Monday 25 / November / 2024
Muscat: A Persian cat who was adopted by an expatriate couple when they lived in Oman is all set to travel with them as they prepare for a journey across more than 12,000 kilometres.
Four-year-old Rover belongs to Sayonto Gupta and his wife, Aahna, who took in the feline after he was found abandoned behind Sayonto’s office in February 2019. After fostering the cat for a couple of weeks, the couple could not help but fall in love with him, and he has now become a permanent addition to their family.
The couple left Oman to return to India in late 2020, and will be boarding their flight to migrate to Canada on 9 February this year. Coming with them will be Rover, for whom many extra measures have to be taken, in anticipation of his journey to the other side of the world. The love shown to them by the little ball of fluff, however, makes all their efforts worthwhile.
Rover and Sayonto will board a train in Kolkata, which is some 12,538km from Toronto, their final destination, and get down in Delhi, where he will meet his wife, who will join them from Mumbai. Once in the Indian capital, they will head to the airport and fly the remaining 11,000km together.
“He is an absolute bundle of joy!” exclaimed Aahna. “He’s my lucky charm, my therapist, my baby, and my greatest companion. Rover needs his owners around him, but doesn’t show it. However, the affection we share as pet parents has gotten him so attached to both of us in different ways. His presence in my life has simply made me a lot happier and responsible, as I take him to be my own kid.”
Sayonto added: “If the pet is a part of your family, then you will do anything in your power to make the relocation possible for them. The difference in outlook says it all.”
Prior to his flight to Canada, Sayonto will need to make sure Rover has been administered all the necessary vaccinations, and will have to apply for an export certificate from the Government of India. He also needs an official veterinary certificate marking the little animal as fit to fly. Depending on the city in which they are applied for, and the agent responsible for the process, documentation costs vary between OMR150 and 250.
Furthermore, Sayonto will need to make sure Rover remains inside his travel bag the entire time before he is put on the plane.
“I need to make sure there is some drinking water and a little food always handy for him,” he said. “When at the airport, he can be taken out of the bag in the family/disabled bathrooms so he can stretch and relax for a while.”
That Rover is going to Canada with his ‘hoomans’ is in itself very fortunate: while in Oman, Sayonto and Aahna travelled with a couple of friends to a resort away from the capital, taking Rover with them. While there, Rover escaped his leash when he was being taken for a walk, and was nowhere to be found.
The distraught couple returned to the capital without their beloved four-legged companion, but a few weeks after the incident, Sayonto received a call to tell him Rover had been miraculously found in a suburb of Muscat. The couple were reunited with him mere minutes after the call, and to this day, Sayonto refers to his returning to them as “God’s work”.
“He is very inquisitive and might go out unknowingly and get lost by himself,” explained Aahna. “When taken out of the home, we make sure he is inside his favourite travel bag at all times which is netted from all sides so he can see his surroundings.” Although the couple have had to make a few adjustments to make him a part of their life, they don’t really see these as sacrifices.
“Vacation plans always require immense pre-planning regarding how we will keep him safe and who will take care of him on our behalf, but everything is worth it for little Rover and we will never consider these to be sacrifices,” revealed Sayonto.
