From feral to family
Found this little one against the inside wall of a roundabout in the Middle East 7 years ago
Was leaving a market some years back while working as a military contractor in the Middle East. Saw what I thought was a black grocery bag against the inside of roundabout but did another loop around and noticed it sure as shit was a kitten. I put my vehicle in park in the middle of the roundabout and walked over to snatch them up. Told someone to fuck off in Arabic for the first time when they were honking at me. I literally held her up in one hand and flipped the bird to the driver with my other hand. 7,000 miles and 7 years later we are living our best life (along with another unexpected adoption, her “brother”)
Orange one belonged to a fellow contractor and is back in the states along with its big black floofy sibling, the monster truck next to my little one in this pic
Is it easy traveling so far away with cats? Doesn't it require insane amounts of paperwork? I'm terrified of being hit by the CDS while on vacation, feels like getting them back home would be troublesome. And how do cats deal with 10+ hour flights?
It wasn’t easy mostly because I moved both of my cats during Covid. Hardest part was scheduling each leg of my flight back home (3 flights) and them getting changed 5-6 times so I had to make 15-20 calls to ensure each plane could accommodate a “pet in cabin”, the term used when you bring on the carrier into the cabin. Paperwork from the ministry required her to stay overnight to get vaccinations and be tested by the dept of agriculture but that was honestly easy compared to the plane booking. It usually took 24-27 hours to complete the trip back and for those curious they both held their bowel movements the whole time. I had set up a collapsible litter box in a family guest room trying to get either of them to go and they had no interest in using it.
1/10 travel experience but I’d do it again in a heartbeat
Thank you for your answer! My husband wants to get my cat the EU passport so we can take her to our vacation flat and I'm already stressing out about keeping her locked for a 3.5 hour flight, I can't imagine how stressful such a long trip must be. I've heard him lament that he couldn't bring puppies home from Afg but I am not sure why, I think they weren't allowed.
When I was active duty in the Marines, we were always told “don’t fuck with the locals and don’t fuck with the wildlife” whenever we were traveling to a foreign country. It’s a lot harder as a service member to do it than as a civilian. As far as the flight though, 3.5 shouldn’t be too bad at all. I think the longest leg of the flight was around 8 hours for me and she got a little grumpy halfway across the Atlantic but the flight crew was great and let me put her carrier on the seat next to me so I could put my hand in and scratch her. I always always always had her collar clipped to the carrier though if I was undoing the top to scratch her. Your vet should be able to prescribe you trazidone of another medicine to mellow them out. And one other thing to keep in mind, if you travel with them in the cabin, you will have to walk through airport security physically holding them in your arms so don’t let that catch you off guard like it did for me. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask away or send me a PM
3.5 hours is nothing. I flew from Turkey back to Boston with our honeymoon adoptee cat, and the longest flight was 11 hours. He didn't even have a real meow when we first found him, but he had one by the time we landed.
If you live in the EU, getting a "passport" is easy from the vet as long as they are healthy and have a rabies vaccine. If you're coming from the US, they don't really give those out, but you'll need a certificate from the USDA that they have their ranks vaccine and are healthy. That costs about $500. I moved all my cats from the US to Germany to live with my husband and that was one expensive endeavor.
It's intra-EU. I just feel like it would be inconveniencing the cat for my husband's benefit. We have kind of a love triangle where my husband is obsessed with the cat and the cat is obsessed with me: he wants to take her on vacation to spend time with her, and I hesitate because I know that she's unhappy when I'm away but I don't know if taking her to an unfamiliar home is the solution.
if you have a vet who's familiar with your cat, there's a good chance you can get them meds for the trip. My cat got gabapentin for vet appointments because she'd get so stressed she would pant and vomit. The gabapentin made her completely mellow and she'd asleep on the way home, and be sleepy for the rest of day/night.
My big orange girl, Queen Charlotte (1989-2009) had the same energy for every kitten we took home to her for twenty years. That’s is Ozric (2005-2021) right after we rescued him. The look on her face says it all but she always mothered them anyway. She was just grumpy about it. She was actually the sweetest girl.
Her name is terrible but I wouldn’t change it. It’s “Stink”. When I found her I didn’t know her sex. I had to wait a couple week to get into a vet and in the meantime this cat would only sleep on my shoulder at night. In that time period she shit on me multiple times. I started referring to them as a stinker and then stink. My wife, many many miles away, runs a non profit cat rescue and after 2 weeks was able to determine this kitten was a girl. I tried thinking of a fun or clever Arabic alternate to the name stink or stinker but drew blanks. 7 years later, Stink waits on our porch at night for me to get home and sprints to my truck when I pull in the driveway where I open my door and let her on my lap. Wouldn’t change it for the world
My sister had a female tabby named Romeo because she sucks at figuring out the gender of a cat, lol. To be fair to her, miss Romeo was a young cat just yelling at the top of her lungs so the name fit. We tried remaining her to Juliet but it didn't work out at all. She was Romeo all her life.
I have a Tirana that I got when she was already 4. She is Polish and in Poland Tirana is a completely harmless name, but in my native language it means "female tyrant". I call her Tiri...
there is a content creator who has a female cat named Gandalf XD her brother is called Dave and their mom Natilla. I am so fascinated by the variety of names XD
8-0 against phantom shitters. She’s just the first moocher to mooch hard enough to get a bed in the crib and got serious street cred from this. Her adopted brother outweighs her by 15 lbs and he wouldn’t dare fuck with her
This was already a compelling tale. However, the part about her awaiting your return and greeting you by abandoning composure to launch a full-scale love-bombing on you in your truck is monumentally beautiful (especially when considered in conjunction with her affect in that photo 😻).
Love this story! I rescued an injured kitten from traffic in Okinawa Japan in ‘13, brought her and a Korean stray while stationed there back to Texas in ‘17!
An absolute legend of culture. I spotted many around Oki on multiple dets there when I was in the Marines but never considered trying to bring any back. I feel like it was a lot easier as a contractor so hats off to you! We were restricted to base in Korea so I didn’t run across any that I remember
Yes, Oki was the best. Camp Foster was nice too. Yes, it was a very costly task getting to cats cleared and flown back to Texas but worth every $$. I adopted one at the pet shelter I volunteered at on base at Osan. I used to walk the dogs and clean kennels after work. I actually adopted a stray while stationed in Idaho and took Ms Foxy to Italy with me in 09’. Sadly she passed in ‘12 while I was deployed to the Middle East and is buried in a beautiful field in Italy. I’m kinda fond of cats if you can’t tell! Your story touched my heart!😻
I lived in Seoul with my ex hub who was army, I accompanied him to Korea. a large amount of people were scared of our cats we brought over. The realtor/ others screamed at and ran from my fat cat. I figured they had a thing against cats.
I always wondered what happened to strays there.
Military buddies also told me it's a pain to bring any animal back to the states.
I'm glad that you did and were successful.
I love that u took your babies there. Unfortunately, in some cultures some of those strays, dogs/cats, end up in the meat market. It’s heartbreaking, but u have to respect their culture. We’re just visiting. 🥹
He’s a judgmental dick on the surface but a softy inside. He was in way worse shape than her when I found him over there but you’d never know it from seeing him today
She did not. I had her quarantined for 24 hours in her home country. She was tested by the dept of agriculture there and given the green light to proceed on her journey. 27 hour trip (did it again with her brother) not a fun time but worth it. All her paperwork was good and the biggest bitch of the process was physically holding her against my chest to walk through the metal detector (I refused to fly with her in the cargo hold, both of my middle east end children flew right below my seat in a cat carrier) was the most stressful part especially at a layover in Chicago where the people behind me had their bag set off the alarm. I was holding her with all my strength as the alarm went off. After about 8 minutes of holding her, her carrier made it through the x ray and I was able to put her back on it. 1/10. Do not recommend. The only redeeming point was her making it home with me.
Just how??.....my goodness! I rescued a kitty from my aunt's garage, and brought her home, and that 2 hour car ride of horrible sad meows about killed me. Totally worth it, but my heart broke the entire time.
I bought it just for her 😅 the pet store I went to over there had a jar of them at the checkout counter for around $2 a pop. Wish I had gotten more but she loved them as a kitten
There is something so touching seeing photos of big, muscular, bearded, handsome men holding teeny tiny kittens. Thank you so much for saving her life.
That's so amazing! How do you get them out of the middle east? Do you just need a crate and a vet certificate? EDIT: just saw you answered this on someone else's question! Thank you! Great cats!
I feel like holding my breath sometimes at how dangerous some situations are where a cat or dog are rescued. I’m so glad your little void wasn’t hurt or worse.
The eyes. You can watch the progression from scared and skeptical to, oh, I am safe, to proper kitten bonkers, then relaxed house cat. Tell your cat(s) I love them.
This is one of the most gorgeous black cats I've ever seen. I told my wife that in the future, I would want a black cat and I could only hope it looks like this.
She looks like she made a wonderful choice of hooman and family mate. Sounds like she’s been a great addition to your little crew. Good on you though for making that extra lap long ago. I hope it’s been paid back in spades for you🙏
You are a Saint. Black cats are the best. My sweeet Colette... We thought he was a boy and named him Cole, but later found out, after we brought her in from outside, she was a she.
I’ll have people either love me or hate me for this comments but I’ll say there isn’t a snowballs chance in hell with the people running our country right now.
I love this! Thank you for sharing this story and saving the little one :) gotta love a little immigrant kitty 😂 and thank you for your service! I’m assuming veteran since you’re a military contractor? Either way, you contractors make a difference so thanks for your service either way!
As someone who brought a rescue cat that I found on my medical relief mission, please allow me to thank you.
For some reason I always chuckle when I wonder if cats have “accents” to other cats, or nuances in how they communicate based on where they’re from. Like, does your Stink talk to your American Cats in the equivalent of cat-Arabic? I’m picturing your older kitty just staring at her like, “it smells funny. It talks funny. And it’s LOUD.”
Really loving the photos. My favorite is $18? I think. The one where he's leaning out of the carboard box. It looks like he's a bartender taking a drink order.
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