Hi Kat
Well, this is your thread so I needn't feel guilty going OT!
In the mid 90s we lived in Santiago, Chile for a while associated with my work. The kids went to international school there and we also took our cat Macavity with us since he was as much part of the family as the children. He was about 12 at the time. At the vet there on some checkup or other we noticed a postcard about a 4 year old tabby who had been left behind by a returning expat family (how can they do that?) and was described as a bit 'difficult'. We thought that this cat would have difficulty being rehomed not being a kitten, so we took her. She was called Cucha, local Spanish for puss apparently (at least I hope so!), and we left her with that name. Others followed - a tiny black kitten, barely weaned, smelt the milk in a shopping bag and followed us home (Ebony); another tabby kitten who had a bit of Abysinnian in her was brought home after being found on the street by my son (Harley); a ginger female who was in a litter produced by a neighbour's cat (Felina); and finally a grey female who just turned up one day and decided to move in (Moppet). Macavity was a bit put out at first, being an only cat up until then, but gradually got used to it and eventually relished being boss cat. We had them all vaccinated and neutered (not a common thing in macho Latin America).
When it came to return, there was no question that they would come with us. They trusted us, how would they react to being abandoned? Even if we found what seemed a good home we could never be sure they wouldn't be left behind later. People thought we were quite mad! Even though they had rabies injections, they all had to go into quarantine back in England for six months. The kennels weren't too bad, they were 3 and 3 in two large cages with heaters and a view of an aviary to give them some interest, and we visited them every weekend. I think the flight and the quarantine worked out to around £1000 per cat.
So eventually they came out and all happily resettled in England. Macavity by now was 15 and had 24,000 air miles. He died of natural causes a couple of years later, Felina had heart failure quite soon after, not uncommon in female ginger cats apparently, but the others lived with us for at least another 9 years. Moppet developed a cancer a few years ago around vaccination points on her neck, which was removed twice but still returned and she had to be put to sleep, the other three all died of old age at around 15, in fact Cucha was 19 I think. The last to go was Harley a couple of years ago, as the last one I think she really missed the others at the end. We had the vet come to the house to put them to sleep when it was clear they were deteriorating quickly, and they are all buried in the garden.
We have 5 cats at the moment, including 2 rescues and one who moved in from next door - the neighbours accept this because they know where he is, and he still goes back to visit.
