Take off with Natarajan

This is a cat who has certainly used up one its nine lives – after it survived a 3,400 miles  journey from Egypt to the UK when she was accidentally packed in her owner’s suitcase.

Mervat Ciuti only realised her mistake when she was called by relatives in Cairo as she sat in a taxi in Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, on her way to visit her sister.

She was so convinced her beloved pet Bisou, a seven-year-old Persian would be dead that she had to get the taxi driver to check her luggage.

Trip of a lifetime: Bisou the cat who travelled in his owners luggage from Egypt to the UK

An unimpressed-looking Bisou recreates the moment a taxi driver opened her owner’s luggage and discovered the back-packing pussy

But when he opened the case they found that Bisou was happily curled up along with her clothes and enjoying a cat nap.

Vets said it was a ‘miracle’ the animal survived after its long journey in the cargo hold of a plane.

But Bisou has not yet been able to return home as he has been put in quarantine for six months!!!!

Ms Ciuti, 42, believes she unwittingly zipped her pet inside the case after Bisou crawled in for a nap.

The cat somehow managed to go unnoticed through security at Cairo airport and was stacked into the hold of the plane with hundreds of other bags.

She was called by relatives, who realised the cat was missing, as Ms Ciuti travelled from Heathrow along the M1 to her sister’s home.

Her sister Monica, 40, said: ‘When she realised what had happened she said she was trembling. She thought she would be dead.

Mike Binks, owner of Calagran Kennels in Chesterfield, says it’s a miracle that Bisou survived the plane journey

‘How could she survive? At the airport the cases could have been thrown and banged about.’

Mervat, 42, returned to Egypt after spending a few weeks staying at a flat in Mapperley, Nottingham, and visiting her sister.

But she had to leave Bisou in quarantine at a kennels in Chesterfield, where she is still waiting for the all-clear to be shipped safely back to Egypt in the summer.

Mike Binks, owner of the centre, described the cat’s adventure as a ‘miracle’.

He said: ‘She’s a healthy, happy, laid-back Persian who likes sitting outside in the sunshine.

‘I’ve never heard anything quite like it before. Apparently she was fine and when the bag was opened was like “well this is comfortable, if a bit different”.’

After Mervat took her cat to the vet for a check-up following her ordeal on December 28, Bisou was put into quarantine at Calagran Kennels Chesterfield, where she is still waiting for the all-clear to be shipped safely back to Egypt in the summer.

Notts County Council’s Trading Standards department arranged for Bisou to be kept in quarantine after they were contacted by the vet which Mervat had taken her to. Animal importation issues fall under the remit of trading standards.

Trading Standards manager Mark Hughes said: ‘It is a very unusual situation as we have dealt with cats coming into the UK in cargo containers – but never a suitcase! It was New Year’s Eve when we got the call; we just didn’t believe it. I’m amazed it survived.’

It is illegal to bring a pet into the UK without the right travel documents, which from Egypt include proof of rabies vaccinations, which Monica said Bisou had had done.

Trading Standards said they took no further action in Bisou’s case as they were satisfied she had been brought in by mistake.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288983/Stowaway-cats-accidental-journey-Persian-Bisou-travels-3-400-miles-owners-bag-Cairo-London.html#ixzz2Mr4cqrZt
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