Before she saw the cat, Hannah Shaw heard her scream. It wasn’t a pained scream, but a terrified one.
Shaw, the creator of Kitten Lady, was on holiday in Peru with her boyfriend, cat photographer Andrew Marttila, and they’d just returned from climbing across the Andes and visited Machu Picchu. On the penultimate day of their journey, the last thing they anticipated was to savе a cat.
Shaw, on the other hand, ran toward the kitten’s scream as they strolled through a nearby neighborhood.
“I noticed a small child, maybe 6 years old, racing around with a cat in his hands,” Shaw explained. “The child wasn’t being cruel to the cat; in fact, he was overjoyed, but he was clutching her tightly. So I began chasing him down and yelled, “Hey, hey, let me try to assist this kitty.””
Shaw, who works as “Kitten Lady” and spends most of her time nurturing and nursing young kittens, wasn’t the right person for the job.
The kitten was tiny and white-furred, and she was trembling. But once the kitten was in Shaw’s arms, she started to calm down.
“I think she recognized that we were helping her,” Shaw said.
But Munay, the kitten, was still in bad shape: she was underweight and emaciated, and her dirty fur was strewn with fleas. Shaw had been carrying about some cat food, which she presented to the kitten, who gobbled it right away.
Shaw discovered from the youngsters, who spoke to him in limited Spanish, that Munay didn’t have a mother and that the kids had stolen her from another part of town.
“They didn’t have a plan for her,” Shaw explained, “and there was nowhere safe for her to go.”
Shaw wanted to assist more, but she and Marttila were leaving in 45 minutes on a train and wouldn’t be back. They were actually returning to the United States the next day. Shaw, on the other hand, couldn’t leave Munay there, so she did the only reasonable thing she could think of: she took Munay with her.
The next 48 hours were pure craziness for Shaw and Marttila. First, they had to smuggle Munay onto the train. Then they had to figure out how to get Munay onto their two flights and get the kitten into the U.S.
Exporting a cat from Peru turned out to be a rather simple and quick process. They proceeded to a local vet to get Munay the requisite vaccines and health certifications for travel after their train arrived in Cusco, and they were able to successfully add Munay to their flights.
They were still concerned, especially about getting through customs in the United States.
“All we could do was cross our fingers and hope we’d done everything properly,” Shaw added. “We did all we could, but there’s simply not a lot of good information out there about exactly what’s needed in this case, so we were kind of going into it with the attitude of, ‘We hope this works.’ What happens if it doesn’t work? ‘Are we going to miss our flight?’”
Luck was on their side – and on Munay’s. Shaw and Marttila got Munay onto the plane from Cusco to Lima, and then onto their international flight from Lima to Atlanta.
Shaw stated, “She slept on my chest.” “I’d wake up on the plane in the morning to find her fast sleeping, purring on my breast.”
Shaw and Marttila were both relieved when Munay arrived in the United States.
Shaw admitted, “I was in tears.” “I couldn’t believe we just accomplished that – that’s ridiculous,” she says.
Munay will reside with Shaw and Marttila until she is ready to be adơрted, now that she is securely in the United States.
“I was so happy to be able to put her on a couch, put her on a floor and let her run around and show her all the stuff we have here in our house,” Shaw said.
“We have the most tripped-out cat house ever. I think she had no idea what she was in for. So she has everything she wants now – she has every kind of toy, the best food.”
Munay’s health is also improving significantly.
“She’s back on track now,” Shaw added. “Every day, I weigh her to make sure she’s gaining weight.”
Shaw said, “It was a pretty interesting experience, and we love her.” “I believe hope goes a long way.”
You may dơnatе to Kitten Lady to help Shaw savе other cats likе Munay.
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