Former residents of 38 Kitty Street. 2nd. Story. The story about how Dancis and Rucis moved to old

He was tiny, helpless and had a bad eye infection when he was left on my doorstep. Whoever left him knew that people living here would not refuse to help this cat in need.

This all happened right around the time of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival. Despite his sad appearance, the little abandoned cat was named Dancis, which means ‘dance’ in Latvian (traditional dance). Dancis grew up and lived up to his name. He turned into a very intelligent, sweet and fun-loving cat. The only thing that reminded of the past was his bad eye, which was now only slightly different from his good eye. Dancis needed a loving home and I was determined to find him one.

One day I was talking to my good friend, Zane, who lives in Germany, and jokingly said – “You already have one Latvian cat, how about a companion for him? Dancis is from Latvia too and needs a family.” Zane loved the idea of having another Latvian cat so she spoke to her husband, Mike, and got the go ahead. Dancis started preparing for his big move. The process for moving from Latvia to Germany was much more complicated for a pet than for an ordinary European citizen. It involved vaccinations, passport and many other things. After jumping through many hoops to get everything organized, the day finally came when Dancis, like a proper passenger being accompanied by my friend Sandra, got on the plane leaving for Amsterdam. Zane and Mike were excitedly waiting for him at the Arrivals on the other end. Mike came prepared and brought a welcome poster with Dancis’ name on it. Zane and Mike travelled 200 km to welcome the new member of their family. Dancis’ new household in Germany consists of Zane, Mike, their two children – Stephano and Laima, their German dog – Jerry Lee, and their Latvian cat – Rucis (from Latvian ‘rukt’ – to growl).

Rucis is another one of my former foster cats. How I came to rescue Rucis is a whole different story and it goes like this. One day a kitten had climbed into the engine of a car in the parking lot next to my work. He was crying, but would not or didn’t know how to climb back out. The owner of the car was exceptionally empathetic and understanding. In order to avoid hurting the animal, he had the car towed to a car service to have a closer look at what was going on. The friends of the owner of the car heard about the poor kitten and came to help. As it turned out later, the owner of the car, Kristap, was actually the son of our former Prime Minister, while his friend, who came to the rescue, was a famous basketball player – Gatis. After several attempts and great group effort, Rucis was safely rescued.

My friend Zane adopted Rucis and he became part of her family. When Zane moved to Germany she took Rucis with her. Rucis traveled to Germany by ferry. We’ll never find out whether he enjoyed or absolutely hated being out on the sea.

That’s yet another story about the two former residents of 38 Kitty Street and their emigration adventures. This story is dedicated to all those who left the country, but did not leave their animals behind.

Thanks to Margarita Atlasova for the translation.