Flying with a cat?

if you do fly with your cat please make sure you do so in the Tiger, I feel like there's a good meme or ironic pun in there somewhere

and make sure you do a video of this flight for my amusement....preferably with the cat in your lap the entire time.
 
A friend took their cat on a sailing trip - cat not happy. I would be very careful taking a cat on a plane.

Cat found the least moving part of the boat and lay down with legs out for the entire time, maybe a one or two days with night stop. In centre of boat at lowest point, in the galley.

It would not have been rough water, inshore, 30 foot boat. Obviously not repeated due to concern for cat.

I get the impression it was roughly like this, but more gripping with claws:

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My wife & I flew to a cattery (who knew there was such a thing) in Paw Paw, Michigan (again, who knew that either?). We picked up a cat, put him in a carrier and flew home at 7500' msl. AFAIK he was fine in the back although I'm sure he was a bit stressed out. View attachment 84231 View attachment 84230

However, it didn't stunt his growth or anything if that's your concern...View attachment 84232

That looks like a Maine Coon Cat. They're huge!

@Skywalker I wondered as I posted if I had shared that pic with you but it wasn't long ago so I figured not. That's a Michigan grown Maine Coon indeed.

Our last cat was part Maine Coon. Much smaller than a pure bred, but had the looks and personality. Sweetest cat you would ever want to know. My wife's lap was his favorite place, as soon as it was formed by her sitting down he owned it. For hours. It's been about a year and a half since we had to put him down and we still miss him. If we ever get another, that would be the breed.

Tiger

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Our last cat was part Maine Coon. Much smaller than a pure bred, but had the looks and personality. Sweetest cat you would ever want to know. My wife's lap was his favorite place, as soon as it was formed by her sitting down he owned it. For hours. It's been about a year and a half since we had to put him down and we still miss him. If we ever get another, that would be the breed.

Maine Coons are great cats. When I was in high school in Tennessee, I mowed yards during the summer to earn money. One family had a Maine Coon cat. He was primarily an outdoor cat (what dog in its right mind would mess with a Maine Coon). This cat would climb one of the trees in the yard and wait for me to pass underneath. He would then launch himself at me and land on my shoulders and proceed to drape himself around my neck while I was mowing. 25lbs of heavy fur on a hot, humid day hanging on my neck while mowing. If I put him off, he’d just climb another tree and do it again. He was a very affectionate cat. He’d purr the entire time. Had six toes on his front paws instead of the normal five.
 
Cats and dogs fly just fine. Flew plenty of dogs in my time :)
 
Read a story once about someone who took their cat flying. Middle of the flight, cat was yeowling non-stop, so they opened the carrier door to calm it down. Cat jumped out of carrier and somehow found a gap in the interior panels and and crawled back to the tail section. Had to land and have the cat extracted by removing part of the interior and grabbing it with a noose on a long pole.

I recommend carrying a large bucket of water to calm the cat down. If splashing does not work, dunk the cat in the bucket and seal the lid.

To borrow a quote from Stormin' Norman Schwartzkopf, flying without your cat is like deer hunting without an accordion.
 
As someone who has a PnP kitty mission lined up for this weekend I’m not getting a kick out of this thread. (If it goes through ... still missing a leg).
 
As someone who has a PnP kitty mission lined up for this weekend I’m not getting a kick out of this thread. (If it goes through ... still missing a leg).

You and the cats will be fine. Just make sure that you don’t use those cardboard boxes - that is how the cats escaped in our flight (see my post on page). We really prefer flying cats over dogs because they easily travel in their boxes...
 
You and the cats will be fine. Just make sure that you don’t use those cardboard boxes - that is how the cats escaped in our flight (see my post on page). We really prefer flying cats over dogs because they easily travel in their boxes...

I have only flown dogs so far. One pug who stayed caged and several huskies (one at a time) that were content to stay in an open container but leashed to the bulkhead so they couldn’t join me up front. Mostly they slept the entire flight. I do have a cat cage if needed.

Loved your pics though. I’m a cat person for sure.
 
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