What's new pussycat?

Since I've been blogging about relatively personal things these past few days, I thought I'd share an unusual experience I had with my cat yesterday.

It used to be that whenever anyone wanted to take their pet from the USA to Europe (or vice versa), the animal had to be placed in quarantine for 6 months before it would be released into its new home. That changed a couple of years ago. Now you can simply have a microchip implanted into your pet by a vet, do some other minor medical procedures, and your cat or dog can travel with you across the Atlantic.

I took my cat Dina to the vet at the Humane Society of New York. She was treated really well. The staff is exceptionally professional and kind. Dina now has a microchip under her skin, and to my surprise she was quite good about it. She also got two shots: one of which is an obligatory rabies vaccine. Now we need to take her back for a blood test in six weeks. After that blood test, she will be free to travel with us to Europe in six months. She can spend that time in our NY home rather than in some quarantine cage.

After the visit to the vet we took the bus down Lexington Avenue. There were heavily armed police officers and strict security measures in place all around the 52nd Street financial offices. The media circus was there too, of course! All this in response to recently discovered "intelligence" that's already years old. It feels so weird to live in an area with an orange (very high) terror alert.

I've really had it with New York. The re-opening of the Statue of Liberty this morning doesn't make me feel much better either. It's so ironic that this symbol of liberty now has as much surveillance on it as an airport departures lounge...if not more.

It will surely be an interesting experience going through airport security with Dina, when she's ready to move to Europe.