A Flight From Russia
19 February 2005
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5 FEBRUARY 2005 / Saturday -- This saga opens on 5 February 2005, when I saw an interesting ad in YardSaleNet.net, where I have listed items for several years with links to my eBay goodies -- it is FREE to list there, and there are no commissions of any kind -- one can add as many links to their own things as they want to -- they usually have some pet ads, but mostly for dogs, exotic birds, hamsters and horses, as well as items in every imaginable category, including real estate --
this particular item listed was about Sphynx kittens up for adoption from an award winning breeder in Moscow -- I was amazed because one does not see many references to Sphynx cats just popping up anywhere online -- as my readers may know, Bernar, a friend, gave me his Sphynx cats because he no longer found time to breed them, so I added the Sphynx line to my own Guanche Cattery, which until then was solely dedicated to the olde fashioned apple-headed Siamese variety -- I then combined my cattery and his, Pimpernelle Cattery, to my web site, and was able to offer Sphynx kittens for adoption, the few times my only female interested in having kittens felt like having a litter, which may have been once a year. In comparison, when I bred Siamese, they often had 3 litters / year!
I have been interested in improving my Sphynx breeding stock for several years in order to obtain more color variations than Bernar and I had been getting, but never actually spent the time to see what was available -- I had some time away from eBay, so I thought why not see what this cattery has to offer.
OK, so I immediately sent an email to the cattery via the YardSaleNet web site, and over a period of some two weeks exchanged emails with Tatyana, who understands and writes English acceptably well (much better than what little Russian I know, even after studying it for a year at Villanova University!) -- I have a folder containing 90 files relative to my many questions, her extensive answers, including numerous photos and even video clips of her cats! She is an extremely friendly pet adoption genius, and I have learned some useful techniques from her in the process -- I have never made a video clip, but it has been on a back burner for many years.
The kittys left Moscow on 18 February 2005 and had a brief stop over in Amsterdam -- Aeroflot and KLM were the airlines used and they were cargo flights -- I was worried that, due to the cold winter weather, they might not be well protected and arrive fresh frozen or something. I called Amsterdam airport on the 18th, to confirm that I was awaiting the shipment -- they said to also contact the Newark airport, where they would arrive the next day about noon -- I called Newark on the 19th before I left in my new old Honda on its first long-ish trip, getting more exact directions to the pick up point.
19 FEBRUARY 2005 / Saturday -- I started out at 10h with a large mug of coffee and a small cat crate in case it was necessary -- the approximately two hour trip to the airport went very smoothly, and I stayed in the slightly slower right lane the entire distance -- a first for me! I arrived at the Eva Cargo building slightly after 12h, noon, taking a short while to find it, and there was plenty of parking available in front of the building -- the day was cold -- once inside I was told that the flight arrived several minutes earlier -- they said I would have to wait about an hour for the plane to be unloaded, so I went into the small adjacent room having vending machines and a row of chairs, one of which I leaned back into, which was very uncomfortable, and rested a while -- I really did not sleep a lot the previous night worrying about the cats, and did bring a mug of coffee to keep me awake during the trip.
At about 13h I heard some voices and three
other young Dutch peeps had arrived to pick up two cats from Amsterdam,
which they had left back home in the Netherlands a couple years
ago -- large tabbies -- my kittys were in their individual crates
near the photocopier -- 
-- when the Dutch peeps left to go to customs
with their paperwork, Betty the very helpfully friendly lady in charge brought
the crates over to the counter to allow me to see my new babies
-- I did not want to take them out of their crates for fear they
would run around and be a problem -- although I could not see
very much, they did seem alive and well, although the young female
was sneezing, but so was Helen, who said it was the heating or
something in the work area affecting her allergies -- she is not
allergic to cats, though.
They had to print out some forms for me to take to customs, which was somewhere nearby, and Helen showed me the papers included with the shipment -- you will see some of them below. She presented me with the papers and I then had to go to Building 151, U. S. Customs, not too far away, although I did get slightly lost finding it. The lady at the window took the papers and did whatever she does with them -- they were returned to me in a couple minutes -- that was it! I worry too much!
Back at the cargo building I parked at the
front door -- I simply presented the stack of papers to Betty
and she told me I needed $20 for some fee or whatever -- I only
had $16 with me, and asked if I could use a credit card -- NO
-- so what do I do now? She went in the back for what seemed the
longest while, and returned saying, OK, to send them a money order
for the fee, writing the details on a smallish paper -- I was
using my cane, as usual, so I took each of the two cat crates
in either hand and she carried the papers to the car -- I put
the cat containers on the front passenger seat and on the floor
in front of it. After thanking her for all her help, I started
back to Trenton -- not a lot of traffic, so the drive was pleasant
and uneventful -- the cats were generally quiet, and I stuck my
finger in through the wire door a couple times to assure them
that they were OK and that they would soon he at their new home.
These are the crates they were shipped in -- 
-- sitting on my doorstep at 16.23h
-- very similar to any other shipping crate I have seen in the
past.
Once inside, I took them in to the bathroom,
shut the door and let them out of their crates for the first time
since they left Moscow, to allow them to stretch, and have some
food and water -- they did the expected exploration thing, and
appeared to be lively -- the female was the most friendly, but
she is the youngest of the two -- born 8 December 2004 -- she
was constantly on my lap, purring like an engine! The male --
born on 3 March 2004 -- seemed nervous with his new surroundings,
allowing himself to be petted slightly, then quickly scampering
off -- they both ate some dry and canned food I had there for
them -- they used the litter box -- I took a quick photo of the
female -- 
-- she is
really cute.
About 30 minutes passed and I then brought in my two young Sphynx kittens, Ziggy and Yakshini, to acquaint the new arrivals with some of my other kittys -- it took a while to get to know each other -- they became pals -- then the next step after another hour --
into my bedroom they all went -- the room is much larger, with some covers to crawl under when they want to -- I previously removed Quichi, an older female, who can be finicky at times -- shut the door, and they roamed around, seemingly taking a lot of interest in the windows, which they sat at, watching the movement in the street below -- I think they had never seen a mirror before, because they seemed somewhat puzzled by it -- in about an hour I allowed Quichi in, and all was well -- in the meantime, while the new female was constantly craving attention and the male continued aloof, I started looking at all the labels on the crates -- took them off and found a compartment at each end on the top, containing several things -- I will now go into picture mode to better describe these things to you -- please keep in mind that spontaneous photos of always moving cats are not the easiest to take by a single person -- for every one presented, I had at least 3 that were much less acceptable --
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the top and sides of each crate were covered with numerous labels -- the one with the drawings about what kind of animal is inside did not include a cat, so the dog image was circled! |
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after removing all the labels I discovered compartments at each end of the top -- inside were a forwarding sheet, cards from the Russian cattery, and a toy for each cat -- inside each crate were small plastic dishes for water and food for the new owner to use |
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this is the only Russian label I could find |
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this impromptu shot in bed shows Zews, top left, looking at my young male, Ziggy -- Quichi is on the right |
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in the packet of documents was a cat passport / vet certificate for each cat -- it had data in it concerning shots they received, among other things -- apparently the cats have some kind of a microchip, made by Bayer / the aspirin peeps, containing their personal data somewhere under the skin of each of them -- it is a relatively recent form of pet ID -- I have seen mention of this high tech thing on the Internet several times |
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the Russian female is at the top -- her name is Kappora, which I shall also retain, because both new kittys appear to know their names when I call them-- Zews is sniffing my younger, female, Yakshini |
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here is the 5 generation pedigree for the male cat, who already has a name, Zews -- the entries in RED are champions in his family lines -- I like the name, so shall retain it when I get them registered here, which is possible but I do not know the administrative procedures for doing it yet |
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the new cats are at the top -- my two young ones on the lower part of the feeding dishes, happily munching some fresh catfish -- I have always only used stainless steel food and water dishes for my cats because they clean easily and never need replacement -- I have had some of the oldest ones in use for 15+ years already |
20 FEBRUARY 2005 / Sunday -- They slept with me last night, after figuring out, again and again, whether they wanted to be on top the blanket or under the bed linens -- most opted for under everything next to me. Kappora was still sneezing, but the vet told me to bring them in for a checkup on Monday or Tuesday -- tomorrow, Monday is a holiday, so I am not sure if he will be available. Zews is much friendlier now, running over to me when I call him -- they have all adjusted quite nicely with each other.
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Zews is playing happily with one of the catnip mice included in that compartment on the crate, while the others look on -- they are all on my bed, of course |
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Kappora walks over mouse while the others watch -- Zews, in the foreground, is attentive to something else |
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Zews again, closer up to show his markings, toy mouse in his clutches |
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a quicky and lucky face shot of Kappora -- they are very seldom still enough to be able to take a minimally acceptable photo |
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Zews standing on bed |
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Tatyana's cattery business card |
21 FEBRUARY 2005 / Monday -- when I went to bed early this morning, it was snowing and there was about 4" on the ground already -- the cats could not make up their minds where they wanted to sleep, and three of them kept jockying for position nearest my head, resting on my right hand -- needless to say, I did not sleep too much!
A few days ago I removed the old banner for my main cattery page, anticipating the new arrivals, eliminating the Siamese that was on it --
and replacing it with a pics of BeanTuska and one of Kappora that Tatyana sent me.
John, the vet, gave me an appointment to see the new babies at 15:20h this afternoon -- guess what -- I dozed off at the computer, which is normal for me, and got up late, so we rescheduled for 17:20h.
I am allowing the space below for a potential update, hopefully with better pics of the cats --
24 March 2005 / Holy Thursday -- today the registration papers arrived from the CFA -- my story about the adoption was selected by YardSaleNet.net as the March 2005 member story on their web site -- here are more recent photos
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I tried to get a shot of them resting, but every time I go into the bedroom, they perk up -- this shows the bed, windows they like to look out of, and the nearby telephone which they sometimes knock over -- they also seem to like digging in the pillow cases -- linoleum on top left is where the litter box is placed, and there is another one in a corner on the other end of the room and a third in the bathroom for their convenience-- left to right, Yakshini, Kappora, Ziggy, with Zews in the foreground |
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just as they got up from under the covers, sleepy eyed Yakshini, Kappora, Ziggy, with Zews in the foreground -- he loves to be the center of attention! Quichi is still under the covers -- she is usually the last one out |
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Kappora and Ziggy, wondering why I woke them up |
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Fabiola, my oldest female, has been in my study with her female kitten since its birth on 13 February 2005 -- this allows her some privacy in attending to her kitty |
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here is the kitten at about 4 weeks of age, exploring my computer table -- when she is about 7 weeks old and able to fend for herself with the others, they will all be united in the apartment -- my eMac is in the background |
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Sphynx kittens are somewhat more difficult to care for as kittens than my Siamese ever were -- the new borns are usually a lot smaller, and I rarely get 2 litters / year, whereas with the Siamese my females would even have 3 litters a year, with up to 6 kittys / litter |
31 July 2005 -- here are some recent photos of Zews and Kappora -- future photos will appear on my Family Album page
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1 July 2005 - BeanTuska returned from West Trenton because Bernie is selling the house -- she really enjoys all the attention she now is getting, and is as smoochy as ever! |
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3 July 2005 - Zews and Kappora on my bed -- notice how fat she has become |
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29 July 2005 - Kappora had three kittens at just before 12h / noon -- I was asleep for about 3 hours when she woke me up with 2 kittys moving on my arm -- I moved her from my bedroom into a box in my study to be closer to me throughout the day, and to give her some privacy from Zews and Yakshini, the other young female |
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the kittys appear to be doing well, although seemingly still fragile -- I was slightly surprised that she had a 4th kitten at 23h on 30 July 2005 -- it was somewhat larger than the others and was born dead -- this was more than 35 hours after delivering the others -- this had occurred only once before, several years ago, with another Sphynx female |
 -- Me / Fast Track for Pets -- Me / Microchip ID -- Me / West
Trenton Animal Hospital -- Me / Yard Sale Net Story --Sherry
/ Carbohydrates and Cats -- Sherry
/ Canned Cat Food Contents -- Me / Dry Cat Food Contents -- Sherry
/ Homemade Pet
Foods -- Sherry / Cat Nutrition -- Me / Pregnancy
& Delivery -- Me / Parturition & Potential Problems -- |
Bigglesworth - the Sphynx that wanted to rule the world
God Bless !
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