🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 2 Jun 1996, Steve Wertz wrote:

> This is not a question about the buttered cat/toast theory, or how
> my cat would litter my apartment with feathers if he could fly (though
> he does try), but how to take a cat on a 2,000 mile flight from San Jose
> to Ohio.
> 
> I hear the mortality rate is just under 2% for pets in the cargo hold.
> Is this becase of the lack of decent handling, pressurization, and/or
> panic attacks?  Just as I myself would not risk a 1 in 50 chance of
> being killed, neither would I subject my cat (or most anything else)
> to those odds.
> 
> I understand that most airlines will allow *one* cat/pet in the
> cabin on each flight, sometimes for an extra charge.
> 
> Should my cat be sedated (as well as myself, of course) for a six
> hour flight, wether he's in the hold or cabin?  I plan on riding 
> in the cabin myself, but plan on having my cat at my side.  In an 
> "approved carrier".
 
> Any comments regarding flight experiences, cargo deaths, sedation
> technics/drugs (for the cat, that is), and specific airline policies
> re: pets would be greatly appreciated, especially flying out of the
> California Bay Area (I.E. Southwest/AA/A-Eagle or United out of S.F.)
> would be apprecited.
 
Steve, when we moved from Illinois to Texas, we had two cats and actually 
took two different planes so the cats could ride with us (because the 
airline only allowed 1 pet in the cabin per flight).  We didn't 
tranquilize ours because the vet said the tranquilizer could have the 
opposite effect of making the cat hallucinate and go a little wild.  
Since ours was a relatively short flight and our guys were pretty docile, 
we opted not to use drugw. The vet did say if we wanted to sedate, to be 
sure and try the pills at home first to see how they'd react, not wait 
until they were confined to a carrier.  

Our flights went well, although my husband got the cat who would adapt to 
just about anything, and I got the "nervous nellie", who did his share of 
yowling and caterwauling on the flight. I've never traveled with a pet in 
cargo, and never would.  Best of luck.

Mary