The Ultimate Guide To Flying With Your Cat

Traveling — the best thing after sliced bread. You get to stretch your feet, see another place, the world is at your disposal! You know what’s at least as good as traveling, but doesn’t care about it one little bit? Cats! They don’t care about that great view over the Amalfi coast, not about Big Sur, not about the wide beaches that make you forget to quit your job and leave your meaningless life behind that you’re trying to escape from. The only thing they care about is food, shelter and cuddles.
Rinse, repeat.

But sometimes we need to go on a trip that might not have a return ticket (I mean moving to another country, not dying…just for clarification) and then Fluffy McFluffFace needs to get a grip and get in that airline approved carrier. Something like that happened to Louis and Olli, our two cat-friends and I’m here to tell the tale.

Let me make one thing VERY clear: I do NOT recommend you put your cat through this unless it is absolutely necessary. Meaning: If you don’t leave for at least 6 weeks, find someone to take care of your kitties in the meantime. It’ll be painful for you, because you are an emotional little potato and love your furry friend. It’ll be confusing, mildly inconvenient and somewhat strange for your cat, because we don’t know how much they really understand of what’s going on around them.

In short: you’ll all survive, it’ll be fine.

But if you MUST, let me tell you what might wait for you:

Why on earth did we take our cats on a plane

Let me make this short and sweet so we can get to the important stuff. My boyfriend and I were playing with the idea of moving to another country for quite some time. So instead of fantasising about it for eternity we said: ok let’s get away for 6 weeks, work from there, live there, see what it’s like. The thing is this though: we aren’t alone. We have two cats, Olli and Louis. And every major crisis we go through, they go through. That’s the price you pay for regular meals, a roof over your head and the cuddles.

So we said ok let’s bring them along. Best case scenario they have a change of scene and enjoy more freedom than in our apartment at home. Worst case scenario they are scarred for life and hate us infinite amounts. 50:50.

Hence the journey began…

Buying a plane ticket for your cat

We chose Madeira as our getaway destination and checked for flights.

Fact: You can’t book tickets for animals online.

You gotta book the tickets at the counter of your chosen airline at the airport and that’s also when you learn the following things:

• Your cat needs to weight less than 8kg including the carrier
• Your cat needs a valid passport with all required vaccinations. In our case it was a “travel package” at the vet, which basically consisted of a rabies shot and something else I can’t remember.
  Costs: 100 bucks per cat
• Each plane can only take 3 animals in the cabin. 1 in business class and 2 in economy. So you can write “more legroom” onto your list of unrealistic expectations
• Best part: the airline can cancel your animals ticket until the day of your flight. That’s why you DO NOT PAY FOR THE TICKET UPFRONT. If you do and something happens, you lose that money. You can get your cat registered and approved for each flight, but whether they’ll take them is up to them. So registration and approval — yes! Buying tickets upfront — no!
  That’s how you want to approach every long journey with your animal: minimum risk

My Tips:

1. Go to your vet first. Get everything done, the shots, the checks, the passport.
2. Make sure the passport is VALID at the day of your departure. Sometimes there are some days between issue and validity, because the vaccines take a while to take effect.
3. Get medication. Ask them for something to reduce anxiety. There are options that will do the trick and won’t knock your cat out cold. We got casein pills that are supposed to calm your cat, because that’s one of the ingredients in mothers milk. It apparently triggers some primal reaction. THEN you get something separate for motion sickness. DO NOT let your vet tell you, that your cat gets sick because they’re anxious. Louis gets sick in the car, because he gets motion sick, not because he’s anxious. You can tell he’s nauseous the entire time, then he throws up. So pills for stress and pills for motion sickness.
4. Go to the airport, take your passport AND the cats passport AND have the measurements of your carriers ready (measure yourself or check on amazon where we both know you bought it) and prepare having to be patient…VERY patient.
5. Do not accept long overlays or overlays that are too short. Nothing shorter than 1,5 hours and nothing more than 3. We had a 50 minute overlay and had to run between terminals. You don’t want that.

Usually the ticket will cost you about 60 dollars/euros per cat per flight. Funny enough (funny as in WTF), we had 1 stop each direction. When we left, we payed 60 bucks for both flights in 1 direction. When we flew back, we had to pay 60 per flight, so 120 per cat. It’s weird, nobody there knows what they’re doing. Prepare yourself!

Problems:

If your flight is operated by different airlines, you have to check the approval status of your cat yourself. Some approve it the second it’s requested. Others take up to 24 hours. So we had to call each operator individually, tell them your booking number and have the person on the phone confirm the approval for our cats.

Great use of your time.

Preparing your cat for the flight

There are several things you need to do in order for your cat to not experience irreversible psychological damage and hates your forever. The first and most important thing is: THE CARRIER

No matter how long your actual flight is, your cat will be in that carrier for the entire day. I guarantee it. From the moment you leave your house to the moment you arrive, your cat will be crammed into that little prison you got off of Amazon for 40 bucks.

Here’s the good news: You can make this a halfway decent experience and make your cat actually appreciate the carrier during your journey.

What you need to do:

1. Make the carrier visible
   This thing needs to be the centre of attention for at least 3 weeks. It’s gonna be quite some work, but you’ll thank yourself later. Throw toys into that carrier, put their favourite blankets and little beds into it. Feed them in front of the carrier. Give them treats when they go into the carrier. Make your cat love that thing like Hugh Hefner his grotto (just less gross).
2. Get them used to leaving the apartment/house
   Louis and Olli are pure indoor cats. We live in an apartment on the 11th floor. They spend time on the balcony, but they live in the luxury of being able to watch people, but not being watched themselves.
   An airport is basically the other way around. They see very little but EVERYONE sees them. Put them into their carrier and carry them out of your apartment at least twice a week. Not far and not for long. Tiny progressions are the key.
   Get them in front of the door, give them a treat as soon as you put the carrier down, go back inside. Next day you go a bit further and further and further.
   Here’s a little reality check: Even though you do this, it won’t be enjoyable for your cat to go to the airport. But it’ll be MUCH better compared to them going without preparation.
3. Positive affirmations
   Whenever they get into the carrier, give them the most positive affirmations you can possibly come up with. Pee your pants if you have to! Make them see that this is the best thing in the entire world and you can’t believe how they don’t want to be in there always. Look! Mommy just had 3 seizures due to sheer happiness, isn’t that carrier like…the best thing…like…EVER?

Stuff you need to buy and bring with you

1. Portable cat litter box
2. Cat Toys
3. Carrier
4. Cat beds (one that you can fold that your cat really likes. If no such thing exists, make sure to get one at least 3 weeks before you leave so your cat can soak it in its stench — they love that)
5. Soaking pads you need to line the carrier with
6. Small snacks
7. Plastic bags to dispose of any accidents
8. Paper Towels

Stuff you need to check the day before departure

1. Is your cat healthy?
2. Are your airline seats for the cats still approved (call the airlines and make sure)
3. Do you have everything I listed above

Departure Day

Let me tell you something right here and right now. It is very likely that during this whole flight experience, your cat is at best confused and pissed it has to sit in the carrier for an entire day. But I can assure you with 100% certainty: YOU. WILL. BE. STRESSED.

You’ll be stressed out of your goddamn mind. For the entirety of the journey you’ll become hyperaware of your surroundings and the fact that EVERYTHING could stress your cat into an early grave. It will be a semi-pleasant experience for the animal, it will be a living nightmare for you. Promise.

Here’s your step by step to do list:

1. Arrive early!
   At least 3 hours. You still need to get your cats tickets and you do not want to rush this. The more rushed you are, the less amused your cat will be.
2. Bring someone with you
   Your parents, friends, neighbour — no matter. But in case you can’t take your cat and aren’t able to just stay home, you need someone to take your kitty and bring them home with them. That always needs to be an option.
3. Look for a quiet place
   Some corner or bench where you can place the carrier so that people don’t frequently walk by. Protect it from noise or any sort of impact. Wait there until you can go to your gate. Don’t move around all the time and don’t expose your cat to more noise than necessary.
4. Security check
   This is very important: In most cases, you’ll have the option of either taking your cat out at the security check and have it checked separately form the bag OR you can place the bag with the cat on the belt with all your other stuff. Believe me when I tell you this: take the latter. DO NOT take your cat out of the carrier if not necessary. Every person at the airport told me this and I believe it 100%. The x-ray machine that checks the bags is very weak and it’s over quickly.
   It’s the more humane option, trust me.
5. Board the plane
   Here’s a little bummer: even approved carriers can’t fit underneath the seat where your cat theoretically has to spend the entirety of the flight. Carefully place your cat on the floor in front of your seat and try to squeeze it a couple of inches underneath the front seat without restraining your cats movement. It’s possible, trust me, and the flight attendant will require you to do it anyways.
6. In the air
   In our case, it was the most relaxed time of the trip. Nothing happened. Louis and Olli just took a couple of naps, had a small snack (not too much due to nausea) and that’s it. Check the pads in the carrier from time to time. They won’t be wet, since they are extremely absorbent, but you’ll notice a smell if one of them peed or pooped. If they did, dispose of it. Done.
7. Arrival
   Once you’ve arrived, make sure to get to your stay as soon as possible. No detours, nothing. You won’t be thinking about that stuff anyway, but I’m just saying: get home.

And that’s it. You have arrived at your destination. Let your cat out of its tiny prison, place toys and anything that could carry your cats smell around the apartment or wherever you’re staying at. Let them settle in.

Louis and Olli were at home right when we arrived. The main thing for them is: no people and no noise. And, to be honest, I prefer that too!

If you choose to take your furry little monster on this journey with you, you will learn a lot. How absolutely disorganised airlines are when it comes to minor inconveniences. How well your animal adapts to stress situations and most importantly: how well YOU adapt to stress situations. The more you’re stressed, the more your cat will feel anxious. If you want it to remain calm, you need to remain calm. That’s incredibly difficult, but essential.

I wish you the best of luck, tell your cat I said hi.