Give me tips for flying with a cat!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here’s the sitch: I moved out of home last June, and in August I got a cat (Yolk) to keep me company, since I’ve lived with cats all my life. Recently, two things have hindered my keeping him: (1) my childhood cat died and my mom’s suddenly petless for the first time in 22 years; and (2) next year’s work schedule came in and I’m out of town for 5 months at various points. So it seems reasonable to give Yolk to Mom. She’s delighted.

Thing is, I’ve got to get him halfway across Canada. I’m coming home for a visit in May, so I thought I’d spend the extra $50 that Air Canada charges and bring him with me then. But now I’m apprehensive, since I’ve never travelled with a kitty before. I have two 3-hour long flights with a 2-hour layover in Toronto.

Any tips on getting him home (a) without traumatising him and (b) without annoying the heck out of my fellow passengers?

2

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Strap buttered toast to its back, hang on tight, and save the plane fare!

Seriously, I am pretty sure you will be required to put it in a box and check it as luggage. You don’t get to keep the cat in the cabin with you, so there is nothing you need to worry bout except getting it a suitable, comfortable box and picking it up at the other end.

3

Cats are usually small enough to fly in the cabin with you, but you need to check the Air Canada site for their carrier requirements and make sure you follow them.

You might want to visit your vet and get tranquilizers. If you do this ensure that you test this BEFORE the trip so you know how your pet responds. I tranquilized one of my cats for a cross Canada drive and I guarantee if I’d been on a plane they would have tossed us both out midair, hopefully after strapping on a parachute. He HOWLED the entire drive from Calgary to Toronto. After a while I just turned up the radio and sang along with him, he was at least as in tune as I was.

4

Just checked the AC site and since you said $50 you are looking at in cabin.

here are the carrier sizes they allow, seems to be clearly defined, you just need to measure.

Pets in the cabin

Your cat or small dog travels with you at your seat

Your pet in its carrier counts as one standard item toward your carry-on baggage allowance. 10 kg (22 lb)(pet and carrier combined)
Hard-sided**
Height: 23 cm (9 in)
Width: 40 cm (15.5 in)
Length: 55 cm (21.5 in)

Soft-sided**
Height: 27 cm (10.5 in)
Width: 40 cm (15.5 in)
Length: 55 cm (21.5 in) $50 or $100 per direction, based on itinerary

5

Only done it once. Before that flight I’d been on a plane with someone traveling with a cat. She had a soft sided carrier which was basically a reinforced gym bag with mesh windows. She’d used it a bunch, was really happy with it. So, a few months later when moving from California to New York I invested in the closest thing my local pet store had to offer (about $80 in 1997).

I was vaguely aware that some people ask their vets for a sedative for their pets, but I did not do that. It might have been the kinder thing to do. I’m never moving back to California, so I have no way to test the theory.

About 1.5 hours into the nearly 6 hour flight Ferdinand had chewed and clawed his way through one of the mesh openings in the bag. I spent the rest of the trip hunched over, holding the tear closed.

He was not noisy, but was clearly agitated.

I guess what I’m really saying is, use a hard sided carrier and give Yolk some catnip for the ride.

6

Come on, be serious. The only thing that really matters is to make sure the cat’s battery is fully charged.

7

My cat Sprinkles and I makes a few 3-4 hour flights every year.

At least in the US, you need to get a certificate from your vet stating that the cat is healthy to travel. It has to be dated within 10 days of your flight. I don’t know if this is the same in Canada.

Before every flight, Sprinkles enjoys treats laced with kitty knock-out drops, prescribed and dosed by the vet. They help her be a bit more calm/a bit less yowl-y during the flight. She is a constant meow-er in cars, so before our first trip, I had visions of exasperated passengers tossing us out of the plane at 30,000 feet. Now, she usually meows a little bit once we have landed and are exiting the plane, but is very quiet once she is safely stowed under the seat. Usually, most people don’t even realize there was a cat on the plane until we are getting ready to deboard.

In the US, when you go through security, they make you take your cat out of the bag, and then physically carry the cat through the metal detector. Then you have to wait at the end of the baggage scan for the kitty carrier to make its way through, and hope that some non-power-tripping TSA agent will prop open the bag for you so you can shove your pet back inside. I was completely NOT expecting this the first time - I had figured the cat and bag would all go through the x-ray machine together. Normally, Sprinkles doesn’t tolerate being held any longer than she wants to be, but in the airport, with some sedation, she is either very calm or freaked out to the point of immobility, and still and has not yet tried to escape from my arms.

We have a soft-sided carrier which fits underneath the seat. I always try to get an aisle seat, especially if traveling with a cat - it makes everything easier when you don’t have to squeeze past two people with a cat and a carry-on.

We have never made a long a trek as you are planning, and never had to deal with a layover, though, so I don’t have any advice for longer flights.

TLDR: check if you need a vet certificate for pet travel; sedatives (not catnip) prescribed by your vet specifically for pet travel is good; a soft carrier is fine; be prepared to carry Yolk through security.

Good Luck!
love
yams!!

Edited to add: And make sure to tell the airlines you are traveling with a cat BEFORE you show up at the airport! Many airlines have limits of the number of pets they will allow in the cabin.