Quote:
Originally Posted by homeball
Hi all,
My wife and I just sold our house in Garden City South, NY and plan to move down to TV around the end of January. We have two 11 year old cats who have never traveled anywhere except to and from the vet. We were considering sending them to TV via a professional pet transporter instead of taking them with us for a very long car ride. -Dave-
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Please don't ship your cats. I used to work in the travel industry and I was told by air cargo guys from different airlines that it is inhumane to ship animals. They are in the dark, it can be cold, they are afraid, and there are often accidents with other cargo shifting around.
We drive for 26 hours to get to TV. Our 16 year old cat travels with us. (For the first 14 years of her life she didn't travel at all). We do keep her in a harness with ID attached, and a leash, so we can secure her when we stop to walk the dogs.
At first we gave her tranquilizers as she would get car sick. Now she doesn't need tranquilizers. She just lies down with the dogs and sleeps through the whole trip. She uses a small litter box occasionally, and eats when we stop at night. She adjusted very readily to the travel.
Please give your cats a chance. If you start taking them for short drives (which is what "the books" recommend), it may give you an idea of whether they'll be anxious and require sedation.
You might want to start by using a tranquilizer, the Vet explained to me that it reduces their anxiety and is therefore the humane thing to do (if they need it). By the way, I found the key to giving a tranquilizer was that it has to be done at least two hours prior to the start of travel.
Good luck, and welcome to Paradise.