After 334 days in rehab with the BC SPCA and foster parents, and who knows how long, locked in a dark container in the hold of an ocean freighter, Journey has made another journey.
The seven-year-old cat found in a shipping container in Prince George last April, was adopted this week by a loving family in Burnaby.
The container that had been shipped from Shenzhen, China. The BC SPCA speculates she survived by licking condensation off the side of the walls, and little else.
Animal control officers say the feline weighed just 1.5 kilograms when it was found by staff among pallets and shredded cardboard at an auto glass distribution company as they unpacked crates.
Read more: China stowaway: Cat found in shipping container in Prince George
“It’s been quite a wild ride. Took also most a exactly a year, to get her healthy,” then start working on building trust, said Krista Shaw, branch manager of the Maple Ridge SPCA where Journey was nursed back to health.
Before being permanently adopted, Journey had to become accustomed to living with people. And while she won’t be a lap cat that purrs for hours, she has become used to people, and she’s happy and healthy and loves to play.
“She was in a specialized behaviour foster home. She was very unsure of people so we put her in a foster home to build trust,” Shaw explained.
Read more: Former stowaway looking to settle down, maybe in Maple Ridge
The new family will also continue building trust, she added.
“One of the requirements was that she live in an apartment,” because a house would have been too ovewhelming, Shaw said. Neither is Journey an outdoor cat.
Shaw said once Journey became adjusted and she was put up for adoption, the applications piled into the SPCA.
pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
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