Cat Update - Charlie and Jeff take on Australia
April 2, 2007
Well, it’s been a while since I blogged about the furry felines so I thought I’d write a quick update to let those of you interested know how the cats have settled in down under.
To be honest, I’ve been pretty surprised how easily and quickly both ‘Charlie and Jeff’ have taken to their new surroundings.
Both cats have got into a bit of a routine although I have to say that a large part of this routine appears to be associated with finding an appropriately cool and shady spot for a snooze.
The non resting hours are spent meowing for food. Teasing the dogs, which have recently appeared next door and chasing flies.
Charlie, the younger cat has been the more adventurous and regularly disappears over the fence, only to be reappear some two to three hours later for some food and a quick power nap before venturing out again.
Jeff, the older of the two seems happier within the confines of the garden. This may be due to the 6 foot + high fence enclosing the garden which Jeff struggles to jump over (unlike his younger housemate) but even when Jeff ventures out of the front door to the unrestricted front garden, he very rarely venture more then a couple of metres away.
One thing for sure is that neither of the cats enjoys the heat.
During the really warm days both cats looked truly uncomfortable. Even with the air conditioning on they struggled to find a suitably cool spot.
One thing about cats is that they really struggle to get rid the excess heat. Unlike dogs cats don’t really pant and the only place they secrete sweat from is their paws.
On a couple of occasions we thought we’d lost one of the cats (normally Charlie), only to find him hidden in a cupboard or, on one occasion sprawled out across the bottom of one of the shower trays in the bathroom.
We tried our best to help. Ice cubes in the water bowl offered a little relief and pretty good results were had applying a small amount of cool water by hand to their coats.
It was pretty obvious that during these really hot days neither cat were particularly comfortable though.
Still, it is now officially autumn and although it’s still hot, we’ve not had the extreme temperatures that we saw for a few weeks now and both boys are spending a little more time outdoors.
Both cats appear to be enjoying the slightly more bearable temperatures and we’re still chuffed that we made the decision to bring them with us.
The cats are members of the family (insert godfather theme music here) and I recon they’re just as happy to be living in Australia as we are.
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Hi Mark
Just a quick question we are wanting to emigrate to Australia in 2 years time once my husband is qualified, and we have 3 cats that have been with us for 7 years and we want to bring them with us. Seens you have done this may i ask you a few questions?
1 How did they cope witht he flight?
2 Could you visit them during the 30 day quaranteen period?
3 did any of this big event stress them out to much? just they are my babies and i worry when i leave them for a night on there own?
4 Are they able to roam freely round your garden or are they to be kept in cages/run’s like some parts of New Zealand?
Thank you
Natalie
sorry for any spelling miastakes!!
Hi Natalie, let me answer each of these questions for you in turn
1 How did they cope witht he flight?
Pretty difficult to tell. They were very tired but generally appeared to deal with the flight very very well.
2 Could you visit them during the 30 day quaranteen period?
At Byford in Perth you can and as I understand it all Aussie Quarantine stations allow visiting.
Check out this post for more info on our visit
Byford Quarantine Station a Review
3 did any of this big event stress them out to much? just they are my babies and i worry when i leave them for a night on there own?
No. And to see them now lazing around in the warm Aussie Sunshine its the best thing I think we could have done for them in their later years.
4 Are they able to roam freely round your garden or are they to be kept in cages/run’s like some parts of New Zealand?
Absolutely, you’ll need to make sure they have a collar (with a bell) although this is common sense more than anything. In Australia though you can let your cat roam free but be a responsible cat owner and bring them in at night to help protect some of the local wildlife
Hope this helps
regards
Mark
Hey Mark,
I am so glad I found your website/blog. I am an Aussie planning a move back to Sydney from Denver, USA, in March of 09 - and you seem to be more knowledgeable than I am attempting to be getting my baby Hugo across the Pacific.
I know you travelled from the UK, but I am wondering about the cost involved. Did you use a professional pet relocation company, or were you able to organise it yourself? I understand if you don’t want to answer how much you spent transporting your cats, but it would really help when tyring to weigh up my options. For example, the vet costs, the transport costs, and also whether your kitties had a ’stop over’ anywhere and how that was handled.
Any information would be super helpful in knowing what to do and when.
Thank you,
Kristy
Hello Kristy, I’m glad you find our content useful
If you have a quick look at This post you’ll find all the info you need on pricing.
I also suggest you do a quick search on our site for the term Airpets as you’ll find lots of post which you may find of interest.
Good luck
Regards
Mark