If all goes according to plan, two weeks from right now (7:11 a.m. Pacific time, 8:11 a.m. Costa Rica time) Charli and I will have been on the ground at SJO in Costa Rica for nearly an hour, collecting my luggage and making our way through customs. I’m so jazzed just thinking about it!
A 12-Year Dream — and Plan — Come True
It has been a dream and a plan of mine ever since I first subscribed to International Living Magazine over a decade ago — seven years before Charli was even born.
I walked her in her carrier again this morning around the back yard. She settled in faster this time. She still doesn’t understand this new wrinkle in our morning routine, but she’s okay with it. I get soft, questioning meows from her for the first five minutes or so, and then she lays down in the carrier.
I put my hand into the top and stroke her the whole time so she’s getting loved. I will be able to do this while Lisa drives us to the airport, once inside the airport and between planes at both airports. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it on the plane, but at least by then, she will know I’m right there and that nothing has happened to her, to date, to make the journey painful or particularly upsetting.
Over the weekend, I’ll add a car ride to the routine
Charli freaked (crying like a banshee) the two times I had her in a vehicle: when she came home to me the first time, and when we went to the vet for her rabies shot a few months ago. So, I need to add short, uneventful drives to the routine starting this weekend. I want her to experience them enough that she doesn’t shriek when we go to the airport. The calmer I can keep her (without tranquilizing her), the better for us both. I hate it when she feels and acts frantic.
Soft-Sided Carrier is the Ticket
The earlier trips (when she came to me and to the vet) were inside hard-sided carriers. I did some research and discovered that a great many cats become frantic in those, so I bought a soft-sided (airline approved) one for her. Instantly, she climbed right inside it and laid down, uninvited. (I took the pic that heads this post when she did that.)
She hadn’t voluntarily been inside it much since then (and I haven’t made her go inside it until yesterday), but it has been a part of our household for months now and is very familiar to her. Putting her into it, right now, makes her a wee bit uneasy initially, but I expect the uneasiness to subside as we repeat the routine daily from now until we fly. She in no way acts the acts she did when I tried to put her in a hard-sided carrier; that’s for sure! When I put her in this, there is just quiet meowing and a little back-pedaling, as if to say, “Hey, this isn’t normal. This is weird. But it’s … okay… I guess…”
It’s a process!
I’ll see if Jackie will take a few pix one morning so you can see it.