You’ve got to be kitten me.
A British family-of-five were thrilled to learn their missing cat was found after six years — but now they’re facing an expensive and lengthy process of bringing the tabby to their new home 10,500 miles away.
Lisa Gregory, her 57-year-old husband, James, and their three kids, Mia, Jed and Ostyn, were in hiss-terics when Tallulah, then 18 months, disappeared in 2017.
One day the cat didn’t come back to their northwest London home — Lisa suspects she was being fed by someone who ended up keeping the friendly feline that liked to prowl.
“We did everything you can do, posted flyers, knocked on neighbors’ doors, checked with the vet,” Lisa, 45, told Jam Press.
“We grieved our loss and just presumed she got lost or died — we just did not know. It was sad for the kids. She was a beautiful family pet,” she added.
The following year, the family packed up for Sydney, Australia, and got a dog.
Lisa said she was shocked to recently receive an email from the RSPCA, which bills itself as the largest animal welfare charity in the UK. Tallulah had been identified as a stray near the family’s prior residence in Kentish Town.
“Tallulah is microchipped and [the RSPCA] tried to contact me on the phone number registered, but I have a different number now,” Lisa explained.
“They have even put notes through the door, but we obviously don’t live there any more. I was still in disbelief and asked them to send a picture — and of course it’s Tallulah.”
Now the Gregory family is facing cat-astrophe because of the red tape of importing a pet to Australia.
Former couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard famously got into hot water for illegally smuggling their Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into Australia in 2015 as Depp filmed “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
Lisa noted Tallulah would have to undergo blood tests, a long wait for results and quarantine.
“She is now seven-and-a-half, and the whole process of taking a cat to Australia can take up to 12 months,” Lisa sighed.
“It’s a lot of money, about [$2,300], and she will be eight-and-a-half before we would get her.”
She said the other option is for Tallulah to live with her sister, Diana, who bred the cat and gifted her to the family.
“We plan to FaceTime and reconnect that way and decide what is best for her,” Lisa disclosed.
“The RSPCA have been very helpful. She is a beautiful cat and has warmed the hearts of the staff there.”
In December, Connecticut animal control authorities reported finding a black cat named Minka that went missing in July 2022 as a couple relocated from Georgia to Vermont.
The purrfect reunion was called a Christmas miracle.