Flying 2 Cats in One Crate Cargo

Most airlines only allow one animal per crate. They've had too many
instances of regularly calm animals freaking out when traveling and
harming (or worse) the other one in the carrier.

I would change the reservation. Could you even change to another airline
that doesn't care how tall the cat is? I thought most go by weight. I
know someone who brought a golden retriever puppy in the cabin and it
was a few ounces under the max. weight, but definitely taller than a cat!

Good luck,

Rhonda

KittiKat wrote:
Hi All,

Just found now out that the airline may NOT take my "nervous" cat up
front with me as she is 1 1/2 inches "taller" when "standing" up in
the soft sided carrier. The agent says the agent at the gate may refuse
her to board with me.

Now here lies the problem. The pet cargo hold is *full* i.e. the
airline can only take one more crate (max. is 3 crates per flight in
the pet cargo area). Therefore, if she is refused by the agent at the
gate, I would have to put her in crate with my other, more docile
female cat (see my original email above). The only travel experience I
have with both cats, is the road trip we took about 4 months ago. I
travelled via car and both cats were in their own crates. The first
day, nervous cat cried/hissed the *entire* 8 hours and she continued
once we were in the hotel room. She never did "attack" my other cat,
but did hiss for about 1/2 hour when approached (the more docile cat I
had no problems with what so). She did eventually settle the second and
third day, still cried but did not hiss.

Tommorrow I am going to put both of them in the one crate and the car
and go for a long drive to see how they both manage (say for an hour or
so, about the time the more nervous one gets antsy) to see how they
cope? I do realize that flying will be more stressful but at least this
will allow me to see how they both behave. I do have a choice between a
Vari Kennel small dog crate (which they both sleep together in now and
are very use to - it would fit a 20- 40 pound dog comfortably) or a
medium size crate (the medium size crate would hold a 40-60 pound dog)
which would be rather large for both of them, but, it may give the
other cat enough room if she needs to move to the other side of the
crate. Would the larger crate be better? I am also going to hopefully
get some Feliway for travel - anyone know how long this will last? I do
understand that it is a calming phermone in a spray format.

Thanks

"KittiKat" wrote in message
oups.com...
Just found now out that the airline may NOT take my "nervous" cat up
front with me as she is 1 1/2 inches "taller" when standing" up in the
soft sided carrier. ...

Hello KittiKat,

How does the airline know how tall your cat is when it stands up?

What is she taller than when standing up in the carrier?

Does the soft sided carrier fit under the seat (conform to the required
size)?

If it does, can you cat stand up inside the carrier?

If your cat can stand up inside the carrier, I don't see what the problem
is.

Annie

"KittiKat" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All,

Just found now out that the airline may NOT take my "nervous" cat up
front with me as she is 1 1/2 inches "taller" when "standing" up in
the soft sided carrier. The agent says the agent at the gate may refuse
her to board with me.

Now here lies the problem. The pet cargo hold is *full* i.e. the
airline can only take one more crate (max. is 3 crates per flight in
the pet cargo area). Therefore, if she is refused by the agent at the
gate, I would have to put her in crate with my other, more docile
female cat (see my original email above).

Get a large dog VariKennel and put your two carriers inside side by side.

Put a thick piece of foam rubber or bubble wrap between the top and bottom
of the carriers so they don't move around and also provide cushioning. Make
sure the padding is large enough to wrap around the sides of the inside
cages up to the top and bottom of the vents- leaving the vents clear, of
course. The trip will be less stressful if the doors of the inside carriers
are a little lower than the side vets of the outer carrier. The less the
cats can see the better. VariKennels have about the highest side vents.

The outer carrier provides extra protection from objects (and people)
reaching your cats. The double doors also provide protection against the
cage doors jarring open. If the outer carrier has plastic bolts holding the
two halves together, take out every other bolt and replace it with a thick
plastic electrical locking tie. Use a tie on the top and bottom of the
outer door to keep it closed securely. Put a few extra ties in a ZipLock
bag and tape it to the inside of the outer cage. Don't put any food or
water in the cages- the flight is short.

Phil

Hi Annie and All,

My cat is 11 inches tall, and the height requirement, which is new to
West Jet since adding the Leather seats, is 8 1/2 inches. The agent
states the cat must be able to "comfortably" stand and turn around
while under the seat. The seat space use to be around 10 - 11 inches
with the old standard seats prior to the company putting in new leather
seats with Video Display terminals this year. The agent stated that the
Video screens "stole" the space from under the seat, hence the new
travel requirements for pets in passenger. I have flown on WJ before
the new video terminals, with cat, when they use to allow the standard
small hard sided Vari Kennels. Now the company is only allowing soft
sided carriers in passenger, which they say, must "squish" down to 8
1/2 inches. Testing my cat out in the carrier under my bed frame which
is approximately this height, the cat had to crouch low, could not
stand up at all, and looked stressed and very, very uncomfortable.
Additionally, as two pet stores told me, companies that make soft sided
carriers, make them for a 10 1/2 - 11 inches head space, which is
standard on most planes. When you squish a soft sided carrier of this
size, down 3 inches, the carrier actually folds in on itself and the
cat, leaving even less room for the animal to move. I talked to the
agent, who stated that they would probably refuse her boarding in
passenger but more to the point, she just looked like a sardine stuffed
into a tiny tin can! When West Jet states animals can come into the
cabin, they are limiting the type of animal to very few (like maybe a
Yorkie or kitten), based on the new seat requirements, so anyone
thinking of taking their cat be forwarned. My cat is tiny to most cats,
and even she can't make the space requirements.

At any rate, to all, thanks for all your great suggestions. I actually
changed the reservation which cost me 200 bucks extra to put both
animals in separate cages and we leave tomorrow.

As for the FeliWay - Instructions state one spray 20 minutes prior to
loading cat into crate - Does anyone know if this will be enough for
the entire trip or should I spray the bedding as well as the interior
sides of the crate? The vet technician couldn't give me any answers???
Also, crating animals at about 10:45 Am, should I feed them and get up
early, at say 7 am or should I just not feed them anything and wait
till we get home????????????

Thanks in Advance