renalt130

Acepromazine has worked great for my cat. He's one of the most laid back and relaxed cats I've ever met, except when it comes to cars. I had to take him cross country and got a prescription for acepromazine and it was amazing. He slept through most of the first day and the next day I gave him just half a dosage which made him groggy but interested in what was going on around him, rather than terrified like he'd been before.

I may have to take him to Europe sooner or later and definitely think that an overnight hotel stay on the East Coast (I'm in CA) and a non-stop flight to my final destination would be the way to go.

Hope to hear from you when you get to your destination.

USCGamecock

Good luck. From what I understand, the cat will usually do better than the owner.

ALadyNCal

Hope the kitty gets a 'nice vacation' before the return trip Good luck. Post back and let us know. I've wondered how mine would do on an extended trip, too.

Cookie Jarvis

Glad to hear that Kitty is doing well and surviving the trip! Hope you do too!

Mountain Trader

While to OP has already traveled, these threads are read by others so I still want to add my thoughts.

A better way to plan this or any trip with a pet would have been to fly to your East Coadt gateway and spend the night there. This may (but not always) means a layover and a hotel room, but it breaks up the animal's time in the travel bag, it's flying time in one day and also answers the bathroom issues. On the OP's itinerary, I would have spent the night in Cincinnati and another in Paris.

Another tip for the first time flying pet owner-get your pet used to the travel bag before the first flight. Put him/her in the bag and drive around in your car for 30-60 minutes three or four times during the week before the first flight. When you stop and let the pet out of the bag, do something the pet enjoys so he/she will have positive expectations while in the bag.

Finally, one of the posts made light of Delta's rule to keep pets in the bag in CRC and Business Class lounges. Pet owners should follow the rules-they have a right (a revokable one granted by Delta) to bring pets into CRCs but only in a travel bag. Other CRC users have a right to use the club without interacting with your pet. I've seen people break the rules too but that doesn't mean others should.

JudyS

A lot of good advice here!

I just wanted to add that not all cats are stressed by flying. I used to fly pretty regularly with a cat who seemed to really like the vibrations of the airplane -- I guess it felt like a mother cat purring! She didn't like car travel, though.

Pickles

When we picked up Smidgen as a tiny kitty from the breeder, we drove back to Boston from Portland, Maine, and he parked his furry little butt in the seat rest/storage area between the two front seats. He just hung out there for the whole trip. As he got older, we would take him to the vet in his carrier, and he would get tremendously stressed. He would be so stressed he would fart these unbelievably nasty stinkers. I blamed Mrs. Pickles for this until we realized it was Smidgen. But, if you let him out of the carrier, he would calm down and sit himself in the seat rest area again.

Now that Smidgen is fully grown and 25 pounds, he still likes to ride in the seat rest, although he doesn't fit anymore.

He's a very simple fellow.

Emma65

One thing I'd like to say is never feed an animal that is sedated. Some sedatives reduce saliva production and when the animal eats it could choke on it's food as it gets stuck on it's way down.

When you get the sedative from the vet ask if it's OK to feed the animal on it.

This goes for any animal. Cat, dog, bunny rabbit, horse, cow etc.

StartinSanDiego

Hello @AnafistaKater, welcome to FT. Since you have bumped a thread that has been inactive for 14 years, I'm going to go ahead and close it for further posting. Thanks.