Felix, the Office Kitty

Now that everyone (read: Felix) is more or less settled into life in the Northeast, I can think back to my last few days in São Paulo and the effort that was [once again!] required to get Felix to Recife. Back in September when I first moved to Brazil, getting Felix into the plane and across an international border was an exercise in bureaucracy as well as emotion. Since the move to Recife was a domestic one, I assumed that transporting Felix would be a lot easier. Ha!

Seeing that the flight was within national boundaries, I assumed [just to confirm the lesson that one should never assume....] that all I had to do was inform the airline that I would be travelling with a pet. Since my travel date kept moving, I ended up calling the travel agent on the Friday to book a ticket for the Monday or Tuesday. It was then that I discovered that i) the airline could not confirm a space for Felix until a minimum of 24 hours prior to the flight; and ii) I still had to go to the vet to get a certificate of good health and a pet travel authority. Hurriedly we surfed the net and found a vet fairly close to the Regent Park in São Paulo and I went in that very evening to get Felix's certificates. Hurray! At least this part was taken care of.

Fast-forward to Monday, the eve of my flight. The phone rings ten minutes before the end of the work day and I am informed that due to a few technicalities, I would have to cancel my flight for the next morning. Good thing I hadn't left the office early that day! I quickly called the travel agent and cancelled the flight letting him know that we would rebook as soon as we had an idea of the new travel date. I then headed back to the hotel for what I felt was now a well deserved drink with friends.

By the end of the week, we had a better idea that I would be able to leave early the following week. We called the travel agent to rebook the flight and found out that again, Felix's place on the plane could not be confirmed until the day before the flight and of course, since the five day validity on the health certificate had expired, we would have take Felix back to vet for a new exam. This is when we discovered that i) the original vet no longer had any of the proper forms; and ii) the vet literally around the corner from the Regent had to call in a specialist from the Department of Agriculture for the exam and this would take several days to arrange. Hurray! Well, fortunately, São Paulo has no shortage of vets, so we found another one and off went poor Felix for his second exam in a week. Fortunately he was again given a clean bill of health and once again we were ready for the move.

The day of the flight, as it was in Canada, I am not sure who was worse off – Felix or me! At least this time, the flight was only three hours as opposed to fifteen, so I (and Felix) had a much shorter period of suffering. Upon arrival in Recife, our first stop was the office since there was really no other choice for Felix this time as hotels do not accept pets and the apartment clearly wasn't in a state to accommodate a cat. Hence Felix became Felix, the Office Kitty. Felix lived at the office for a week and we managed to visit every day for at least at hour. I am sure that the security guards, the building manager, and the couple of service providers who were in and out of the office for those few days must think that we Canadians are crazy! I tried to assure them that the cat would not be a permanent fixture at the ofice. They didn't seem too worried! In any case, we managed to get the apartment ready enough for a cat, and Felix moved in a week later. The holes were still in the walls, but we managed to limit his access to them and the rest, as they say, is history!