When Cats Fly
by Left
It's no news that cats aren't big fans of travel, or of any kind
of change for that matter. But when it comes to air travel, they may
be on to something. When Jeffie moved down to Florida, his kitty named
Annie ran off and hid, just as the big noisy moving van came to take
stuff away. A friend came to the old house every day with food and water
until they could capture Annie. Then she was put into a carrier, taken
to the airport and she flew all the way to the tip of Florida. When
the plane landed, they called to say Annie had arrived and we all trooped
to the airport to get her.
Her carrier was clean, she had fresh food and water,
and she didn't seem stressed at all. She had little notes stuck all
over her carrier with the names and times that different people stopped
to talk to her or feed her. She certainly didn't lack attention. And
that was before they started airlines for animals too.
According to the Humane Society, flying may be risky business, but that
wasn't our experience. The Humane Society says they receive numerous
reports every year about animals getting lost, injured, or killed when
traveling on commercial airlines. In fact, the Humane Society recommends
steering clear of this method of transport for us altogether, unless
there is no other choice. But we didn't have any problems when Annie
got to fly.
Here are a few suggestions if your human is jetting off on vacation
and she can't go with her.
- Keep kitty comfy at home with a reliable in-home pet sitter.
Been there, done that, and for some reason the pet sitters never want
to come back.
- Relocating? Consider driving with your human or have them hire
a company that specializes in pet transport. I prefer the carrier
hooked in the back seat with a seat belt myself.
If air travel is your only option, take a few precautions:
If possible stay in the cabin with your human. When traveling with cargo,
you may endure extreme temperatures, poor ventilation and oxygen supply,
rough handling, and turbulence, leading to baggage falling on your carrier.
And although most commercial passenger jets pressurize their cargo holds,
rare exceptions may exist, so make sure your human double checks with
the airline first. Better yet, have your human book a ticket for you
on the airline that caters only to pets.
If you get to ride with your human, equip yourself for a safe journey.
Make sure your human selects a sturdy cat carrier that is small enough
to fit under the seat in front of her. Before heading to the airport,
put on your harness and leash, we always wear them when we leave the
house in our carrier. This will help you stay safe if you need to come
out of the carrier at any security checkpoints. Otherwise, you could
easily become frightened and bolt out of your humans arms. Righty would
bolt the very second he got a chance, he is very high strung. Sassy
would just stand there with Meowmie, Jessie and Left would refuse to
leave the carrier, she says that each of us have our own personalities.
Down here in Florida we have Hurricanes, and so far I have been
involved in 5 of them in my 10 year life time, and we have all learned
the necessity of leash and harness. We each have our own leash and harness,
pink for Sassy, red for Jessie, blue for me and black for Right. We
each have our own carrier also, when we go in the carrier, it is always
with the dreaded leash and harness, even if we are going to the vet,
(a couple of us are rather naughty there). We have two blue carriers
and two yellow ones. Originally the yellow were for the girls and blue
for the boys, but now we just pick our own.
Sassy is just fine with her harness, but Jessie just falls over
onto her side and lays there like a slug. Right goes into spasms for
a while then calms down, and I just ignore it and go take a nap. Then
when our carriers come out Mom leaves them open in the living room for
a day or so and eventually we pick which one we want, and Mom puts our
blankie and favorite toy in it. Right is the only one that fights going
in, so mom sets the carrier on its end, opens the door which is now
on the top, and just drops Righty in, slams the door and that is the
end of that.
So if you must fly, be sure to do it in comfort and
safety, and have a safe trip.
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