Dimitri and Anya's Amazing Flying Cat Circus - Part 1

Part of the learning curve last summer was discovering how to fly overseas with our two cats, Dimitri and Anya.  I'll get to the paperwork needed later, but first, we wanted to take the cats as our carry-on baggage rather than putting them in the cargo hold.  Not all airlines will allow pets in the cabin and that's where you need to start your research.  For example, American Airlines allows pets in the cabin, but not on overseas flights from North America to Europe.  All airlines will limit the number of pets in the cabin and there is a size limitation, since the bags must fit under the seat in front of you.  We chose United Airlines, and I must say they have been great.  You must make reservations for your pets in advance, so when I book our flights, I make sure that there is space available for the cats before completing the booking.  Even though our pets were our "under the seat" carry-on baggage, which normally is free, there is a charge per pet - on United, you pay that when you check in at the airport - and note, we were not able to check in online because we were flying with pets.
Pet carriers need to fit under the seat, and still give the pet room to stretch and move around.  I found a great website for a carrier I would highly recommend - the Sleepypod Air.   The Sleepypod folks are very helpful and knowledgeable, and respond quickly to any inquiry.  They even have a chart showing the carrier dimension allowed by airline - of course you will want to check with your airline in advance as they do sometimes change the requirements, but this carrier is made to fit under just about any seat.  The sides of the carrier fold up a little on the bottom to allow for under the seat stowage, but when the fasten seat belt sign is off, you can turn the carrier sideways, the sides pop out and give your pet more room.  Make sure to purchase the Dry Fur pads for your carrier, either through Sleepypod or the Dry Fur pad company - they fit the carrier and they do work if your pet has an accident.  I made the mistake on our first trip of not carrying an extra.  Dimitri was fine but Anya did wet her carrier.  Even though the Dry Fur pad wicks the moisture away, it would have been nice to replace it with a dry one.  I made do with a baby diaper, but a fresh pad would have been better. On this last flight, I did carry extras.  I now also bring along a puppy training pad, put that on the floor of the airplane before putting the cats under the seat, and a little fleece blanket for the exterior of each carrier to keep them warm, and voila - we are ready for take off.

Another stressful day on the barge

Another great website with lot of information and products is Pet Travel.  They provide information on flying by airline and country of destination. For a small fee they will send you forms and instructions for traveling to foreign countries with your pet.  The forms are made immediately available by download, and they mail you a hard copy for your pet's travel passport.  They also sell some nifty pet travel products.  I bought Dimitri and Anya a folding, portable litter box.  I wouldn't travel without one.  I packed it in my carry-on with a sufficient supply of litter, a pooper-scooper - I actually found one with scented trash bags in the handle, and some gallon size zip lock bags to store everything in.  The Pet Travel folks are also great, we had a last minute question from the USDA regarding our EU forms and I heard right back from Jerry at Pet Travel, who checked to make sure there hadn't been any last minute changes.  Great service!  More in Part II.