More on the Story: American Cat Lost & Found At Islamabad Airport

Birdy and her petmom Amy Hamelin both had hair raising adventures when Birdy disappeared enroute from Pakistan back to the US on July 3 of this year and ended up on the loose at the Islamabad airport. Amy wrote us today with more on the story, plus a cautionary recommendation about pets and travel.

We presented the saga of Birdy’s travel ordeal and her petmom’s determination to do everything she could to try to get her missing kitty back after Birdy went missing from her family’s flight home from a year long stay in Pakistan. Birdy had been securely crated, yet ended up on the run at the airport instead of safely on the plane.  Once home in the States, Amy got the airline and the airport to help in her quest to get her furry family member back. She immediately returned to Pakistan;  meanwhile, the airport began to employ a cat-sniffing dog, who eventually located Birdy, with Amy on the scene. You can read the full story here: Cat-Sniffing Dog Aids Search For American Cat Lost at Islamabad Airport.

Here’s what Amy has to say in followup:

Hi.  This is Birdy’s mom.  All of this coverage is starting to go to her head!

She seems to have recovered fully and is enjoying life as a lap kitty.  To think, she would have become an airport stray struggling to find food and water in a totally inhospitable environment if we hadn’t found her – or I should say if the dog hadn’t found her.

I know very little about the dog – it was small with a red coat and very business-oriented.  He wasn’t much interested in being petted.  When I held out some of Birdy’s toys for the dog to sniff, the owner sort of laughed and said “Don’t worry madam, my dog can find all cats.”  The point was that I wanted him to find MY cat.  And he did.

By the way, she escaped when her kennel fell 4 feet from the conveyor belt onto the tarmac as she was being loaded onto the plane.  The kennel broke in several places and the door flew open and she ran out.  For all those traveling with kitties, be sure to invest in a good kennel and reinforce it with security ties, duct tape, bungee cords, etc. to be absolutely sure that your pet will not be able to get out should something terrible happen.

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Karen Harrison Binette

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