Greetings. It's been a long time since I've had the chance to travel overseas and now am relocating to Germany for a two-year job. I want to (have to, really) take the cat but am concerned about the long flight. She can't travel in-cabin because she yowls constantly when caged. Has anyone transported a pet as checked baggage? What is done about water? Are they nuts when they arrive? Are they alive, I guess is the real question. How are toilet requirements handled? Food? I'm figuring about ten hours in a cage from Logan to Frankfurt. Any experiences, tips or hints would be appreciated, but try not to scare me. I've already accepted the job - and after one year plus out of work, it's the only option. How about by freighter instead? Many thanks.

You need to talk to your vet about this before making nay decision.

I would never put a pet in the hold. No - they are not fed or watered or have any way to use their litter box. As significant number of pets do not survive (nobody knows exctly how many).

You vet may be able to help you figure out why the cat is yowling- anxiety, motion sickness - and prescribe a medication that can calm the animal.

Also - you need to look into the legal requirements (inoculations, esp rabies, documents, microchip etc - that you need to bring your pet with you).

A friend of mine moved from NYC to Seattle with 2 cats - she brought one and paid a neighbor to bring the other - in different cabins of the same plane. One cat was quite anxious when it couldn;t see her - so she bought it a seat (it stayed in the carrier - but the carrier was belted into the seat) and this calmed the cat a lot.

You can check freighters - but I don;t know how often they would do a trip that will get you where you need. Nor do I know if they take pets. If they do the legal requirements for entry are the same - and you really need to investigate those - since they take some time to complete. I would definitely do this rather than put the cat in the hold of a plane.

I have never heard that a signifigant number of pets die while traveling overseas! Would like to see the article or more information on this.

Having been associated with the military and the American Consulate here in Germany for over 20 years, I have never ONCE heard of anyone losing their pets and believe me, they all have dogs and cats.

Discuss with your vet about travel. Important is have a crate large enough for the animal to be able to move around and have a small litter box. Some vets prescribe some calming meds, and as much as cats sleep per day, your cat may just sleep the whole flight.

We brought our two pugs over from Vancouver when we moved to London UK in 2007. I would never do it again, but they survived.

First thing you need to do is figure out the requirements (microchips, rabies vaccinations etc) as there may be extensive requirements.

We used a pet moving company to escort them as we were already in the UK and they came over two months later. They had to get approved by the Agricultural Dept of the government on arrival.

Lets just say it cost us more to move our two dogs than it did us hahahaha! But we never would have come over if we werent able to bring them. Just be sure you do your homework or your pet could end up in quarantene at the other end for months.

Hi Shanna,

When I was considering moving my aged cat to Germany (she died before the move), I investigated going by passenger ship. As I understand it, the pets have to go in a kennel, but you can at least visit her enroute, and the ship would be gentler than an airplane. You'd have to balance a week aboard a ship with a quicker but more frightening flight.

Actually, my family did experience a lost pet, but I don't think it's all that common. We were shipping a cat from Saudi Arabia to the US in 1968 with a transit in NYC. Someone apparently opened the cage, and the cat bolted. We had to live with our beloved pet lost and starving (???) and confused and fighting somewhere in NYC.

Good luck as you plan and research!

s

I transported my cat from Virginia to the Middle East and will tell you what I believe you'll need based on my experience. Then you can decide.

1. Find out what the requirements of the country are. Generally these days there is no quarantine period, you just need to have all the proper vaccination papers and the microchip. The papers from your vet must be taken to a local office of the USDA for certification that the vet is licensed.

2. Find an international vet/pet shipper who handles such moves on a regular basis (there must be some in Boston). They will help you with the proper crate that has a water dish attached. Don't worry about food, I don't think that they bother with it. It's more important that the cat stay hydrated so water is the critical issue. My shipper arranged the flight with Lufthansa and that will most likely be your airline as well. I believe the airlines have restrictions as to the length of the flights. Mine stopped in Amsterdam and she was given water there. No one is allowed to open the crates.

3. Doctors these days are not generally in favor of sedating animals, especially cats because they don't weigh much. The sedation can make them more unstable in their crates and they are more susceptible to injury.

4. My cat arrived before I did so the shipper had made arrangements with the receiving vet who had someone waiting at the airport to pick her up when the plane arrived. He took her back to the vet's office and she stayed in the kennel until I got there. I felt she was well cared for.

I had confidence in both my shipper and the airlines - they were not strangers to the procedures. My cost was $2,000 and this included an overnight stay at the vet before the flight, the crate and the airfare.

Find a professional who you can trust so that they can put your mind at ease. Most of my expat friends here have brought their pets from the US and not one has had a bad experience.

We've been here for three years now and my cat's as healthy as when we arrived - I just haven't told her that we moved to Abu Dhabi!

I have moved 3 cats to Paris on 3 separate occasions over 20 years both in the cabin and in the hold. I did not use any special pet moving services-just worked with the airlines, United, Air France and SAS. United was the only weird one-at the last minute they told us our kitty HAD to ride in the cabin even though we had her booked in cargo, but luckily she was very quiet. I think each time it cost us around $500 or so. Each time it was fine. The personnel even stayed late until we arrived and everyone was really nice to our kitties. The last time we did it, the vet in France told us to get something called Feliway:

http://www.feliway.com/us

According to the site it is:

"a synthetic copy of the feline facial pheromone, used by cats to mark their territory as safe and secure."

It is supposed to make the cat feel calmer during travel and I think it worked.

In terms of bathroom habits-I think they are mostly too freaked out to even do anything, but we always put shredded paper or absorbent material in the bottom of the carrier. Also, you should start your inquiries by calling the airlines' customer service department. We found that a lot of them will not not do pet transport anymore so you may need to use a specialized service.

Good luck with the move-I realize it is scary for both you and your cat. I will say however, once they got over the shock, our cats loved French kitty food-it looks just like pate!

We flew our dog via Lufthansa cargo plane when we moved to Germany and back to the U.S. in 2005 & 2007 (fortunately our cat was able to come with us on the plane). Getting our dog safely overseas was the most nerve-wracking part of our entire move. We used a company called Air Animal to handle all of the paperwork and logistics for both of our pets, and they also provided all of the info we needed for proper crating and preparing our pets for the move. This company was EXCELLENT and I would highly recommend them - it was well worth the cost for our peace of mind. (www.airanimal.com)

FYI, Air Animal advises against the use of tranquilizers for any pets traveling by air.

It is true that most pets don't soil their "den". You will be advised to attach a frozen dish of water to their crate, and you are not supposed to give them food as that may make them sick. You will also want your cat to get acquainted with its travel crate well in advance of the move, and you can put something of yours (like an old T-shirt) in there for a familiar smell.

We had no trouble getting our dog TO Germany but actually ran into problems with U.S. Customs on the way back. Air Animal was able to fax the necessary paperwork to the office where we were waiting and we were able to pick up our dog, albeit a couple hours late. If it weren't for Air Animal I don't know how long he would have had to stay in his crate. I don't even want to think about it.

I don;t know how many animals have died. Obviously no one keeps stats.

But there have reports on this board, on other travel boards and in the local newspapers of pets either 1) arriving dead or 2) being misplaced/lost (often let out of their cages).

There was one poor dog lost at JFK that the staff would see once in a while but no one could catch. And presumably the owners weren't given access to those arts of the airport to try to find their pet.

there was also a report a couple of years ago of a breeder shipping some young dogs for sale - that arrived either dead or in some sort of distress and did not survive. they believe they thought it was the result of high temperatures in a hold without AC.

I would still bring your cat on the plane with you. (Mine used to yowl in the car - and we discovered it was motion sickness. the vet offered a med, but I found out that if I drove very slowly it didn't bother them. So I just drove about 15 mph the whole way - from my house to my parents for them to stay while I was on vacation - only about 20 miles away).

Some airlines will not ship animals during the summer season with the heat?

Hi Shanna. I have just done this. We are expats in Europe and have transported our dogs back and forth from the US 3 times. We have never had an issue, ever and have always transported them as excess baggage. The last time I did it was June 1 of this year. Here is what I recommend:
1) Check with your vet within 10 days of leaving for the health certificate. You will probably have to send the certificate to the local USDA vet for additional certification but this is not a big deal.
2) Most airlines and vets do not recommend drugs as it interferes with the animal´s body temperature control.
3) Fly Lufthansa if at all possible and try to make the routing as direct as possible. We usually have to do one layover...if so, make it short.
4) When you book, contact the airline and let them know that you are traveling with a pet. I usually don´t use the internet for booking when I travel with the dogs. This time, though, I did it online with Air Canada and then, followed up with a phone call. This was on their recommendation.
5) When you call, you will need the carrier dimensions and estimated weight of the cat plus carrier. Some of the Euro airlines charge based on this amount. You will probably pay about $250 or so.
6) Try to get the cat used to the carrier.
7) If the cat yowls, do not take him in the cabin. you will be hated and it will be horrible.
8) When you board, request that the flight attendant let you know when Fluffy is loaded. They don´t have a problem with this. Do this at every layover.
9) That is it. When you arrive into Germany, eventually get a pet passport which makes life easier in the future.

10)If you use a pet mover, be prepared to pay a ton of money. IMO, they are not worth it for a move to the EU.

11) If you are flying in the summer, most US carriers will not take you until Sept 15. The Euro carriers will though as they have better handling procedures. This caught me when I was returning to Portugal this year. The US carriers wouldn´t fly out of FL after may 15 and the EU carriers were major bucks. I ended up driving up to ATL and flying out via Air Canada (though Toronto). It was 100 plus degrees the day we were leaving. Air Canada did a remarkable job and boarded the dogs at the very last moment, then let me know when they were boarded. All arrived healthy and happy...though I needed a glass of wine!

Good luck! Deep breaths and don´t listen to the naysayers!

Shanna, if you want to email me about the experience, feel free. My email is in my profile. Don´t worry...your cat will be fine. Also, congratulations on the job and your new expat assignment! That rocks!

Many thanks to all. I have been yanking myself bald with the requirements associated with just moving myself, never mind Kiwi. And I think I have negoatiated with my sister to keep my cat instead of transporting her. She - the cat - is my chosen family, and if she were to arrive not alive, I'd never forgive myself. I think I'd rather come back occasionally to visit her, especially since she knows my sister (our voices are identical) and Kiwi has regular play-dates with her cats. But in the event I discover that life just isn't right without the little toot on my lap, I'll have some good information, and, hopefully, a more relaxed occasion to bring her back with me. Again, many thanks to all for the info.

Relatives of mine moved their two cats from England to Australia with no problems. The cost was as much as an adult airfare for each cat, but they loved their pets and there was no difficulties.

I believe there are small operators who specialize in doing nothing but moving pets. The aircraft are equipped solely for transporting all sorts of pets in their cages. This might be domestic only, not sure.

ps. domestic US I mean.

If you decide that you want to have your kitty in Germany, please take her in the cabin! Being in the Foreign Service, our cats had always traveled with us in the cabin (including Germany for two different tours). However, on the trip back to the U.S. from Australia with a cat we adopted in Australia, we were required to put her in cargo as opposed to the cabin. I was a nervous wreck the entire umpteen hour flight knowing that she had no food, no water and no idea of what was going on. She survived and is thriving, but I still hate what I had to do to her.
Your cat may yowl for awhile in the cabin, but I am sure she will settle down, especially with the vibration of the cabin floor to soothe her. And even if she doesn't, it's no worse that some child screaming or crying for an entire flight.

I work at an airport and we have a good track record with shipping animals everyday. Don't overthink it, the airlines will walk you through it all.

As someone who may be sitting beside you in the cabin please do NOT bring your animals in said cabin! I don't want to hear your cats howling all the way to Europe.

I have taken cats for a one year stay in Holland and again for almost two years in Costa Rica.
Check with the country where you're going for their rules for bringing animals into the country; they vary from country to country. Also, check the rules with each airline.
To Holland, they were put into the luggage area, and seemed healthy when we got there, even though they were mad as heck and made lots of noise.

To Costa Rica, I put them in carryalls in the plane under the seat. They made lots of noice until we got airborn and when we began the landing.

It's not really much fun to take cats with you, but what the heck, they are family, right? When I was in Holland, and wanted to travel around, I found the housing for cats to be exceptional, as I also did in C.R. Good luck.