Hello All,
We’re moving from Provence to Scotland in mid-september. We’re taking the 2 dogs in the car and we want to take our cat. She will hate it! (not scotland - the car, the journey.
I’m thinking about flying her - Personally I’ve flown Marseille to Edinburgh with Ryannair.
But other than 'pet transport sepcialists" i.e. luxury travel, I’m struggling to find details of airlines and how to book or at least enquire.
Anyone got any experience of this? (i think they consider dogs and cats the same - it’s all to do with size and weight - we all know they are quite different creatures!0
thx , Teresa
We took our cat by air to the USA 17 yrs ago. The airline will give you all the details if you phone them. There are rules about documentation required, and size and type of travel boxes, together with check-in times and procedures. A health certificate is often needed from the vet who can also advise you about the possibility of a mild sedation to ease the stress on the animal, and also give you relevant feeding advice.
Sometimes there is a choice between hold and cabin transportation depending on the size of the animal, and there can of course be considerable variance in the price charged.
Best thing to do is to phone each airline that you could use for the journey so that you can make a decent comparison between the various offers. Each airline has it’s own policy re the transport of live animals and sometimes you can get a much better price for the same flight by using one of the ‘Codeshare’ airline partners, such as using Delta to book what is effectively an Air France flight.
Don’t forget to pack ‘clean up’ materials in your carry on bag as the travel container will probably be soiled by the time you collect the animal at your arrival airport.
Good luck.
great info Robert - thank you so much - that’s where i’ll start… i’ll post back on here once i have an idea
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Hi Teresa, just wondering if you have considered an animal transport company who would drive her from France to Scotland. It only takes a couple of days (maybe 3) and they will collect her from you and deliver her to your new address. I know people who used this company and they were very satisfied. Might be worth considering.
Izzy x
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I looked into this for a Scotland - Bordeaux journey for 2 cats. It has to be an airline that is approved for Animal transports. Forget all the cheap airlines like Ryan air etc. The only Airlines I found that will safely transport pets are Air France via Paris, KLM via Amsterdam and Lufthansa via Frankfurt. There are no direct flights for pets. If you have a smallish cat, you can have her in the cabin (only some flights). Otherwise it will be the hold in an airline approved carrier. No un accompanied animals unless you go though a ‘pet transport specialist’. There is a pretty good and recommended company in Edinburgh, used by a friend to get her pet rabbit from Scotland to Denver, Colorado.
In the end we decided to drive, 3 days, 2 nights (one night on a ferry with pet friendly cabins) which worked well for us) But understand that Eurotunnel is quicker and you all can stay in the car together- which might not be to the liking of your cat.
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If your dogs and your cat are used to one another, then I would take the car. When I travelled with my cat I put her in a safe container with plenty of shredded newspaper, so she would be able to do her business without getting wet. During the breaks you can give her water with a hamster bottle in the box in order to avoid to loose her. Offer her some food and she will eat if she feels like it.
Once you have arrived at your destination, go out with her with a harness, because she will be confused, but things will look up, once the stress is over!
I brought our cat from Stirling to Le Mans via the Tunnel, I bought a large collapsible metal cage big enough to take a cat bed in a box and a small litter tray.
Eric was not particularly happy about it but settled down after an hour’s travel and slept most of the way, he only used the tray twice on the way , once for a pee and once for a poo and I had bags and clean litter with me.
There was a food bowl and one of the spill proof water bowls in the cage with him.
With stops it took me 15 hours, but would be better with two sharing the driving.
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Would it be tactless to mention the 7 animals of various types that were in one hold compartment on a flight from London to the US and the only one that arrived was a rather large boa constrictor?
I’d pay for transport by sea.
I can vouch for Animal Couriers as I used them to bring my Border Collie pup over…it was a door to door service picking up from my daughter in U.K. who looked after him for the weeks in between collecting him from his breeder until getting his pet passport and being able to travel…
I used the dedicated trip option so just my pup on the vehicle.
They collected him around 4pm from my daughter in U.K…stopped overnight once in France and then continued the journey early morning delivering him to me by 4pm the following day…
Can’t fault them and the two who bought him over were lovely…