Kitten Expatriation

Somewhat less exciting, but still exciting news: As of July 3, 2004, the rules for importation of pet animals into Sweden have changed in line with an EU decision. In short: My cat will no longer have to be quarantined upon arrival in Sweden!

The rules for Sweden used to be that a cat would have to be quarantined for four months, and wouldn’t be allowed to interact with any other animal for an additional two months after that. With these new rules, all she needs are some additional shots!

Expatriation

I have some exciting news today: Adrienne and I are approved for permanent residence in Sweden!

After waiting 55 days to receive ANY kind of answer from the Swedish Migration Board, today I received the following, by email from Boel, our HR Manager:

I got the decision from Migrationsverket today; they’re giving you a
permanent residence permit – maybe you haven’t even received the papers
yourself. Congratulations!

Wish us luck as we make our plans for moving to Sweden!

Edible Moles?

My cat, Nalle, managed to get ahold of a small mole today. At least I think it was a mole.

The story: When I open the main front door of my apartment, there is another glass door. That door doesn’t match up with the floor exactly, so there is a somewhat sizable gap between the door and the doorframe. I’ve had the main door open for the past few days because it’s been nice outside, and Nalle is usually sitting right in front of the door, staring incessantly out the door.

Today, I found out why the door had been getting so much attention from the cat. She was sitting in front of it like normal, and all of the sudden she’s in the middle of the room and I am hearing “EEEEEK SQUEEAAAAKKK!!” and I look over and there is a small grey-black rodent running around in my living room, with a cat in tow. She picks up the rodent in her mouth, doesn’t know what to do, spits it out again, and proceeds to chase it around. I grabbed a jar, and after a bit of a chase, scooped it up and, since it wasn’t going anywhere, examined it.

It seemed to be a mole. It was about mouse-sized, grey-black, and had a very pointy nose, and very very small eyes. Its tail was about half the length of a normal mouse’s tail. I let it go back outside, where it quickly ran into one of the holes in my front garden area. Bad kitty.