after she has been outside or hunting. Has anyone got any tips for this? I heard once to smear butter on their paws so that it takes ages to lick off and then they know they are home - doesn't sound all that convincing.

I have stressed to my friend that if something untoward does happen that I will not hold her responsible as I will know that she has done her best. Thanks again for all your support. In the end I just couldn't do without her after everything we've been through, although I have ensured that she has the shortest time in quarantine. Thankgod for understanding DH as well.

Now onto the rest of the nightmare that is moving house half way around the world.

Oh good luck Aussiesim. I was talking to my DH about you last night and your situation and we both agreed that if at all possible, you should keep your cat, but house her with friends who will love her in the meantime - this is obviously what you have decided anyway . am not sure if there are any 'rules' for settling cats into new home and think that although she might enjoy the taste, the butter will not actually make your puss any more at home in friends' house. I think its just a case of a litter tray in a smallish room, making sure she can't escape and lots of fuss and love. Good luck anyway - she sounds very sweet!

Have not read the full thread but I remember when Spook needed to learn more about travelling pets you mentioned that wherever your cat was it felt like home, did you?

I'm not a cat lover myself but understand what you are going through as I have thought many times about what would it happen if our dogs couldn't come with us if moving to other country, and this is what we thought:

-They would go to the RSPCA (I don't know if there is something like this in Germany) with the indication that they should be rehomed together maybe by an old person (they are very friendly with DS but I am not quite sure how safe they would be with other children, that may or may not be taught that animals deserve respect and do also need their own space).

I have seen that the RSPCA here takes their duty of rehoming animals so fanatically that they wouldn't risk giving us one of their animals because they were afraid we could leave it behind if we moved back to our country, it was a total error of judgement and two of their dogs would have enjoyed being the children of the family, a very good education and the best vet service on the city but, that's another story, the reason I'm writing this is just to illustrate the point that I believe they would go to no ends to guarantee that they would find the more suitable home for them, and they for sure would have access to more potential "adopters" than we do.

I'm not quite sure baout leaving the cat outside, specially if she has been an "indoors" cat all her life (she may disapear to try to find you), is there any other person who can take her for the 150 days? what about making some arrangement with somebody else who has a well cared for cat? You can offer them to pay some amount of money per month so they take care of the cat, £100-150 per month may be a good extra for some families and it wuld save you thousands in cattery fees?

Sounds like you made the right decision. I think it would be good if your friend could keep her in with a litter tray for 1-2 weeks. Then when she lets her out the first time make sure she is hungry. Rattle the biscuits/tap the food tin to call her in after a short while. Good luck and bon voyage!

My friend is really worried about being able to keep her locked inside till puss knows that it is her new home and therefore not disappear. The trouble is that she has a six year old who is in and out the back door to the garden. I was thinking maybe I should tell my friend to lock her in the laundry with her kitty litter and food and only let her out into the house to get to know it when she can be sure of keeping the house locked down tight.

One website said that a cat should be kept inside at a new house for 2 to 3 weeks till they accept it as their new home - might take even longer given that she will have a new owner/family too.

I am so depressed about this I am having trouble focussing on the rest of the move and my DH really thinks he is getting the rough end of the stick.

When we moved house we kept our 4 cats in for 1 week. For the first day I kept them in one room so that they could get used to their new home. Gradually increased their freedom to explore the house. I wanted them to be able to look out the windows because I thought it would help them to recognise the house when they went out (is that mad?).

It was easier to keep them in cos it was winter - so fewer open doors and windows. When we let them out the first time I was in a complete panic - I even tried to follow them round the garden (with 4 to chase it didnt work and I looked ridiculous).

As soon as they were out of sight I was conviced that they were gone forever. 10 minutes later they were back at the door. IMO it helps that your cat is a girl - as they do not roam as much.

Try not to worry too much - but talk it over with your friend - she will be glad of any help you can give - especially if she has not had a cat before.

just moved, so also keeping cats in - breaks my heart but want them to settle in before letting them out. They do now seem more at home and relaxed. good luck with it, AussieSim.

Just wanted to update that I took my cat to the vet today and when I asked him for help with settling puss into a new home he gave me this thing you plus into a powerpoint that emits puss pherenomes which make them feel happy and homely - comes with refills etc. So you put it in the room you lock them in while they settle or the room you want them to view as home and hey presto.

BTW, my next door neighbour suggested that I ask her next door neighbour to keep puss, instead of my friend, so that she wouldn't have to change territories (or put up with 2 little kids). I am waiting for the result of her discussion with her DH. I don't have much time though - she will have to go on Wednesday before the packers arrive.

Yes, you can get some stuff called Feliway from the vet. It can also be sprayed in travel box to get them to calm down. Is that the same stuff as pussy pheromones?

Any advice on what I can do with my Pissy Pussy? (Apologies for hijacking thread)

Sorry Tanzie, I haven't got any experience with incontinent cat - I guess I've got that to look forward to yet - can't be far off as my puss just turned 15. I noticed that Amazon have a huge range of books on cats. I guess you have searched the internet and checked petplace.com etc - sorry I haven't read your other thread.

I just need to share. I am sitting here crying. The packers come tomorrow to put everything in a container for its cruise to Australia. I am not ready, my husband only gets home tonight so I have been left with all final preparations AND on top of all that my cat has just been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and will need to be given a tablet three times a day for three weeks and then a tablet every day for the rest of her life. I was supposed to hand her over to my friend and her family who were going to look after her for 5months before she can come to Australia with us and I just don't think I can ask her to do this for us. I don't know what to do, except I want to look after puss and make sure she is alright, not abandon her here on the other side of the world.