Pet Passports – done!
We’re just back from the vets after getting everything sorted for the pet passports. Three rabies jabs and a microchip later we’re £300 lighter but good to go. The cats all seemed pretty happy in their carriers (cheepo ones from PetsAtHome, recommended by the pet courier) so that’s quite reassuring. Now to book the courier.
We deliberated for a while about transporting them ourselves, either in a van (along with all our belongings) and convoying with me in the car with the kids or – if we decided to use a removals company – in the car with all of us. The van option looked risky – more about that in a future post – so we thought maybe it would be fun if we all travelled together in the car. But three cats and two young kids on a 16-hour drive, seriously? That would mean three animals that will want to get there as quickly as possible versus two small children who don’t want to be in a car for more than a couple of hours at a time, equating to two anxious, irate parents up front trying to block out the screaming and yowling. Not in a million years, thank you. Having looked at a few pet courier companies we’ve decided to go with Pets2Go2. They have a very transparent looking website with nice clean vans and their communication has been excellent. It won’t be cheap but we decided they will at least travel down in a safe, pet-centric environment and be well looked after leaving us to focus on our human passengers. It also mean we’ll be relieved to see them when we pick them up rather than so strung out from the journey that we struggle to give them the reassurance and attention they need. H, for one, will be so happy to reunite with Bitty after a couple of days separation. She’s mad about that cat – “he’s my best friend” – and I suspect he’ll be pretty pleased to see her too.
It’s going to be the longest journey they’ve ever made by car, as it will for us all! It will be worth it though. What could be nicer for a cat than living somewhere without cars, surrounded by open fields (so same as here) and with sunshine (accompanied by heat – so nothing at all like here) most days? I like to think that Star can live out her last days snoozing in the shade while Ty and Bitty rough up the local rodent population before sleeping it off on the roof somewhere. There are a few neighbourhood kitties for them to contend with but I’m sure any territorial spats can soon be settled. And they will, for the first time, be able to experience hot terracotta tiles. Now if were a pussy cat I’d quickly forgive my owners the indignity of being stuck in a small cage for the best part of 48 hours knowing that was what they had in store for me. They’ve been stuck inside here for the best part of 48 hours thanks to the relentless rain – and there’s no end to that in sight!
One more practical consideration though: insurance. Can that be transferred or do we have to cancel? Currently two out of the three cats are insured (Star isn’t). That’s more than paid for itself and with the two boy cats I’d be nervous about not having it so something else to look into!