The Kitties Can Come!

Yay, yay, yay! We found out yesterday that our cats, Tenga and Peaches, can fly with us to Japan!  We are so excited.  This has been very stressful for me to think about leaving them behind and what we might do with them... I do not believe in re-homing pets and when I adopted them, I adopted them for life, so this was a huge weight off my shoulders!

We have been working with this process for months now, because Japan in a Rabies-free country, and they want it to stay that way.  So there are many steps you have to take to get them prepared to go.  First we had them Micro-chipped, and then they had a series of two rabies vaccinations. After that was a blood draw which involved Tenga being taken to Fort Belvoir to be sedated, because she stresses out so much at the vet there was no other way to do it.  She had a hard time coming out of the sedation and that was really scary.  Then the blood samples were overnighted to Texas to a lab to test the blood's antibody levels.  They "lost" Peaches', so we had to re-do the blood draw, which was highly traumatic.  Finally, we received the test results, and of course, neither cat has rabies... :)

Yesterday we overcame the hurdle of getting them on the flight with us.  There were no more pet spaces available in the cargo area, so they will be flying in soft carriers under our seats, which is actually what I would prefer anyway.  This was a whole ordeal getting them on these flights that involved some heavy persuasion on Tommy's behalf with the powers that be, but it finally paid off!

The final step is that about a week before our flight, we have to get them each a Health Certificate showing they are in good health, and then take ALL of their paperwork (believe me, there is a lot) to the USDA to get certified in Richmond. 

When we get to Japan, the cats will still have about 4 weeks of quarantine time left, (it is 180 days from the date of the blood draw), but they allow you to do that in your home IF you are living on base, which we have to.

Whew!  Good thing I love my kitties ;)  Super excited they get to come!!