Bland Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 we have 3 cats to transport to Gers. Has anyone any experience of whether it is best to fly or drive them over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jsensiba Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 LAST EDITED ON 21-Apr-04 AT 06:09 PM (BST)Trusting the airlines as much as government promises, it would be safer to drive them.Mine go in their boxes - one large box and two slightly smaller. Litter box on floor of car and water - be really careful when allowing them out of the cages to use the litter box. Mine are generally very good for about three hours (we have four so far) only one has made the channel crossing (he was fine and he's old) the others (French) just go in the car to the cattery and seem to enjoy it if they can see out. They like being with their people best!Julia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_Douest Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 We brought our cat over by car last Autumn (from Cheshire almost to the Pyrenees). We did start to look into the flying alternative as we were told that Air France would accept a small cat carry box as hand luggage. I would then have flown with him from Manchester to Paris and from there to Pau where the car would have met us. What stopped us from pursuing this further was being told that I would have to remove him from his box in the airport and carry him through the metal detectors. As he is a big strong cat and would have been terrified we decided the risk of losing him doing this outweighed any possible advantage (and he also has a legful of metal pins which would probably have set off the detectors!).We made the mistake of installing a dog crate in the back of the car so he wouldn't be so cramped. The passing cars and lights terrified him and he was quickly returned to his box where he was much happier. We parked in a very quiet corner of the Services areas a couple of times but he was not hungry or thirsty and did not need to use his litter tray. We started mid-morning, crossed via the tunnel (where he could be with us all the time) at around 4.00pm and stayed the night at a prebooked hotel (one of the B&B chain which are generally quite happy about pets in rooms). This worked well; with litter tray and food in the bathroom, and his basket upstairs in the sleeping gallery, he was perfectly happy. We left after breakfast and with a couple of stops we were at our new home by early evening.He was actually used to a lead (needed during temporary accommodation during the previous month) and tolerated expeditions on this over the next few days until we judged it safe to leave him to go out on his own. He is now well settled though we have kept his rabies jabs current just in case.The journey went much better than we expected. Of course none of us enjoyed it and there was some plaintive mewing for parts of the journey but he did doze a lot of the time - the vet advised against sedatives.I'm sure the cats will take it all in their stride if you are with them and if they are kept quiet and shielded from the lights of passing cars.Good luck!Val Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 The scene from "There's something about Mary" sprang to mind when I read this subject line - tee hee.John not Di Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now