Onna Becomes an Ex-pat

This is Michelle, previously of our Monkies group and now Onna, on her way to her new home in Texas. Luckily, she already speaks purr-fect Cat-English! Her mom says that she was a real trooper on the flight over (Onna’s not the only trooper there–hear the whole story), and stayed with them in the cabin for the entire flight. We hear that Onna has now settled into the new home nicely, and if things go to pattern, her only difficulty will be to soon start pining the loss of the Japanese version of Taco Bell–conveyor belt sushi?!
Midweek, but due to cancellations, no classes today! It looks like rain, and the weather reports rain all of this week. The kitten enclosure (now small kitten secure) has a roof and the kittens are all out having a great time. Hoping to rearrange some cages in the kitten room to reflect changing needs, and also to take a nice break ourselves later this afternoon.

We made it to Texas…Our flights were pretty straight forward, and Onna was a trooper! She traveled with us for nearly 2 days before moving into our new apartment (first night we had to stay at a hotel); she coped with it better than I thought any cat could.

I thought it might be helpful to describe our experience a little, in case anyone you know does a similar – and insane – move.

United States federal laws do not require a health certificate or rabies shots for cats coming from Japan. However, each state has different requirements. Texas only wanted a rabies vaccination, so that was step #1. Then, after confirming with our airline that Onna would be flying with us, I had to fax an import/export form to Centrair’s animal quarantine center. The form had to be faxed a week before the flight date. On the day of our flight, we first had to go to the quarantine area, where they pulled our paper work and made official documents for Onna. Then she was checked by the airport vet (such a nice woman!) one last time, given the green light, and we were off to check into our flight.

We took NWA; it was $150 for her to fly from Nagoya to Dallas in-cabin. She had to stay under the seat in front of us at all times, but the little booger learned how to unzip her carrier (I’m not even joking). So I just opened the top and held her by her harness and leash for about ten hours (needless to say, neither of us got much sleep!). The flight attendants didn’t say anything about it either because they couldn’t see her (I tried to hide her from all the commotion of the plane by rigging a tent out of blankets, lol), or were understanding. She was quiet only as long as the carrier was open and she could see Richard or myself, which just shows how stressed out she was because she never cries. Poor baby

Onna wouldn’t eat anything, which is understandable, but also wouldn’t take any water. Luckily, my vet gave me a feeding syringe and I used it to force water into her every once in awhile. The moment we were in the hotel and a bowl of water was brought out to her, though, she drank for like a minute straight!

We’re in our apartment now, and she has taken to “bug-hunting”. She’s found about 4 mosquitoes, and I’m very grateful to her, haha. I’ve attached a photo of her at the Airport (she wouldn’t look at the camera, no matter how many pictures were taken!).