The Foreign Service Journal, January 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY 2013 27 panicking and trying to dislodge the harness in a way that would hurt themselves. (The harnesses have “breakaway” clasps, but you can never be too careful!) Mostly, the cats just flop dramati- cally on the floor and glare at me. Occasionally, one will creep around the room with her belly to the floor, ears flattened. Great, harnesses are a go! At the Airport As for the practicalities of transporting the girls, I cut off their food eight hours before we leave for the airport, and their water four hours before. I leave the litter box out until they are in their carriers. During the trip, I offer them water, but they never ever drink it. I have made it a policy to purchase a plane ticket for a family member to accompany me so that we can bring the cats into the cabin. (Only one pet per passenger allowed!) I sent them as accompanied baggage to my first post, and fretted every moment I was separated from them. I pes- tered each airline employee that crossed my line of sight to confirm that the cats had made the transfer to our con- necting flight. I also worried about how they were being handled, if they were scared, or if they thought I had aban- doned them. That was a horrible source of stress that I really didn’t need on top of the usual stresses of moving to a new post and starting a new job! So it is absolutely worth it to buy that second ticket, which is often cheaper than shipping the cats, anyway. Chloe and Cordelia do take up one carry-on slot per passen- ger, but the tradeoff is a second checked bag for my companion that I can fill with my stuff. So this is what the complete luggage tally looks like: two cats in soft carriers, one laptop bag, one carry-on roller suitcase, one checked bag for my family member, and three checked bags for me. It works beautifully. This system also offers a bonus: having someone along to help supervise packout, navigate the airports, and explore the new post with me for the first few days. I’m always on my own when it comes to having household effects delivered, but I find that if I draw out a floor plan and mark down every piece of fur- niture ahead of time, it’s a pretty painless process. Settling in at Home… Even after we get to our new house, I keep Chloe and Corde- lia in their carriers until I can set out a litter box, food and water. You can buy a shallow plastic tray with a small amount of litter sealed under paper along the bottom, and bring it along in your suitcase, in case your sponsor can’t arrange for those things ahead of time. One brand is called Cat’s Pride KatKit, and is available from Giant or Amazon. Once everything is ready, I open the carriers. Instead of making a beeline for the lit- ter, they are usually far more interested in exploring the new place. It’s usually an hour or more until their curiosity is (temporarily) satisfied, and at that point, they almost always go for the water. I am totally comfortable withholding sustenance for the first 24 hours or so, because as predators, cats can go for days at a time between meals. This method also has the advantage of preventing any messes during travel. When the movers come, I always take the cats some- where else; there are just too many things that can go wrong with kitties underfoot! I ask the crew to unpack the clothes, dishes and books (all 900 of them), but leave the rest of the shipment in boxes for me to organize later. In return, I provide doughnuts and bottles of water, but not lunch. I like having the noon hour to myself to look over every room and just chill out before jumping back into the unpacking. Otherwise, it’s very challenging to keep on top of three or four people at once. Be sure to follow each country’s import rules exactly. You never know whether customs will just wave you through or look at everything. Josh