THE CAT TRANSPORTER

July 26, 2012 Thursday
HAFA ADAI!

I know you have all heard of the Horse Whisperer and the Dog Whisperer.  Well, I have been contacted by TLC to be in a new series they are starting called the CAT TRANSPORTER.  Yes, yes, I have become an expert in the area of transporting cats half way around the world and now I am offering my services worldwide.  The pilot is in the can and should be ready for viewing shortly.......I will keep you posted on the details.

I guess you can tell this post is going to be all about my adventure with moving my Grandkits half way across the world from the teeny tiny little island of Saipan to Arizona, USA.  This was NOT an easy feat.  So sit back, grab a treat and enjoy the story.........

Hurdle 1:  I started looking into moving the cats back to Arizona prior to coming back to Paradise, aka Saipan.  I found a company on the internet that specialized in transporting animals and read reviews about dogs being shipped to France, other European countries and around the states and how wonderful this company was.  The best thing was it is located in Tucson, Az., right in our back yard so to speak.  I tried to contact them prior to leaving but could never get hold of them.

When I arrived in Paradise I got an email from them informing me they do not transport animals from this part of the world.............grrrrrrrrr!  So, once again, I had to find someone who could fly the cats out of here.  United Airlines have a PetSafe service that specifically deals in transporting cats.  It was impossible for me to contact them however since they are based in Houston, Texas and the time difference was a big issue so I told Audra, who was back in Arizona by now looking for a job, that she could handle that part and get all the details.

I found out from PetSafe via email that they did not have any transportation services for animals out of Saipan so that was my next hurdle.  The prop-jet plane that is the commuter plane between Guam and all the Northern Mariana Islands did not take pets.  So after asking around for several days I found a little commuter service, Freedom Air,  that had a Cargo plane and they would ship animals to Guam only on Fridays.  I passed that info along to Audra and she and Steve got busy making the reservations for the cats.

This is when the nightmare started for me.  Talk about hurdles!  I felt like I was in a video game constantly having to dodge obstacles tossed in my way.  Every day was something new.

Hurdle 2:  of course each cat needed his/her own cat carrier.  They had to meet certain specifications as well.  Remember, I am currently living on an island that is 15 miles long and 5 miles wide without many shopping options so where they heck was I going to find cat carriers???  The vet office doesn't carry any of that stuff so I was at a loss.  I started asking around, thinking it was useless, when someone told me ACE Hardware had them so I rushed right there.  The carriers were pretty cheaply made but the tag said they were approved by the USA Department of Agriculture for transporting animals so I figured that was good enough and bought four of them.  Each kennel had to have a water bowl and food bowl attached to the front door and have holes in four sides of the carrier...........the ones I bought only have holes in three sides.  I was freaking out about that when I thought of Pam's husband (one of Audra's friends here).  He has a business repairing generators and boats so I knew he could get the holes drilled in the back of the carriers so hauled them over there and got it done.  Each carrier had to have a bag of food attached to the outside of the carrier too.  I went shopping at Dolphin, kind of like a mini WalMart here, and found some Buzz Lightyear/Woody Bags that would be perfect to hold the food and bought four of them.  I wrote each cats name on the back of their bags.......(I was starting to feel like I really was transporting people instead of cats:)  I bought little plastic bowls and use fishing line to attach them to the door or each carrier for water and food along the way.  Hurdle number two was completed over a series of weeks....

Hurdle 3:  the cats needed Health Certificates and proof of Rabies shots, even though there are no rabies on the island.  Audra had Dr. Tudor, our Vet, give them those shots earlier so I didn't have to deal with that.  I was also told they needed clearance from the Saipan Department of Agriculture in order to leave the island.  I kind of thought that was not right but called them any way.  Of course, the only time you would need to contact them is if you were bringing animals INTO Saipan.  So after inquiring around for several weeks, literally, I was told I had to contact the Arizona Department of Agriculture since that was the final destination for the cats.  I had to have a permit from them allowing the cats into the state.  Once again I called up Steve and Audra and got them on that.  Steve ended up calling Washington DC and was told no permit was required since we were transporting animals from a USA Commonwealth to the USA stateside so that hurdle was cleared........................or so I thought.......

The health certificates are only good for 10 days of travel so you have to get them for each cat right before you leave so I went in on Wednesday since the cats were set to begin their journey on Friday, July 20th.  That went smoothly but it was a task getting all four carriers down the stairs with the cats in them and then packed into the car and driven to the vets.  The cats were not happy at all.  Little did they know this was a piece of cake compared to what they were going to face on Friday.  I have to jump ahead to Hurdle 4 for now to continue........but will come back later to Hurdle 3.....

Hurdle 4: GUAM!  I talked to Freedom Air when Audra was still here and found out I couldn't just send the cats from Saipan to Guam by themselves.  I had to go along to transfer them from Freedom Air Cargo to United Cargo at the Guam Airport because the workers wouldn't do it.  Working with the reservations Audra and Steve has made for the cats travel from Guam to Arizona I wanted to make the reservations for them to leave Saipan on Friday and the cats would leave Guam for Hawaii on Saturday morning at 6:30AM.  We were told to just notify Freedom Air a couple of days ahead of time to let them know the cats would be part of their Cargo so I didn't think anything further about it until the date for their travel got closer.  So a week before they left I went to the airport to make their reservation and my own reservation (we had to go on separate flights with different carriers).  I made my reservation so I would arrive a couple hours earlier than they would in Guam but did not have to make a reservation for the cats.  I was told to just bring them to the Cargo area on Friday morning at 9AM and could pay for it there and complete all the paper work.  Oh, yea, and I needed an ENTRY PERMIT for GUAM.  Say what?  The final destination was not Guam, it was just a stop over.  So I called up the Guam Department of Agriculture and guess what?  Rule change had just taken place two months ago.  Not only did each cat need an Entry Permit to get into Guam  but they had to be placed in quarantine for their 12 hour layover.......say what?  This is being told to me four days before they are to leave.  I called Dr. Tudor, the vet, and he said no way.  Since they were in transit they didn't need to be quarantined and no entry permit was needed.  When I got home I had an email from the only vet service on Guam telling me what necessary paper work I needed to get to them so they could kennel the cats for the 12 hour layover.  I called  Dr. Tudor and that's when the battle of the vets started.  Needless to say GUAM won:(  So with minutes to spare literally I got the info to them, got the entry permits issued for me to get the cats into Guam and found out how much the kennel charges were, which I will NEVER tell anybody so don't ask!  Let's just say I was robbed!  Then I was told since Friday the 20th of July was a holiday for Guam, their Liberation Day from Japanese control back during WWII that I had to contact Customs in Guam and arrange for a Custom Agent to meet me at the Cargo shack so he could clear the cats for entry into Guam.....PLUS I had to pay him for doing this since it was a holiday!  I tell you, they have a racket going on in Guam that is all about the GREEN.

Back to Hurdle 3:  So before I took the cats to the vets to get their Health Certificates the Department of Agriculture told me the cats needed current blood tests as well to get entry into Guam.  Mind you it was Wednesday and the cats were scheduled to leave Friday so I called Dr. Tudor again and was told that was not correct and they would contact the Department of Agriculture and straighten it out with them.  Thank heavens they backed down on that because there is no way we would have gotten the results from the blood tests back in time.  The Health Certificates and proof of rabies vaccinations were issued along with a luggage tag for each cat.  The Vet office took pictures of each cat and put it on their tag along with all their information about what type of cat they were, how much they weighed, etc.  So dang cute!  Then, I went to lift Jive's carrier up and the damn handle broke right off!  Thank goodness it didn't break while I was hauling him down the flight of stairs at the apartment or he would have been killed.  Too late to get another carrier (they cost a lot here too) and I had those holes drilled into the back so couldn't take it back anyway so pondered what I was going to do about this on my drive back to the apartment with the cats meowing their heads off.  My answer came to me while I was sleeping and I headed back to Ace Hardware Thursday morning.  I got straps to wrap around each carrier so the cats could be transported using them instead of the handles.  They worked like a charm but I told everyone to carry the whole carrier rather than use handles or the strap when moving the cats.

I have had tons of sleepless nights over this ordeal and wouldn't wish this on anyone.  I am an expert though on the necessary paperwork needed in a place that isn't supposed to be considered as a foreign place but is treated like you are in a foreign place.

So ok.....I think I'm all set for the cats to take off on Friday.  I had scheduled the people from the rip off place that were kenneling the cats in Guam for 12 hours to be at the Cargo shack at 3PM and the Customs Agent to be there at 3PM to clear these cats..  All the paper work was in order, copies made, kennel requirements met, cats loaded into their carriers and ready to go to the airport.

Audra's friend Wendy stopped by to help me get them to the Cargo Terminal.  We hauled them down the stairs, loaded them up and took off for the airport.

Got to Freedom Air Cargo at 9AM Friday, worked on the paper work while the cats were weighed and stacked up.  They were not happy at all and begging to go back to the apartment.  After a while they quieted down.......except for Payaya.  SHE was not so easily pleased.

Papaya was so scared she hid underneath her pink towel most of the time they were waiting to be put onto the plane.  She wasn't used to see so many strangers around and it really freaked her out!

I bid farewell to the Grandkits and told them I would see them in Guam.  Wendy drove me to the terminal and I got checked in.  Took off at 11:30 and arrived in Guam at 12:30PM.  As I was going through Customs in Guam  the agent  wanted to know why I was visiting Guam so I told him about the cats. His face lit up and he pointed out the agent who was going to clear the cats for me and guess what.......he was working, not at home enjoying the holiday.  Total rip off that I had to pay Customs extra for the agent to come to the Cargo terminal which was within walking distance of the main terminal to clear the cats!  GRRRRRRR!!!!  Their Customs is controlled by Guam so they can get away with taking money (it had to be cash and the exact amount) for these "extra" services.


HURDLE 5:  Once I arrive in Guam I went to the United Airlines desk to see if I could check the cats in ahead of time and pay for their airfare instead of having to come back to the airport at 3AM Saturday morning.  Of course I could not do that so that meant I would be back at 3AM.  I wasn't going to rent a car but decided since I had to come back so early in the morning I my as well rent a car.  I got my car and went to check in at my hotel which was about 3 minutes away from the airport.  I headed back at 2:30PM to meet the cat at 3PM only to find out the plane wasn't going to land until 3:45.  Thanks God I got there early so I had time to call Customs and tell them the guy wasn't needed until 3:30 or else I would have had to pay him extra.  The lady from the kennel showed up at 3PM and we sat around and chatted until the cats arrived.  Turned out she was the owner's daughter.  I let her know I thought the price I was being charged for 12 hours of lodging was outrageous but didn't want to raise to big of a stink since they were watching the cats:)

The cats arrived in the funky Freedom Air Cargo Plane.

The forklift headed out to the runway and they started unloading the cat carriers onto a pallet.  I could hear them meowing all the way out on the runway!  By the way, Freedom Air Cargo consisted of a little shack with a fenced off area where the cargo was brought into.  Nothing fancy at all.

The forklift brought them back and the lady from Harper Valley   Kennels was there getting the paperwork for the cats to take inside to the Customs Agent.

Once the paperwork was completed and they were "cleared" to enter Guam (those little holligans) they were loaded up into the Kennel's pickup truck and took off for their 12 hour stay.  Justine said they would be put into a play room together for the wait so they could roam around and eat.  Papaya got to ride in the front seat because she was raising such a fuss.

I headed back to the hotel for much needed rest and peach and quiet until 2AM.

2AM rolled around too soon and I was back at the airport waiting for the Grandkits to arrive.  Once again they were meowing their heads off and just couldn't understand why I wasn't taking them out of those cages. I felt so bad for them:( The owner's son brought them back to the airport and he said they were all piled up together sleeping when he got to the kennel to load them back up into their carriers.  He said they must really like each other, which they do.  We got all the paper work done, paid for their air fare and they were loaded up to be taken out to the airplane for their next leg of their trip to Hawaii.  All the workers loved the Buzz Lightyear bags and got a kick out of their luggage tags.  I know they thought I was totally nuts too but oh well, who doesn't????


The Grandkits spent almost 24 hours in Hawaii before heading for Houston, Texas.  They couldn't come directly to Phoenix due to heat restrictions according to United so went to Houston which is United's home base.  They were due into Phoenix Sunday the 22nd at 9:30PM.  I stayed in Guam until Monday (which is your Sunday if you are stateside) and snorkeled.

As soon as I walked back into the apartment on Monday I got a call from Steve saying the cats didn't make it to Phoenix.  HURDLE 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He and Audra got to United Cargo at Sky Harbor and waited, and waited, and waited but no cats.  United Cargo called up Houston and found out the cats were not loaded because (this is their excuse) no Customs agents were on duty to clear the cats into the states (I think they probably forgot to load them).  We are still trying to figure out why they weren't cleared in Hawaii.  And since when don't Customs Agents work on Sundays???????  So to hell with the heat restrictions, they would land in Phoenix at high noon on Monday, which they did.  They are now safe and sound in their new home (for now) in the desert and have totally adapted.  Our two cats have not and want nothing to do with their step-siblings according to Audra:(

So ends my experience with transporting animals half way around the world.  After going through all this do I miss the cats?  No!  I will see them again soon enough but for now it is nice to be able to leave my craft stuff out and not have to chase down cats stealing my tools.  I have been sleeping soundly and able to leave my door open all night too!

Be sure to check you TV Guide for my series.  It will be exciting................guaranteed!

Keep the peace and be nice to one and other and your four legged friends too:)