Shipping cats by air

[Belinda Barfield]

Stephen, I posed your question to my wife (she's a veterinarian), and she advises against tranquilizing. In her words, it's better to be just scared versus drunk and scared.

Can't offer any advice on shipping cats, although I take care of 4. Just wanted to comment on how wise Scott's wife is . . . just scared is much better than drunk and scared!

[Stephen Tashiro]

It's interesting that she recommends blankets. As I recall from over 20 years ago, when my cats were shipped, the rules did not allow anything to be put into the cat carrier except the cat. There had to be a water container that was built in or attached to the cat carrier.

Taking a carry-on cat through airport security must be an interesting experience. Do you keep the cat carrier in your lap? Must it fit under a seat?

[Don Bullock]

Consult with both your vet and the airlines. Some animals don't do well on tranquilizers and the airlines I've flown dogs on recently don't like to ship tranquilized animals.

[Brian Ashton]

When a cat is sent by air freight, is it best that it be tranquilized? The case in hand would be a 3 year old cat in good health from TX to TN. No doubt there would be several changes of plane between El Paso and Johnson City.

Many years ago, two of my cats came from NC to NM by air. They seemed in a daze for half a day afterwards. I don't know if they had tranquillizers or whether the experience did this.

When we dragged our cats to australia we were told not to sedate them as they can't adequately regulate their body temperature. Now in your case the duration of flights won't be near as long but you're also flying them in winter... so you'll need to take all that into consideration.

We had two cats fly: one was a very calm well adjusted cat that took it all in stride. The other cat has cerebellar hypodysplasia (result of a mother with distemper) so he's prone to wig out severely at the slightest thing. They were in transit for about 30 hours and then 30 days in the hole (quarantine) and then 12 hours driving from sydney to the sunshine coast. They came through it well without any drugs (that we now of, you never know what the other convict cats smuggle in...) They both seem to come away with a couple quirks though. Both have a passion for collecting tats and making license plates...

[Ted Calver]

Both have a passion for collecting tats and making license plates...

[Jim King]

My wife and I have traveled to several countries with cats and dogs. We did give tranquilizers to one high strung pointer on his way from the Amazon to Wisconsin but the rest no. They all did well.

Most important is to have the papers, health certificate from a vet and shot records ready on arrival and the airport people are always very nice and helpful with animals.