Flying Safely

[Leslie]

I ran across this today and thought it would be a good reminder for people traveling with pets. Note: I do give a couple of Calms Forte, an herbal calmant. And of course, having your dog crate trained is indispensable. For my dogs, the crate is their haven, so traveling is much easier.

The following information is courtesy of www.vetinfo4dogs.com
by Michael Richards,DVM

Do not tranquilize pets for air travel if you are taking them
with you, unless you are absolutely certain it is necessary.A
recent review of pet deaths during airplane trips revealed
that most of the pets who died had been sedated.The
effects of sedatives are intensified at higher altitudes and
even though cargo holds are pressurized they are at a lower
atmospheric pressure than is found at ground level. If you
do have to sedate a pet follow the veterinarian's directions
EXACTLY. It could save your pet's life!

[Leslie]

See Crate size Recommendations for more advice on flying with dogs, but a couple of other things I do:

Only take non-stop flights. Less chance of the dog being lost, or getting too cold/hot on the runway during a stopover. Also less chance of pets getting lost. I talked to an English woman who's dog was sent to a different city during a stop-over and took several days to finally get it back.

When you board, politely ask the flight attendant to confirm that a dog is aboard and that the pilot is aware so that proper climate control is activated in the cargo.

[Irena]

Thanks for posting this!

I also read that sedated animals don't have a chance to resist any drastic movements of the plane in their crates. I imagine they can get thrown around in their crate rather than being able to maintain the balance.