Woman’s Cat Vanishes at Airport, Still Not Found After 5 Days

If you’ve ever flown a pet out of Kuwait, you’ll know the feeling – you fill in the paperwork, pay the fees, double-check the carrier, and still spend the whole flight a little worried. Now imagine the carrier comes back empty.

That’s exactly what happened to a woman named Avishka Kaumadi at Dubai International Airport on 11 October. She was booked on an 11pm flight to Sri Lanka and had brought her cat along as air cargo, following all the usual steps. Five days later, she’s still waiting to hear if he’s been found.

It’s the kind of story that sticks with you, especially if you’re a pet owner living away from home, as so many of us in Kuwait are.

What actually happened at the airport

According to Kaumadi, the whole check-in process for her cat went smoothly at first. Between around 8.30pm and 9.25pm, she completed the paperwork, paid the required fees, and had her cat inspected. His details were matched against the documents, and he was placed back in his carrier.

She then went through immigration and into the duty-free area. That’s when she got a call from an airline staff member – her cat had escaped his carrier.

Kaumadi asked to go back and help look for him, but she said she was told permission was needed first. When staff asked if she’d be willing to fly without her cat, she didn’t hesitate: “I clearly told him that I would not board the flight without my cat.”

Around midnight, she was finally taken to the cargo area. She and the staff member spent more than an hour calling out to the cat and trying to coax him out, but the area was dark and poorly lit, which made it hard to spot him. The search came up empty, and Kaumadi was taken back to the boarding area, where the airport arranged a room for her. In total, she stayed at the airport for about 28 hours.

A second day of searching, then a hard decision

On 12 October, Kaumadi went back to the airport to check on progress. At one point she was shown another white cat, in case it was hers – it wasn’t.

She was eventually advised to continue her journey to Sri Lanka while the search went on, and her contact details were taken so she could be updated. That evening, she met with a representative from the Dubai Airport Management Team to talk through what would happen if her cat was found.

[EDITOR NOTE: a line here on how common it is for pets to go missing during air cargo transfers in the Gulf, or any similar case reported in the region, would help readers put this in context.]

During that meeting, the representative reportedly told her that arrangements could be made to fly her cat to Sri Lanka once he was found, even if that took several weeks. It’s not much comfort when your pet is missing, but at least there’s a plan in place if he turns up.

Still no news, five days later

As of now, five days after her cat went missing, Kaumadi hasn’t had an update on his whereabouts. She’s hoping for news soon, and for a reunion with him whenever that becomes possible.

People following the case can reach out through UAEanimalcommunity, an Instagram account that focuses on helping animals across the UAE and has been sharing contact details for anyone with information.

What this means if you’re travelling with a pet from the Gulf

Most of us flying pets out of Kuwait or transiting through Dubai assume the hard part is the paperwork – vaccination records, import permits, carrier requirements. This story is a reminder that things can still go wrong after all of that is done, in the handling process itself.

If you’ve got a pet booked for air cargo soon, it’s worth asking your airline directly what happens if something goes wrong during transfer, and who you’d need to contact. It’s also worth keeping your pet’s microchip details and a recent photo handy, just in case.

You can keep up with more of our international travel news for updates on incidents like this one, since they often affect routes used by people living in Kuwait too.

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