6 Things to Keep Your Pet Safe While Traveling on an Airplane as Cargo
Traveling with your cat doesn’t have to be a bad experience for them
It’s not strange to find cats tragically passing away or being fatally injured during airplane flights as cargo. Due to a lack of knowledge and negligence, it is common to see practices that are harmful to cats being carried out on airplanes. Such situations include attendants telling passengers to put their cats in their overhead compartments. If the flight was to take long, it is easy to find the cat lacking water, and this could easily lead to its demise.
As much as the responsible airline will apologize and take responsibility for these incidences, it is difficult to keep yourself from wondering, “What can be done to keep pets safe during airplane travels?” This article sheds some light on some of the strategies that you can implement during your airplane journey and see to it that your cat arrives at your destination in one piece.
- Ensure That There is a Crate that Best Suits Your Cat`s Size
When looking for a crate for your cat, it is vital that you pick one that matches your cat`s size. To pinpoint such a crate, you should approve that your pet can comfortably stand, lie down and even turn around in it. Specifications also vary between the cats flying in the cabin and those in the cargo. Most airlines recommend crates that have maximum dimensions of 17.5 inches by 12 inches in the cargo. On the other hand, for those in the cabin, they talk about seeing to it that the crate fits perfectly under passenger`s seats. Regardless of the rules set in a particular airline, it is vital for you to put your cat in the biggest crates that are allowed in the airplane you are to board.
- Check Up On Your Pet Regularly in the Cargo holds and Ensure that it’s Comfortable
Whenever you visit your cat in the cargo hold, it is wise to slip something to it that has the familiar scent of home, such as its favorite toy. On top of this, make sure that there is a constant supply of water and food to protect your pet against dehydration and hunger throughout the flight.
- Take Your Cat`s Photo and Tape It to Its Crate
One of the other mistakes that tend to take place during flights is the mistaken shipping of cats to different destinations from where they were meant to go. As much as it’s unbelievable to imagine such a thing taking place, you should be wary of the reality of such events taking place. The best way to prevent such a thing from happening is to take the best photo camera from this website and to tape your cat`s picture on its crate, with its destination, name, and breed alongside the photo.
- Get a DAP Collar (Cat-Appeasing Pheromone Collar)
During airplane travels, it is common for cats to get all uneasy and fidgety in their crates and could easily injure themselves during such moments. For those with such restless cats in the cargo, the best solution is to get a pheromone or DAP collar. These collars go a long way to calming your stress-prone cat and in the process of preventing self-injury of your pet.
- Always Leave Your Contact Details On Your Cat`s Collar
When taking a flight with your cat, you should always beware that unexpected events can easily take place. These events range from your cat escaping its crate or even switching of crates at the destination. Because of this, it is advisable for you to add your contact details on your cat`s collar to prevent such events from escalating to disastrous degrees.
- Master Your Rights as a Passenger
As much as flight attendants have been trained to look out for your safety as well as that of your cat, there are some bad apples. Even though disobeying any instruction given to you by your flight attendants can seem as interference with the crew`s duties, you should not cower from pointing out errors that can be made when it comes to handling your cat. For the orders that seem contrary to your passenger rights regarding your cat, you should work to protect it from potentially harmful situations. Demand to have an audience with the captain to acquire assistance in defusing the situation before it gets out of hand. In case this does not work, you could disembark and request to board another flight.
Conclusion: In these present democratic times, we should all be allowed to travel with our cats in airplanes whenever we would like. However, based on recent occurrences, airlines are not perfect when it comes to ensuring that your cat`s safety is foolproof. There is a huge role that we have to play to see to it that our cats are safe when traveling, as well as making sure that he/she is not in distress during the entire flight.
These 6 are some of the best measures that you can take to assure your cat a safe airplane journey that is free of any unseen disastrous events. Have you learned something new?
Author’s bio: Lucas Cappel is a passionate traveler. He loves his hobby and his little friend Tomas as well. He published several books about his travels illustrated with his own drawings
