You’d think that letting cats out in an airport terminal would be the last thing anyone would want to do. Unfortunately it was necessary today in order for Pip and Tulus to make their journey to Germany to their forever home.
Having made sure the kittens were up to date with all of their jabs and free from any infections, it is time to take them to the airport. I’m up at 5am, allowing myself an hour for any difficulties getting the boys into their pet carrier.
I get myself ready and feed the kittens their breakfast. They are reluctant but not too aggressive about getting into the carrier. After a few one-in one-out moments I finally shut the door on the both of them.
We take the 25 minute journey to the airport. When I arrive the kittens create a lot of interest. Everyone I pass wants to get a glimpse of them, each person wondering what crazy person is taking two cats on a plane!
After a couple of phone calls I manage to locate the volunteer from the rescue centre who has the paperwork and knows the drill.
We locate Steven who is their new dad. The new pet carrier he has brought is tagged and the cats are checked for their microchip IDs. Sven has bought me a lovely box of chocolates for fostering them. It’s very sweet of him but I feel it should be me giving him chocolate for providing the boys with their forever home.
It’s at this point I learn that the new pet carrier must be scanned first before the cats are allowed in it. And that this is to be done at the oversized baggage scanner. And that once it’s scanned it can’t be taken anywhere. The cats, therefore, have to be moved from the old carrier to the new one in the middle of the terminal!
There are several challenges to this. Firstly the kittens are scared and are not keen on being manually moved. And secondly the new carrier and therefore the door is much larger than the old one. So we have erratic semi feral kittens combined with a fairly large escape route.
We combine towels to create a sort of tunnel and then give the cats a shake to get them to move over. They didn’t comply! The volunteer attempts to grab them and drag them over but they both bite and scratch at her and the attempt fails.
In the end I decide to be fairly brutal and reach in myself, grab them and sort of fling them over into the new carrier. It works and they seem a lot happier once they are in the larger space. I expected them to be stressed but all signs indicate they are relaxed and interested in the activity going on around them. And no one has to chase them threw the terminal building.
It is time to say goodbye. I wish them and Steven a safe journey and head to my car. This is the moment I foster for. I’ve done my part and now the cats can have a long and happy life somewhere else. It brings me so much happiness it’s hard to describe.
I get to my car and as I put the empty pet carrier into the back I feel a sudden sense of loss. Tears fall down my cheeks. I sit for a while and let myself process the moment. I compose myself and think ‘It’s been fun but time for the next project’. The rescue centre have two new kittens lined up for me – Kaiser and Radu.
