Change of plans. (Sedation again.)

I was going to drive from Minneapolis to Chicago with my kitties, but I figured it would be much easier to take them with me this Thursday when I fly out there to go look at apartments. They will stay with my family until I am all moved in. Hopefully this will be less traumatic then driving hundreds of miles with them and then having to lock them up in a strange place while all my things are moved into the house and then unpacked.

anyway, I have never flown with cats before. I checked the health requirements for the airline I am flying and both of them are in good shape. I just need proof of rabies vaccination which is no problem.

I am wondering whether to sedate them. I planned on it when i was going to drive, but now the flight will be fairly short and they will only be in the carrier for about 4 hours. Maybe 5 if there is delay for any reason. I did a little reading and the airline does not recommend sedation because it could mess with the animal's equilibrium. Henri's already got enough problems with that and I wouldn't want to make her more disoriented. i'm so just so worried that they will be terrified and freak out the whole time.

Does anyone have any experiences they could share with me? or advice? I'msorry to bring this up again.

Please please please do NOT sedate your cats whether they are driving or flying. Cats do not react to sedation very well and usually the opposite. I don't care what a vet says about it, the cats are safer without knocking them out!

that's what I was starting to feel was right.
being scared for a little while won't hurt them... will it?

I took everyone's advice and did not sedate. it made me think how disorienting it musr be and you can't tell them, "honey, we gave you something to calm you down,"

rescue remedy was all i used.

I'm not going to either. Today is the day!
I hope they won't be toooo mad at me, but at least its a short flight.

update:

everyone made it safe without being too upset. Sammy is a little wary of the new place, but all in all the trip was harder for me than it was for them.

Congratulations

I don't believe in sedation either, I just took sibohan and duke to the vet and their anual shots have got them sedated to the point of not careing.
There are some herbal medicines that calm cats down, you might want to try something like rescue remedy