flying with my grandpa cat

hello,

i am new here and i hope to get some useful advices as i have to fly with my cat from the Caribbean to Germany ( relocation ).

and i am german, so maybe my english is not that perfect so please be patient with me

my beloved 13 year old male cat and myself flying back from St. Maarten via Paris to Munich. Unfortunately there is no direct flight connection

i could use.

i bought an airline approved soft bag and Muck will fly with me in the cabin. already made reservations for a middle seat. still the overall time for Muck in the bag will be 14 hours. i ordered DryFur travel pads and hope that will work out that way. in Paris i will be able to change the travel pad in case an accident has happened.

now my question : Muck is a very nervous cat and will start to cry asap we have left home. and the complete trip of course will be stressful in the extreme for my little guy. because of that i would like to ask how you do prepare your cat for a situation like we will have in a couple of weeks. i read that medical treatments are probably not the smart play. is there anything else i can do ??? and when shall i feed him the last time before we will leave ?

greatful for every response,

greetings from St. Maarten

swadesch

You could try using Composure Max liquid. Its a calmer, but is non prescription and is non sedating. Start leaving his travel bag out now. Make it a really positive place for Muck. You could try feeding him in there, or making it a really inviting place to sleep - the more positive he feels about the bag, the less stressed he'll be on the day. Bach's Rescue Remedy might be worth a go too. It's another natural way to reduce stress levels.

I can't give any more specific advice, as I've never attempted flying with a cat. I'm just letting you know how I'd approach things in your situation.

Welcome to TCS   

We have a lot of members who's first language isn't English, so don't worry about that at all. Your English is loads better than my German!   

You might find these articles useful:  [article="29652"]Traveling With Cats​[/article]  ;  [article="30165"]36 Awesome Tips For Road Tripping With Your Cat​[/article]  

good morning Columbine,

thank you for your response ...

my boyfriend is american so my english has improved over the last years but still from time to time i do find it tricky to find the right words. but

as long as everybody still understands me i should not complain

the cat bag arrived yesterday ( getting very special things here on the island is almost impossible, so everything has to come by ship ) and today i will introduce my cat with the new bag. feeding him inside the bag and i will put one of my shirts into it. will take some time as he is not curious at all and very careful when new things show up. but we are 7 weeks ahead of the flight so that should  be fine.

Bachblueten are very well known in Germany and i had already good results, so i will try to find them here somewhere. Composure max liquid i never heard of before but i have to go to the Vet this afternoon anyway and i will ask if they do have it in stock. i remember that a long time ago, when he was a younger guy, i had to relocate and i tried herbal pills from the Vet. the other cat reacted as expected, but Muck showed the opposite reaction, instead of getting calmed down he almost exploded and i remember that trip with big horror. so i guess what ever i will use i need to try it before the final day.

oh well ... i am VERY nervous how everything will shake out. if it would not be absolutely necessary i would not have put my cat into this situation. but life sometimes has different plans as oneself, so ...

again thanx for your response,

greetings from the island from me and

swadesch