Flying 2 Cats in One Crate Cargo

Hi All,

I am flying on WestJet with my two cats, who must go in the animal
cargo hold, due to their size. The flight is going to be about 6 1/2
hours from airport to airport (this includes one stop, with no change
of plane for 30 minutes). The cats get along very well, and sleep in
the same crate regularly at home, but I am wondering if they should
have their own crate while on the plane? I have one cat that will hiss
when very stressed and am not sure if she will "go off" on the other
cat if she becomes frightend. I will not be "tranqing" the animals. I
would drive, however, is 3 day, 26 hour trip and have done the trip
before, and cats were very stressed the entire trip in the car. I have
flown one cat in passenger with me, but she is too big now to fly under
the seat. She tolerated the trip very well. Any one with experience on
putting two cats in one crate?

Thanks!

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

I am flying on WestJet with my two cats, who must go in the animal
cargo hold, due to their size. The flight is going to be about 6 1/2
hours from airport to airport (this includes one stop, with no change
of plane for 30 minutes). The cats get along very well, and sleep in
the same crate regularly at home, but I am wondering if they should
have their own crate while on the plane? I have one cat that will hiss
when very stressed and am not sure if she will "go off" on the other
cat if she becomes frightend. I will not be "tranqing" the animals. I
would drive, however, is 3 day, 26 hour trip and have done the trip
before, and cats were very stressed the entire trip in the car. I have
flown one cat in passenger with me, but she is too big now to fly under
the seat. She tolerated the trip very well. Any one with experience on
putting two cats in one crate?

Thanks!


2 crates you are going to stress them out and they might degrade to
territorial aggression being in a confined area under that amount of stress.
Always better safe than sorry

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

I am flying on WestJet with my two cats, who must go in the animal
cargo hold, due to their size. The flight is going to be about 6 1/2
hours from airport to airport (this includes one stop, with no change
of plane for 30 minutes). The cats get along very well, and sleep in
the same crate regularly at home, but I am wondering if they should
have their own crate while on the plane?

Absolutely! Stressed and frightened cats can be unpredictable. Fear and
stress could trigger a situation of redirected aggression by one of your
cats towards your other cat.

Phil

KittiKat wrote:
Hi All,

I am flying on WestJet with my two cats, who must go in the animal
cargo hold, due to their size. The flight is going to be about 6 1/2
hours from airport to airport (this includes one stop, with no change
of plane for 30 minutes). The cats get along very well, and sleep in
the same crate regularly at home, but I am wondering if they should
have their own crate while on the plane? I have one cat that will hiss
when very stressed and am not sure if she will "go off" on the other
cat if she becomes frightend. I will not be "tranqing" the animals. I
would drive, however, is 3 day, 26 hour trip and have done the trip
before, and cats were very stressed the entire trip in the car. I have
flown one cat in passenger with me, but she is too big now to fly under
the seat. She tolerated the trip very well. Any one with experience on
putting two cats in one crate?

Thanks!

We flew two cats in one crate from OKC to Milwaukee about 10 years ago and
they both handled it very well, but that was a nonstop and a shorter
flight than yours... If I remember correctly, we didn't use any drugs
either. The crate came out separate from other luggage and sat beside the
airline's baggage claim office since they were nice enough to do that kind
of thing back then - don't know how airlines handle that nowadays (if it's
like everything else airplane-related, they probably aren't that nice
anymore).

If you use two crates, you might wanna check with the airline to see if
you'll have to pay extra since there are all kinds of new restrictions...

Good luck.

brian
--
If you want to reply to this message by mail, you will
have to change the reply address to

Hi All,

Thanks for the advice - I could bring the small, nervous feline up
front in the cabin with me (under the seat in a small soft sided
carrier) and the bigger girl will go into pet hold in the double size
crate (she seems to handle stress differently and doesn't go into
"attack" mode when in crate for long periods like smaller one). This
might be the better option. I also agree, separate space would be
better, since the smaller one has a history of going into attack mode
when very stressed. The whole trauma of the trip may be lessened if
she is under the seat with me. The airline said there are two other
animals flying in cargo hold, so my other cat will be with other crated
animals, which makes me feel better. She tolerates dogs to a point so
having a dog next to her shouldn't be much of an issue unless the dog
barks the entire trip, which would drive me nuts too!!!


Brian Beuchaw wrote:
KittiKat wrote:
Hi All,

I am flying on WestJet with my two cats, who must go in the animal
cargo hold, due to their size. The flight is going to be about 6 1/2
hours from airport to airport (this includes one stop, with no change
of plane for 30 minutes). The cats get along very well, and sleep in
the same crate regularly at home, but I am wondering if they should
have their own crate while on the plane? I have one cat that will hiss
when very stressed and am not sure if she will "go off" on the other
cat if she becomes frightend. I will not be "tranqing" the animals. I
would drive, however, is 3 day, 26 hour trip and have done the trip
before, and cats were very stressed the entire trip in the car. I have
flown one cat in passenger with me, but she is too big now to fly under
the seat. She tolerated the trip very well. Any one with experience on
putting two cats in one crate?

Thanks!

We flew two cats in one crate from OKC to Milwaukee about 10 years ago and
they both handled it very well, but that was a nonstop and a shorter
flight than yours... If I remember correctly, we didn't use any drugs
either. The crate came out separate from other luggage and sat beside the
airline's baggage claim office since they were nice enough to do that kind
of thing back then - don't know how airlines handle that nowadays (if it's
like everything else airplane-related, they probably aren't that nice
anymore).

If you use two crates, you might wanna check with the airline to see if
you'll have to pay extra since there are all kinds of new restrictions...

Good luck.

brian
--
If you want to reply to this message by mail, you will
have to change the reply address to

Get some feliway also spray it into the carriers to help out the stress


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

Thanks for the advice - I could bring the small, nervous feline up
front in the cabin with me (under the seat in a small soft sided
carrier) and the bigger girl will go into pet hold in the double size
crate (she seems to handle stress differently and doesn't go into
"attack" mode when in crate for long periods like smaller one). This
might be the better option. I also agree, separate space would be
better, since the smaller one has a history of going into attack mode
when very stressed. The whole trauma of the trip may be lessened if
she is under the seat with me. The airline said there are two other
animals flying in cargo hold, so my other cat will be with other crated
animals, which makes me feel better. She tolerates dogs to a point so
having a dog next to her shouldn't be much of an issue unless the dog
barks the entire trip, which would drive me nuts too!!!


Brian Beuchaw wrote:
KittiKat wrote:
Hi All,

I am flying on WestJet with my two cats, who must go in the animal
cargo hold, due to their size. The flight is going to be about 6 1/2
hours from airport to airport (this includes one stop, with no change
of plane for 30 minutes). The cats get along very well, and sleep in
the same crate regularly at home, but I am wondering if they should
have their own crate while on the plane? I have one cat that will hiss
when very stressed and am not sure if she will "go off" on the other
cat if she becomes frightend. I will not be "tranqing" the animals. I
would drive, however, is 3 day, 26 hour trip and have done the trip
before, and cats were very stressed the entire trip in the car. I have
flown one cat in passenger with me, but she is too big now to fly under
the seat. She tolerated the trip very well. Any one with experience on
putting two cats in one crate?

Thanks!

We flew two cats in one crate from OKC to Milwaukee about 10 years ago
and
they both handled it very well, but that was a nonstop and a shorter
flight than yours... If I remember correctly, we didn't use any drugs
either. The crate came out separate from other luggage and sat beside
the
airline's baggage claim office since they were nice enough to do that
kind
of thing back then - don't know how airlines handle that nowadays (if
it's
like everything else airplane-related, they probably aren't that nice
anymore).

If you use two crates, you might wanna check with the airline to see if
you'll have to pay extra since there are all kinds of new restrictions...

Good luck.

brian
--
If you want to reply to this message by mail, you will
have to change the reply address to

We drove 26 hours to Florida and the same back years ago with 2 Siamese
cats. After the first couple hours they were fine. Stayed in motels twice
each way.

--
Barb
Of course I don't look busy,
I did it right the first time.

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

Possible to change your reservation if they are non refundable you can
use the excuse of their problem they described

Yes feliway in the crate should help

"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). 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

on Sun, 22 Oct 2006 23:15:24 GMT, "Matthew"
wrote:

Possible to change your reservation if they are non refundable you
can use the excuse of their problem they described


That would be my first option, but if it is not possible, can you get a
divider for the dog crate? Some manufacturers do make dog crates with
dividers, but I don't know if you can get just the divider part. You may
want to consider investing in a crate or carrier that has this option.
Good luck to you and your kitties!

- Lynne