Anybody ever ship cats over long distances?

[kedrys]

We're actually at the point where we're making the big move, and we're trying to figure out what the best way to transport the kitties would be without having to sell major bodily organs.

Any suggestions?

--aj

[electron_blue]

1. How far you going and what time of year?

And how many cats?

[kedrys]

5. 6 cats, 2000 miles, within a month

We're moving from Houston to Montreal. We can rent a truck for pretty cheap and tow one of the cars, but from what I've been able to find out, flying the cats up there would be prohibitively expensive.

We're talking to their vet today, but I wanted to ask here in case anyone had been in a similar situation.

[electron_blue]

15. Six? Hmmm. I've moved with 2 cats, 1500 miles, about 8 times.

Each of those times was in the car with me. Loose cats, litterbox in the back, probably not the safest in hindsight. I also shipped a cat across the country (Fla-CA) with an airline. She was in the baggage compartment. I recommend only doing that with direct flights. I once put a friend's cat on a plane for her. They had driven across the country and had friends take care of the cat for a few days while they did that. Then I put the kitty on a direct flight to DC with them waiting for her on the other end. I'm sure your vet will have recommendations. I'd be interested to hear what the vet thinks, esp with regard to tranquilizers for the kitties. Good luck!

[Orsino]

2. They can fly.

I don't mean across the room into a bucket of water.

I had three cats flown to me when I was stationed in Germany. As long as they get a little bit of a sedative, and there's someone waiting to pick them up, kitties should be fine--though it wouldn't hurt to have a trial run with the sedative to make sure it will be tolerated. A blood test beforehand wouldn't be amiss.

I'm thinking that my next move, though, will be by rented RV, one big enough for the whole menagerie.

[kedrys]

6. Renting an RV? I hadn't thought of that

If we could pack and ship our stuff and take the cats with us, that might work. We thought about taking the train up there, but the railroad won't take cats. :(

[Orsino]

19. The railroad is smarter than we are.

:7

I've got no use for an RV, personally, except for taking a long trip with our babies. It would not be a quiet trip. Minstrels a thousand years hence will sing of this voyage.

[meegbear]

3. VacuSeal ...

Helps keeps them fresh.

[kedrys]

7. NHD

Not. Helping. Dude.

[meegbear]

8. YNF

You're. No. Fun.

[kedrys]

11. Sorry

I'm under extreme stress over this. We have to be out of our house within the next 40 days, and if we can't figure out how to get the cats up there, the s.o.'s going to California instead, so I apologize for being a tad brittle.

I'll prolly laugh about it later, though, if all goes well. :fingerscrossed:

[KatyMan]

4. We've shipped cats overseas before

They did fine. It does depend on the time of year, though, as airlines won't ship animals in the summer to certain places because of the temps in the cargo hold. Also, if you're shipping to a foreign country, make sure you know the rules for importing animals into that country, otherwise you'll have a lot of heartache.
We flew a cat from Houston to London unaccompanied about a year ago, and it cost something like $1500, plus the fees for all of the various shots and records that are needed to import a cat to the UK.

[kedrys]

9. The animal import rules in Canada are pretty straightforward

And the one shipping company I've spoked to so far will fly them within my time frame (in the next month), but it's way more expensive than I thought. :( If it were a couple of cats, we could probably swing it, but not all six.

[KatyMan]

What about the airlines?

Ours flew on Continental. Maybe you could get a better deal that way?

[kedrys]

12. I have yet to check

My sister's boyfriend has a great vet who will board them, assuming that they get there before we do - a likely scenario. All I'd have to do is convince someone up there to pick up 80 pounds of harrumphed cats from the airport and take them to the vet.

[electron_blue]

16. Have them travel after you leave and after you are in Toronto. You can pick them up

yourself. It'll be far easier to find someone to take care of them where you live presently for a few days after you leave. Plus you'll probably have people saying "If there's anything I can do...." and you'll have an answer for them!

[KatyMan]

10. dupe

don't know how I posted twice but did...

[LeftyFingerPop]

13. Well, this might be a long shot, but...

I transport rescued dogs. I live in NY, and they come from as far away as CA.

They are transported via a "train" system...and by that I mean, volunteers who drive then 100 or 200 miles at a time, and then relinquish them to another volunteer who continues the transport. This process is repeated until they reach their final destination. This is a good way to transport animals, because it seems to be relatively low stress for them.

There are a lot of cat lovers here on DU. Perhaps you could post when and where the cats would need to be transported, and then ask for volunteers to form a transport "train"?

Also, you may have friends in different parts of the country that are not on DU who may be able to help you do this?

Just a thought...good luck with your move kedrys.

:hi:

[kedrys]

14. Thanks for the idea

We don't know a lot of people who'd be on the way, but it's worth thinking about.

Keep your fingers crossed!

:hi:

[LynneSin]

17. For what it's worth another DUer moved her cats from Philly to Florida

and she had 3 cats.

Her and her husband rented a minivan to make the drive down to Florida. In the minivan they had an oversized cage - like what you see is used by pet stores that showcase rescued animals. It was big enough for 3 cats plus a litter box and food/water. They put a bunch of blankets in for sleep and took turns driving to make the trip as short as possible.

Fact #1 - your cats will be miserable. Hell mine were miserable and I only moved 3 miles across town.

Fact #2 - after about a day of being miserable your cats will go back to loving you the way they do now.

Sometimes I think we pet owners get more upset then the pets themselves. I like the idea of an RV to rent cross country, but I think a mini-van will be fine. I would suggest with 6 cats to have tags with cell phones on all of the cats - in case one gets out. But my friend had no problem. She said they yowled for about 1-2 hours and then they settled in for the haul

[kedrys]

22. We're considering renting a moving truck and towing the Accord

Which means one of us has to drive the Element. If we're not planning on sleeping in the Element, hanging the rear seats might gives us enough space to haul them all with us.

I'm not looking forward to howling demons for 3 days, though, but it looks like that can't be helped.

Thanks!

[LynneSin]

23. I'm not sure of what your budget is but....

My friend had a lil 2-seater that was being moved down to Philly. They ended up having it shipped. I think the price turned out to be not as unreasonable as expected.

ESPECIALLY with the cost of gas going upwards plus factor in you're gonna hit a ton of tolls along the way. You might find the price compararable between the two

[blondie58]

18. just put them in a suitcase

I would hold off on putting any treats in with them- they smell would be noxious at the end of the flight. Seriously, I don't know, except perhaps by flight. Kudos to you, though for taking your family members with you. People who move - or have a baby and "need" to get rid of their pets drive me crazy. It is a lifetime commitment, IMHO.

[LeftyFingerPop]

20. kedrys, try this website...

It may or may not be good. I didn't delve into it.

You also might want to try a Google search on "pet transport".

http://www.pro-pet-transports.com/index.php

[LeftyFingerPop]

21. Yikes...I just looked at their rates!!

Very expensive!

[HamdenRice]

24. Dead or alive? Cat meat on dry ice by FedEx works well

Insulate it properly and the dry ice should still be there within the next 24 hours. Also dry ice doesn't mealt; it evaporates into CO2 gas.

Just like shipping steak.

Cats: Friends or Food?

Oh, wait. Sorry, didn't read your OP thoroughly. You're talking about a pet!

[Fredda Weinberg]

25. The beasties made it NY to Paris and back w/me, no problem. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

26. I got two kitties from Washington DC to Oregon by ... driving.

I was just terrified of putting them on a plane, where they'd be out of my hands, literally and figuratively, for hours. We made a large "kitty condo" cage, complete w/ small litter box, in the back of our car so we wouldn't have to worry about them dashing out at rest stops. My female absolutely freaked out when we'd driven about a block away from home, so we had to give her the little kitty downer the vet had given us for just such occasions. The male seemed to enjoy the entire trip.

However, you've got six, so, Wow. that's a lot of kitties to transport.

Whatever you decide, I hope you all have a safe trip! :hi:

[Shakespeare]

31. I did almost the same trip: 2 kitties, DC to Los Angeles.

Each in their carriers with a mild tranquilizer. They'd get their pill in the morning, and start to get perky again just as we were stopping for the night. I got a few of those disposable litterboxes, and we stopped at pet-friendly motels, so they were able to eat and run around all night. They both did quite well this way--the drugs kept them from getting too stressed, and made the trip much easier on them.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

27. I've put mine in a carrier box

and drove almost a mile to the vet's office.

The cat's yowling made it SEEM like a long distance ...

:hi:

Years ago, we took a cat on vacations, sometimes a two-day drive. The cat would cry, then puke, then settle down for most of the trip. Overall, no big deal.

[hyphenate]

28. I've done it twice

Once with 3 from Boston to Los Angeles, and then once with 6 from Los Angeles back to Boston (15 years later!)

The trip with three was easy--the three were older and more settled. They barely noticed they were in a car for a week. I had a mini-trailer on the car and we stopped in RV parks for the nights. I was alone with them, but it wasn't difficult until the car had some issues.

Going back, I had someone drive the moving truck and I had the cats in the Windstar with me. We had walkie-talkies to communicate on the way, so it wasn't hard to stay in touch and to make sure one of us didn't get lost from the other. I had my most valued possessions with me in the van--my computer, mostly!

I did lose one of my babies on the trip, and he was never recovered. But he was also 16 lbs of pure CAT (like a miniature panther!) and if one could survive, it would have been him.

The concept was good, and I tried to put a cage in the van, but it wouldn't fit right. Instead, I used that green fencing stuff that you might see at a construction site: the problem was I should have put it also at the inside back of the van as well--that's how he escaped. If I had my druthers, though, I would opt for separate, but large, cat carriers next time it came to it.

You might want to get a trailer to hitch to one of the cars and leave them in it for the trip, just making sure there are plenty of soft surfaces, and nothing hard that is loose. Make sure they have collars with IDs, their shots (which would need to shown at the border, anyhow), and if you can afford it, the subcutaneous RFID chips. Mine were never sedated, and while on the first trip they were pretty mellow, the haul back with the 6 might have been better if they had been knocked out a little. If yours are more sociable than mine on the second trip (mine were, and still are, a little wild because they were never around people other than myself), they likely won't need it. I recommend the walkie-talkies highly, because it makes the trip a lot less lonely being in two vehicles. That way, you can confer about meals, where to spend the night, etc.

Good luck with your move. And I mean that sincerely--I've been in your position, and it can be very stressful. It will be remembered fondly down the line, but be prepared for what is a long trip.


on edit: clarified one point

[stuntcat]

29. my friend flew his from NY to California

I was scared to death, I love that cat, I just knew he'd end up stuck away somewhere with no air or pressure or temp control or whatever. But he made it!

[stuntcat]

33. (info..)

I talked to him about it while ago and he reminded me.. he took the cat with him as carry-on, in a small cat carrier that looked like a bag.
That was pre-9/11, but I saw someone flying a cat as carry-on a couple years ago too.

[applegrove]

30. I travelled a day with a cat. Put the kitty litter in the back area of the car, cat knew

exactly what to do.

[kimmerspixelated]

32. No, but when I was a kid, my Dad liked to give them flying lessons.

I kid you not.