In the weeks since I relocated from London to Melbourne, I suspect my reputation among those who know me underwent a quiet but decisive shift: from seasoned, sardonic war correspondent to something closer to a deranged cat obsessive.

My 14-year-old Birman, Aero, has acquired a global following. I have woken up to messages from London, Kabul, Washington, Islamabad, Paris – people asking, not unreasonably, whether she is still alive. She very nearly wasn’t.

Aero arrived in Melbourne after a month in transit blind, dehydrated, unable to walk and carrying an untreated infection

Aero arrived in Melbourne after a month in transit blind, dehydrated, unable to walk and carrying an untreated infection

Aero arrived in Melbourne after a month in transit blind, dehydrated, unable to walk and carrying an untreated infection. She had lost 20 per cent of her body weight. For the first three days after I brought her home from quarantine, I was certain she would die.

The company responsible for transporting her, PetAirUK, is part of IVC Evidensia, a private equity-built veterinary empire worth billions of pounds, now reportedly eyeing a London IPO.

With that in mind, Aero’s journey begins to look less like an isolated failure and more like a corporate structure designed to scale fast and answer, ultimately, to investors rather than to the people who entrust their animals to its care.

This is not just a story about one cat, or one failed journey. It is about what has happened to........

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