While I enjoy having the company of the sweet cat I inherited, there are unique challenges that come with this responsibility. Cat food is hard to come by and expensive, so 60 pounds was shipped in my container and it has to be stored in a mouse/rat proof manner (triple layer plastic bags and a trash can with the lid ratchet tied seems to be working) and there are no small animal vets on my side of the river. Many of you have heard stories of the ferry crossings and how long it takes to get back and forth to the city. So, taking this cat to the vet for her rabies vaccine was a task I was not looking forward to. Unfortunately, they would not just give me the injection so today we took the adventure of crossing the river. Actually, it couldn’t have gone more smoothly, but appreciate your local vet because it did take 9 hours (only 20 minutes was actually spent with the vet) and it involved many wonderful helpers.
At 5:30 this morning she came around looking for breakfast, but what she found was me and a cardboard cat carrier awaiting her. In she went and honestly she initially tolerated it well. Then, I started the car and she decided the box was not a good idea. One of our compound workers, me and the cat headed out in my car to drive the 45 minutes to the ferry. After about 20 minutes she had pushed her head through one of the closures in the cat carrier and was almost all the way out. We got her back in and made it to the ferry with a lot of crying on her part. I was disheartened when I saw the long line waiting for the boat (a teammate waited 10 hours a few weeks ago just to get on). However, a friendly policeman decided I was too far back in the line and moved me to the front. I was placed as the first car to get on the first ferry of the morning, praise God! However, I forgot that you really don’t want to be first car sometimes because the loading ramp doesn’t usually go all the way down. So, when the ferry arrived I had to drive my car up the ramp that was about 4 feet above the boat (with a river under me) to try and weigh down the ramp. Well, my car is little so it took my car and several men jumping on the ramp to get it to drop the 4 ft. The cat was not happy about that drop, nor was I!
By 7:10 am we were on our way across the river. The cat did not like the ferry and the entire crossing she kept trying to get out of the box. When you dock on the other side, things move fast as everyone wants off and the next people want on. Our worker wanted to get out of the car so he could make a pit stop before our adventure continued. Simultaneously, the boat docked and I needed to navigate driving, he opened the car door and the cat burst out of her box! Not the best timing for all of this. I was able to shove her back in with one hand, damaging the box in the process but she did stop trying to get out for a while. We drove the 45 minutes to the Vet office (there are only three small animal vets in the country) and arrived at 8:30 am, but they didn’t open until 9. So far things were actually going better than I could have hoped for. The vet was great and after 20 minutes and only $30 she had a rabies shot, a sedative and a new plastic cat carrier. Now, she just needed to get home…..
This is where our worker came into the “plan”, I am not stupid and did not want to complete this adventure with my sweet cat. I have shopping and relaxing in the city on my agenda for the weekend. So, we drove the 45 minutes back to the ferry with the cat pretty much passed out from the sedative and I dropped them off; my job was done! Our super helpful worker (I did pay him) waited for the ferry and walked across without a car carrying the cat. Then another teammate picked them up and drove them home. I received a message that she finally arrived home about 2:30pm and that she may need some counseling as this was a somewhat traumatic adventure for her. Well, at least I have another 2-3 years before we have to do this again. Appreciate your local vet, I miss mine
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