sibsie

Worried about flying pets over? The US govt now receives monthly reports on any lost, injured or dead pets. Doesn't cover UK based carriers but worth a read if it's the sort of thing you worry about.

Flying cats and dogs

brit/usa

I flew my 8 year old dog from the UK to LA with Virgin Atlantic Cargo and have to say that they were excellent. I am sure that there are more animals that arrive safely than not.

Sarah

My husband asked my mum to smuggle him over a bacon butty last time she came over but she was too scared. Maybe now she can do it this way?

sibsie

My two cats and dog flew BA to Spain then Air France to the US, minus the dog who'd died of cancer. They all seemed less stressed than I was.

gruffbrown

We sent ours FedEx.....express of course

Lottie

Our beautiful 9 year old cat flew LHR to Newark on Virgin Atlantic last August. Virgin were brilliant, even phoned me 1hr before the flight to inform me that she was fast asleep in her cat box at the pet recption centre. I on the otherhand was in floods of tears worrying about her in the Virgin lounge.

She's provoding minor amusement/alarm this evening. She's just got back from the vets after having her teeth cleaned - as she had an anesthetic, she's not quite as co-ordinated as normal and keeps falling over...looks like she's had a few too many G&Ts!

Lynne

We flew our 10 year old cat Delta into Atlanta with no problem. I think it cost us sixty pounds (back in 1995). I had previously contacted a company at Gatwick that ships everything from domestic cats and dogs to race horses and asked them the best way to do it. My cat was not a traveler, the furthest she went in a car was 2 miles each one once a year to the vet. I suggested maybe sedating her and was told they didn't recommend it. They said most of the time they throw up in the carrier and if there is any kind of delay the animal could come round during flight and panic. The guy I spoke to said the best thing is to just make sure she has a water bottle and a comfy blanket. He said that often they will howl and scream at check in but once on the plane they are o.k. When we checked in at the Delta check in they even checked to make sure there were no dogs on the same flight. She arrived safe and sound with no lasting effects other than not going for a pee for a week after we arrived. I think going round at baggage disrupted her system. lololol We were also advised not to get the rabies shot before we left the UK.

MizzMaddie

I have flown two dogs over the Atlantic to the US... later three dogs back to the old world, again later... 4 dogs and one cat returned to the US. Actually I even had a horse transported to the US.
I applied a mild sedative drug (prescribed by vet) and all were doing fine.

Important is to call ahead of times, as pet travel is restricted. Direct flights if possible, a lay over can cause a lot of trouble.

doctor scrumpy

To you or the animal ?

sibsie

As has been mentioned here. If you're flying cats. DO NOT SEDATE THEM. It can kill them.

(this concludes this public service announcement)

Heather142

I used Continental to fly my cat from London to Tucson last August. The airline had (then and prob still does have) a policy of using a third party shipping company and I must admit the company I used did not recommend Continental for the reasons mentioned in the report. However, I had no choice as I wanted my cat flown out to a 'hot' city and Continental were the only airline offering air-conditioned pet cargo.

Anyway, all went well and my cat arrived with just a small cut to his nose from trying to get out through the wire mesh of his container - not Continental's fault! My cat was never one to like being contained!!!