My harrowing experience

I knew when I saw it sitting there....

Oh-oh. The last time they put me in there I thought I was going to die. And there it was again. And there was a smaller one too.... looks like my sister Zazu was going too. They loaded us up and put us in the truck and off we went. They locked up poor Zazu right away, me they let explore a little longer but then it was in to that big blue box with the cage. My humans said goodby and they left me there. A bunch of guys eventually took me, loaded us on to another truck and put us in to the plane.

The plane made alot of noise and started moving. I layed to down to get confortable. Zazu was a little panicked but it was almost as if she couldn't quite focus on me when I was looking in her eyes. Almost like she was drunk. I think the humans may have slipped her something.

We got to see the humans again when the plane stopped moving and we went in to that bright yellow building. There were people gathered around me alot and some where taking pictures. One of my humans was holding me and the other was telling me to smile at the camera. My littlest human seemed very excited to see us and kept saying 'Hi' over and over again. I'm not sure but I don't think he knows how to say anything else. Then it was time to get on another plane and back in the box I went. 

The next time we stopped they took us to a spot I've seen before. It had baggage carousels and I heard someone say I was in Ottawa. We waited and waited and nobody came for us. I heard a loud announcement asking Mr. Steeves to come pick up his animals. I'm pretty sure my humans are called Steeves but I didn't see them. I was starting to get worried they forgot us when another man came over to check my box. He said then that there was a mistake and that we were supposed to be going on another plane to a place called Montreal and the loaded us back on the truck.

After another plane ride, we ended up in a place called Toronto where there were a few other dogs and cats and they let us our of our boxes. Someone gave me some food and water and took me for a little walk but my humans were nowhere to be seen. I kept waiting for them to come but eventually I fell asleep. In the morning we got loaded back in to the boxes.... Wow, Zazu got a new box! It looks nicer than her old one. It didn't have all that tape on it. Good for her.

Finally after another plane ride we saw him. My biggest human was there. And then I saw the other one, and two more smaller ones. Everyone seemed really happy to see us and I got to get out and walk around again. I was so happy to see them. Maybe they didn't forget about me after all.

Now I'm hanging with my humans at a nice house that has too many stairs in my opinion. I'm getting lots of love from everyone and I got to hang around outside for quite a while today. I played in the snow because it's so much warmer here than what I'm used to. It's nice to go out for a pee and be able to explore a little before I'm freezing. Zazu's not here though. She stayed behind when we stopped to visit those nice people. I hope she's ok. They seemed nice but you never know. I hope to see her again someday.

Our side of the story:

We booked our flights based on the type of aircraft used. Some of the Air Canada planes do not have heated cargo holds so we didn't have much choice in our routing or flights. When we got to Ottawa they had changed the type of plane being used for the Montreal flight so the animals couldn't go. After some juggling, Nick got booked on a later flight to Monteal that was a very tight connection to our Saint John flight. Isaac and I went on ahead as planned so that just in case Nick didn't make the connection we at least would get home and Nick could stay the night in transit.

We waited in Montreal hoping to see Nick arrive in the boarding lounge before we got on the flight. Just as they were calling pre-boarding, there he was. And he didn't look happy. It turned out when he got on the plane in Ottawa he asked if they had loaded the cat and dog as he always does and was told that no, there were no pets for this plane. Nick insisted there was and demanded to find out what was going on. He was told that they would be going to Toronto and would meet us in Saint John on a flight that would land shortly after us. Knowing that the Toronto route was done by a plane that couldn't take pets he knew that wasn't going to happen. Then the flight attendant told him that he heard them calling for a Steeves to come pick up his animals at the Oversized Baggage area. By then it was too late to do anything.

When Nick arrived in Montreal he told me what was going on and we looked in to it. We were told that they would now be staying in Toronto for the night and that they would be in the next morning. We were not happy to know they'd be in the kennels all night and didn't know if anyone would be willing to let them out for water or anything. When we arrived in Saint John the baggage person told us that they were fine and that they'd be staying in the 'full service' kennel at Toronto Airport and that they would be well taken care of. They arrived Sunday morning and everyone was fine but we were very worried.

Apparently First Air sent them out to the baggage area in Ottawa instead of reading their tag and noticing that they were supposed to be connecting on to another destination. Finally when someone realised it was too late to get them even on the later flight to Montreal so Toronto was the fastest way to get them to us. It also turned out that they also had a aircraft change and would have the right type of plane going on their early morning flight.

The cat is staying with my Nick's mom while we're here since my dad is very allergic to cats and the dog is here with us. The whole family is together now in New Brunswick and we are beginning our crazy week. Tomorrow we take possession of our house and the next chapter of our lives begins.