Cyril, ex-patriate cat

Some of you may recognize this guy - but not outdoors! Yes, Cyril has taken his curiosity outdoors in his new home - supervised of course, since he has no claws.

Cyril made the journey over to Ireland with me at Christmas. I'll spare everyone the details of this long, drawn-out process, but I will let you know that it is much easier to move a person than a cat to another country. Fortunately, Ireland has relaxed the former quarantine laws that used to exist for animals coming in from outside the country (they used to be subject to 6 months in quarantine). Now, you can go through a long arduous process with vets and paper work at home before moving the cat. So, the process began in March of 2005 and Cyril officially joined me in Ireland in December.

First, he endured a number of vet visits, blood draws and vaccinations before riding in the car up to Chicago O'Hare Airport to depart for Ireland. At O'Hare, he sat patiently while I argued with the cargo department about his booking (another long story that I'll spare everyone, but essentially I had to sweet talk them into letting Cyril on board, which involved several Chicago-Dublin phone calls). He then boarded a plane for Dublin, endured a 7 hour flight, a trip to a vet in Dublin and a 2.5 hour car ride back to Sixmilebridge to his new home. He meowed lots, but survived like a champ and crawled up with me for a nice long jet lag nap when we got home.

I know anyone who doesn't know me very well who's reading this is probably thinking I'm nuts for going to such lengths to reunite with my cat. But Tristan probably said it best when he was trying to figure it out himself and told me that he figured it was because Cyril is a part of home that I could have here with me. And that's the truth. My cat is as loyal as the most loyal of dogs - he runs to the door to greet me when I get home and curls up on my lap whether I want him there or not!

Now he's settling in an enjoying his new home. He's always been an indoor cat, but loves watching the outdoors from the windows and back door, and sometimes has even braved a lap or two around the back yard, as pictured above. Spring has definitely sprung here, which has brought him much to look after and observe. He's very busy watching birds and the cows in the field next door and relaxes with a nice sunbath in the afternoons....