Rescues from UAE

[onthecathunt]

Has anyone done this or had success with it? I'm finding it near impossible to find a rescue cat in the UK that is allowed to be rehomed with young children and allowed outside (a lot seem to be FIV+)
A lot of the rescues say they're no longer accepting applications as they have too many.
I've come across rescue sites flying cats over from Abu Dhabi, all vet checked with chips passports etc. Everyone seems genuine and is requesting videos of the home/garden/family and filling out in depth adoption forms. I'm worried they might not be genuine or it's bad for the cats etc so looking for advice.
Thanks

Yes going through desert paws so that's good to hear re the insurance. Did you drive to near Heathrow to do the handover? All seems like a covert operation haha

If that falls through we adopted via World Animal Friends from Romania. They were superb and the cost was only £120 (admittedly before we left the EU.

@onthecathunt He came straight to our house in a pet taxi 😂. He came with 8 other cats and we were all put in a WhatsApp group with regular updates from the point of check in! Very well organised.
It was lovely to see pictures of all the cats in their new homes.

@onthecathunt Just wondering how this is going. I'm also finding it hard to get a rescue cat and have been considering adopting from abroad too.
We're in Cornwall so a long long way from Heathrow if we would have to collect them.
Would be interested in the process, thanks.

Me too but I'm in SE Scotland!

Our new cat is arriving early May, we're now paying £50 for the pet taxi to drop him to ours.
The process has been great so far, I spoke to the UK coordinator from Desert Paws and she asked me to WhatsApp her videos of our house/garden and a small intro to us as a family. She then sent over options of cats inc videos as they became available but I saw our cat on their Facebook group and asked her to arrange it that way with his foster. You don't pay any money until you have the cat in hand and she responds straight away if you have any questions, at first I thought it all sounded a bit odd but been very impressed so far.
So many beautiful cats come up on the Facebook group each day I can see us getting another in time!

Great. Thanks for the update. Sounds very positive.

When I spoke to the UK lady who is based in Knightsbridge she did mention they only send the cats to London then they get a quote from the pet taxi but I'm not sure how much Cornwall would cost!! Also to say we're paying £325 adoption fees for the cat with all chip passport vaccines etc included

@Snozzlemaid did you manage to find a cat in the end?

No not yet. I've decided to bide my time and keep an eye on local rescues.

Desert cat is now Grubby Cat as he likes rolling in the soil and tends to be a grey cat instead of a white cat.

Energy has decreased now he goes outside - we thought he'd go outside all day but actually he pops in and out and doesn't go far.

He is super friendly, very bonded and very bright - took one go to teach him the microchip feeder, our previous cat it took months of effort.

Much as I adore Silky Cat I think I am smitten with the Arabian Mau now.

My UK lady is based in Dunstable and advertises on Pets 4 Homes. I like that I can feed back to the fosters how happy the Grubster is now.

Ah its so nice to hear of these ME cats finding homes! I am in a country close to the UAE and have acquired ....erm... quite a few Arabian Maus, as the stray population is terrible. I'm looking to rehome most over the next year or two and it will cost me 400-800 GBP per cat to get them to either Europe or the US. But I can't abandon them as they won't survive back on the streets. I'll do some fundraising and also have set aside a budget to cover it.

One of my moggies, helping out as always by sleeping on my to-do list.

Beautiful cat @SerafinaPekkala
Ours arrived today from Desert Paws and he's gorgeous, such a smooth process and he's settled in really well, happily sitting on our laps for cuddles and putting so loudly the minute he gets any attention!

Aw. That's great news. I think we must need a photo surely?

Here he is!

Oh he's so gorgeous. How beautiful.

Beautiful

What a gorgeous boy 🥰 I love how he's casually lounging on the back of your sofa and posing for photos, he's going to be so happy with you!

He's beautiful - congratulations on your new family member!

We've just learnt we're getting a 9 month cat from a rescue. So I won't need to look abroad now.

Congrats!