From Russia With Love: Part 1

I’ve had a love affair with Russian Blue cats since 1987, when I got my very first kitten. Seven Russian Blues later and fueled by an amazing international Russian Blue Facebook community, I again felt the kitten siren call.

Tekla (pictured), now my sole Russian Blue, is 11 years old. She was from the breeder who wrote the book on Russian Blues, the late Ingeborg Urcia. My Facebook friends on the other side of the world were posting photos of their kittens and cats, and I started making inquiries, since no one on the East coast of the US had any available. I put aside a chunk of my freelance income without any particular plan of action, but in the back of my mind I was preparing myself.

As an equal opportunity cat lover, I’ve also taken in eight strays, hand-me-downs, and shelter kitties over the years, and if it weren’t for common sense and my husband, there would be more. However, he can also be blamed for igniting my passion for Russian Blues: I had mused, ​“Some day I’d like a gray kitty – a Russian Blue.” This was pre-Internet and he ferreted out a breeder in New Jersey, who had a kitten. Then, as now, Russian Blues are minority breeds in the cat fancy, compared to Persians, Maine Coons, and Siamese. That’s why they’re often imported from Europe and across the country.

Gray (blue) domestic shorthairs are often billed as Russian Blues, but in reality, there are so few breeders that it’s very unlikely that such cats would be found as strays or in a shelter. Our gray boy, Dusty, lived among several Russian Blues – we called him our Russian Blue wannabe.

So when a Facebook friend from Kaliningrad, Russia, Liliya Moyseenko (pictured), posted a photo of two of her girl kittens, who were looking for homes, my heart skipped a beat. We had previously chatted a bit about our common occupations and cars adorned with Russian Blue insignia.

We started our conversation on Nov. 12, much of it trying to figure out how to transport a kitten from Kaliningrad, Russia, to the US. Kaliningrad is a Russian ​“exclave” (an unattached part of a country) located between Lithuania and Poland. In its efforts to be everything to everyone, Facebook has a Cat Transport group, which focuses primarily on shipping cats within Europe. That was the starting point for more than 200 messages we exchanged.

One girl, Cherry Sweet, was placed pretty quickly. That left Celica Blue. (Or more precisely, LV* Fantasy RUSsia Celica Blue.) She was just 3 months old. (photo at 3 months, TOP) The price was good. That left arranging transport for a price we both could live with.

We swapped transport names back and forth and possible dates. We looked into flying the kitten out of Warsaw, but the transport was too expensive. We determined that the best way would be for Liliya to fly from Kaliningrad to Moscow, about 700 miles east, where there are direct daily flights to JFK. That was more than 4,600 miles west. We connected with Vladimir Kamenskaya, who ran a professional transport with his wife, Ekaterina. The stressful part was in coordinating the dates for Liliya to fly to Moscow to hand over Celica to Vladimir.

Down to the Wire

Vladimir and I finally talked on the phone to arrange a price and a date – Friday, Dec. 12. Liliya and I had to figure out the best arrangement to pay for the kitty. She sent me account information, which I took to my banker – I’ve been dealing with him for several years and he didn’t think I was too crazy. Besides he and I drive the same kind of car. He figured it all out and she got the money the next day!

However, there were hic-cups along the way – confusion about the date, still more transport options, problems reaching Vladimir, who was in the US, coordinating between Liliya, Ekaterina, Vladmir and me.

In the meantime, I was dealing with my husband Paul’s skepticism. He was afraid the whole thing was a scam and we wouldn’t have a kitten. I found it difficult to explain what Liliya and I were going through in trying to sort this out.

Finally, Thursday, Dec. 11, was nailed down and that happened just the weekend before, to everyone’s relief. Celica would finally fly from Moscow to her new home in the US. I could finally allow myself to get excited about my kitten.

Two friends ever so kindly drove me to JFK. The plane was due in at 12:30 p.m. We arrived in plenty of time. The board noted that the plane was on schedule. We cruised the food court and got something to eat – I ate a half a wrap, ham with Swiss cheese, too excited to even taste it.

To be continued.