This is the second part of this story. To read the original story click here.
After dropping off little Ravello at the boarding facility with Riccardo we drove straight to the airport for the final leg of our trip — three and a half weeks in Thailand. We weren’t late to the Airport, but if we had arrived any later we would have been. I’m still amazed that somehow we were able to find an all new boarding facility that could keep him for over a month and handle all his medical needs at the very last second and somehow it worked out. But it did, and we were heading to Thailand.
Thailand was an amazing last country to visit and we had an incredible time. Starting off with 5 days at a Yoga retreat on the isolated undeveloped island of Koh Yao Noi, then 6 days in a beachfront bungalow on the even more isolated undeveloped island of Koh Jum, then a complete change of pace with a week in the historic old city of Chiang Mai including spending the night with elephants at an elephant sanctuary, and finally spending a day in Bangkok before heading home after 7 weeks.
During this time in Thailand, Riccardo would occasionally send us photos and videos of little Ravello in the facility. He would bring him inside from his cold outside concrete cage and play with him for a while and take videos of him playing. Originally the plan was for Ravello to be shipped to Seattle a few days after we were arriving back home, around December 10th, but the veterinarian the boarding facility was working with wanted him to completely finish all his medicines before administering the rabies vaccine, and the Italian rules stated that he couldn’t leave the country until 21 days after his rabies vaccination. This pushed back the earliest he could be shipped to right around Christmas. Then it turned out that the flight cost literally tripled in the week before and after Christmas, so it had to be pushed back more to January 3rd before he could be shipped home. That meant 40 days in the boarding facility.
But January 3rd was the date. We returned home from Thailand on December 7th, and all of our friends and family wanted to know about Ravello. Apparently they were quite entertained by our Facebook posts with finding him and trying to figure out what to do with him, and eventually how to get him home.
We got the house set up for Christmas and bought him a bed and put it under the tree waiting for him to come home. Somehow even though we had only had Ravello for about 10 days he still felt as much of a pet and part of the family as our other animals that we had for years. I remember being worried every day that something would happen and we wouldn’t actually be getting him. It just seemed like too many moving parts and too many things that could go wrong for it to work out. He could get sick again, he could escape from the facility, he could get denied the export certificate, something else could happen to him in the facility…plus all the horror stories you hear about pets that are shipped via cargo.
But the days ticked by, Christmas came and went, then New Years came and went, and Ravello was scheduled to come on January 3rd. Amazingly everything went smoothly. The only big scare that happened was when I wired the money to the boarding facility my bank told me it would take the recipient 24 hours before they would receive confirmation that I had sent the money, but he needed to be picked up by the shipping company sooner than that. We had only paid a deposit so far, and his stay had been extended by so much that I was paying the majority of the total cost in this wire. I was worried that the boarding facility wouldn’t release him until they had received confirmation that their money was on the way, which would only happen after he needed to be picked up and would cause major problems. But luckily, Riccardo took me on my word that I had wired the money and it was no problem for the shipping company to pick up little Ravello.
We were told we needed to pick him up from the freight import office at SeaTac, and at the scheduled time we drove down there to finally get him. When we got there they told us that before they could release him to us they had to give us a piece of paper that we had to physically drive to another building near the airport to pay a fee to some government import office, get them to stamp the paper, and then bring it back. We did so, and then with the stamped paper in hand we were finally able to get Ravello. After 40 days in a cold boarding facility on the outskirts of Rome we had somehow managed to bring this sick little street cat back to Seattle.
I realized that 40 days was so long, and he only knew us for 10 days, that there would be no way he would remember us. To him we would just be brand new people. Though when we took him out of his crate for the first time it really seemed like he remembered us. Of course it’s impossible to know if he was just so happy to get out of his crate and he would have acted that way with anyone, but he literally acted like an excited puppy and so unlike any cat that I had ever seen. Licking our faces and jumping on us with excitement.
Once we got him home, the reception from the rest of our pets was mixed. Pierce, the middle aged, easy going Poodle/Bichon loved him and just wanted to play. Joey, the cranky old Chihuahua just wanted to be left alone (but quickly became a favorite play toy of Ravello — stalking and tackling the Chihuahua). Kenya, the middle aged diva cat loathed him with every fiber of her being.
We read multiple articles on how to introduce a new cat to an existing cat. We followed all the rules. We kept him separated in his own room for weeks. Fed them at either side of a closed door. Swapped each other’s beds every few days. Introduced them with him being confined in a crate. But as soon as they were finally face to face Ravello just wanted to jump on her and play and she wanted to kill him.
It’s understandable. Ravello spent 12 weeks on the streets being around dozens of other cats and kittens. Then suddenly got taken off the street, away from all other cats, for 10 days, then quarantined (literally) for 40 days at the boarding facility, then kept in a guest room for weeks with only dogs and us as company. Then finally, after several months, he was able to interact with another cat. Of course he just wanted to play, and play hard.
Kenya, meanwhile, spent 5 years as the only cat in the household, and was quite happy with that arrangement. She was devastated that not only would we bring another cat into her house, but he was an obnoxious little fur ball that only wanted to jump on her.
I wish I could say that they quickly became friends. That didn’t happen.
For years they would fight multiple times per day, every day. The fighting really was Ravello bullying her and her screaming bloody murder and trying to get away. He quickly became bigger than her and would use his weight to hold her down after tackling her.
For the 10 days we had Ravello in Italy he was a very sweet little guy. Just wanted to cuddle all day. Not rambunctious or high energy in any way. If anything, he was a low energy, subdued kitten. Preferring to cuddle over playing. We thought that was his personality. Turns out we were wrong. His low energy must have been caused by malnutrition and being sick. Once he was fully recovered he was a rambunctious ball of energy. We lived on a busy street in Seattle and couldn’t let him go outside so he was pent up inside and took most of his manic energy out on antagonizing Kenya.
The first couple weeks we had him at home we kept him locked in our guest bedroom in an attempt to slowly ease Kenya into accepting the new reality of sharing her house with another cat. I wasn’t working at the time, and would literally spend most of the day, every day in the guest room playing with him. That’s when we discovered he could basically fly if he was motivated enough. If I could move the string toy just right he would jump nearly 6 feet high and jump almost the entire width of the room.
Slowly, slowly, after 3–4 years he and Kenya finally started to develop a peaceful coexistence. Nearly 5 years later, while not friends, they hardly ever fight anymore. And they have developed a bond of sorts. When we’ve had to give one of them a bath, or when one of them is sick the other one does become distraught.
Pierce was grateful to finally have a play buddy. Joey and Kenya never paid him much attention, but he and Ravello could wrestle at full intensity. He was getting up there in years though, and after a few years he couldn’t really play anymore. But for a few years they had some epic play sessions.
Poor Joey just became a helpless play toy for Ravello. We did our best to protect him, but one of Ravello’s favorite hobbies was to wrap his front legs around Joey and then twist over and throw Joey to the ground in a tackle. Joey wasn’t as fun to harass as Kenya though because he never fought back. Eventually Ravello became bored with messing with him and focused most of his energy on Kenya.
One of my fondest memories of Ravello was taking him to visit my grandma one day. She had followed the story of Ravello in real time as we found him in Italy and ultimately succeeded in bringing him home. She was enthralled by the entire story, and had a genuine love for this little Italian street cat. When I brought him inside he jumped up on her lap and cuddled with her for the entire time I was there, literally 3–4 hours straight. This was so unlike him, and still to this day I’ve never seen him do this with anyone else. Aside from when we first had him in Italy when he was sick, he really isn’t much of a cuddler. But for some reason he stayed glued to my grandma for hours straight.
Now, nearly 5 years later to the day from when we first found the little guy in the town square of Ravello across from the cathedral, he is an integral part of our family. Joey and Pierce have both passed on, and now we just have two cats who coexist peacefully. Luckily we live in a place now where it is relatively safe for him to go outside, and he spends most of the day every day outside. Sometimes gone for most of the day. I have no idea where he gets off too, but I assume he is having some grand adventures, and he always comes back by dinner time safe and sound.
Our two year old daughter, Ruby Ray, absolutely loves him. She loves giving him hugs and kisses and pets. Feeding him twice daily is one of her favorite parts of the day. Surprisingly out of our three pets she has known, he has been the best with her. Being the most patient. When we first brought her home he was hilariously scared of her. He would slowly walk up to her and when she would move at all or make a noise he would jump and run off. He is quite the cat with a big personality, and a loved member of our family.
That is the story of Ravello the Italian street cat.
