It was a bad start when I sent my passport off with my stuff for shipping; it was even more stressful when my wild cat disappeared just before she was due to be collected for transport and I had to chase her down; but nothing quite prepared me for the phone call informing me that they’d lost her on the ferry.  In Cadiz.

Having spent two and a half days in a large air conditioned cage travelling from Tenerife with her sister, the ferry pulled into Cadiz and the drivers went to move the girls back into their crates.  My little old lady cat walked into her crate of her own volition, lulling everyone into a false sense of security; the wild cat had no intention of going quite as easily.  To provoke matters, the drivers attempted to use a broom stick to drive her out of the cage and into the crate….  Long and short, one large and very scared cat, who we know is extremely agile as she used to jump onto the bathroom ceiling to climb the chimney, literally lept over their heads and out a window onto the car deck.  Apparently it was quite fantastic to see, albeit less than ideal.

When they called me they’d been searching for a while, but I persuaded them to keep looking, so they waited until all other vehicles had left the car deck, yet still couldn’t find her.  By this point customs were getting close to closing, and the police were getting suspicious as to why these two vans weren’t leaving the ferry, so they had to depart.  The lead driver went to speak to the captain of the ship and explained the situation, he left his phone number and asked them to call him as soon as she was located.  They then set off through customs, where their vans were searched by the police, nothing suspicious was located – because of course their “we’ve lost a cat!” story for staying behind was completely true – so they were allowed to proceed.  With one cat in situ.

They waited two hours at the ferry port just in case wild cat was found quickly so they could grab her and be on their way, but no luck.  It was decided they’d continue on their journey – they have further ferries to meet to cross the Channel – but left her crate, a sack of food and cat litter behind with the ferry staff.  I understood their logic, but was sad to think of her scared and alone on the ferry, for what could be days or weeks, until someone was able to catch her and deliver her to someone else who in turn was able to deliver her to me….  Was my wild cat now to become a ferry cat?  It would certainly be a change of lifestyle.

Three hours and 200 miles later the van driver got a call: she had been found – captured by means of throwing a large blanket over her!  Well done, ferry staff!  They said they’d look after her on her return journey to Tenerife, if I could arrange for someone to meet the ferry and collect her – of course, I couldn’t do it myself as I was leaving Tenerife for London in order to meet the van, and cat onboard.

The van driver himself is scheduled to come back to the UK at the end of July, to Plymouth, so we were working out the logistics of my finding someone in Plymouth to meet him and look after wild cat, then my getting to Plymouth to collect her…. when I got another call.  They’d had a crisis meeting and the van drivers were going to do it – they were going to share the driving, take one van, and make the six hour round trip to get her!!

Add on an extra 90 minutes to get her from cage to crate, successfully this time – apparently they engaged a water hose to subdue her – and they were on their way again.  Girls reunited.

No more a ferry cat!