Traveling from Ukraine to USA 10 hrs in airplane! Help!

[marishka84]

Hello everyone! My name is Marina and my kitty lady is Mila. I moved to USA 9 months ago and left my cat in Ukraine. She is 13 years old domestic short hair, very happy and energetic cat. Still pays like a baby. I spent a lot of nights crying myself to sleep trying to make a right decision either to bring her or not..bottom line was I listened to my parents who were telling me it would be a selfish move to bring her and make her suffer 10 hours on airplane and who knows what could happen to her in such age. She is healthy cat (knock on wood) and like i said very energetic, and she already had traveled from one city to another but only in a car. Right now my parents about to get their visa to come visit me and we have this discussion again. I literary can not live without her, Im sad about not having her with me, I believe we have special connection and she is like a baby to me. I found her in news paper add in 1998 and we went to picked her up, she looked not the best but when her master at that time took her in her arms and Mila started licking her face I knew this is my cat. I will post some pics later. Since I got her she has been always with me, sleeping with me under the blanket with her head on the pillow, or on my head, purring so loud you could hear her in the other room lol, she was playing with me, everyday I was coming from school/college/work she was already sitting next to the door saying hello. Every night she would jump on my bed and start purring and if I would bend over to give her a kiss she start rubbing her face on mine giving me a kiss or just touching me with her wet noise. Whenever I was doing smt at my desk she would sleep under the lamp or on my lap. She would follow me everywhere I go. And if she were in trouble like peed in my dads shoes lol she would run to me and jump on my lap so that i could protect her. Basically we are best friends. A lot of people dont understand me, but I dont care. Now I cry sometimes thinking again what if this or what if that about her trip over the ocean. So here I am, asking you guys the advice?!
If any of you traveled that fare in the airplane, and if your cat was 10 years or older? How she/he was dealing with that? How she/he was feeling after? Anything could help to make my last decision. My biggest fear if she would get sick after landing or during the flight and dies...I would be devastated and will never forgive myself.
Please help! What should I do?
Thank you so much for your time reading this!
Much love, Marina.

 

[goldenkitty45]

I would have a vet evalute her health before considering shipping that old of a cat. Most times I flew with cats - they were younger show cats (no one over 5 yrs old).

If the vet would ok that long of a flight, then go for it. You'd have to check airlines and see how they would handle any food/water for her. Let us know your results if you ship her.

 

[marishka84]

Thank you so much for your help. My mom will go to the vets with her tomorrow and do all needed medical check. At the same time my parents yelling at me that I am a selfish person and I should live my cat alone and let her be...its so hard for me to make a right decision for everyone

We'll see what doc have to say.
Thank you.

 

[kkh]

Hi, I do understand how you feel. I did the same 2 years ago when I relocated from the US mainland to the Alohaland. Usually, domestic flight is OK to bring pet into cabin with you but unfortunately not for flying over the ocean(same goes for international). My baby was flying with me on the same flight but she had to be in a cargo area.

Took us almost 1 day door-to-door including transit.

When my friend flew from Italy to Canada with her cat few years ago, she had her cat sedated(sedation was allowed at that time), also she was ok'd to bring her cat into cabin. As long as I know, most airlines these days would not allow pet to be sedated, also, pets can not travel with passenger in cabin with an exception of guide dog.

Make sure to get all the documentation from your vet that shows your kitty's health condition - in English. You didn't mention where in US you live in - rabies shot is probably not required unless you travel to Hawaii or Guam.
You can find the info from here, good luck.

http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm...ingyourpet.htm

 

[mrblanche]

Actually, I think she'll need a rabies vaccination to enter the U.S. The ten hours of flight, plus a couple of hours before the flight in the cage at the airport, is going to be rough on her, but not impossible to endure. She will probably arrive wet and messy; I would try to feed her as little as possible for a while before the flight. There are experts here who regularly ship cats (check in the Breeders' Corner section of the forum), so they might be able to help you.

Talk directly to the airline and to any officials to be sure you have followed every rule carefully.

 

[goldenkitty45]

Also I'm totally against sedating any cat for trips (car or plane). Many cats have and opposite reaction to meds (even if a vet says its ok to use). If the cat is sedated and something triggers her to throw up and she's out of it, she can choke to death!