I can't word anything for ****, but thank you all for responding. Here is the situation:
Two cats. They will be flying in cabin with us, probably in separate crates. They ride together in crates when going to the vet, but I have no issue separating them since we can put the crates right next to each other. They are brother and sister. The brother is extremely fearful and has a slight heart murmur. I'll be consulting a vet (or five) about the possibility of sedating him during the flight. If that is a no go, does anyone have any natural anxiety treatments that help cats? His sister I'm not concerned about at all. If flying him is not feasible, is there a better way to get him through the 3000 mile trip?
One dog, Bloo. Bloo has a shortish snout for a pittie (primarily because of her underbite), but I don't believe she's considered brachy, just a "snub nosed" dog. What is the difference between "checked baggage" and "cargo" when it comes to dogs? Is it better to ship her on a separate airline? What airlines would you suggest? We were going to go with Delta, but I want what's best for my animals.
Flyin', how tall are your guys? Bloo is pretty short, and 37lbs. I think I sticked her at 17".
Does anyone have a suggestion for brand of crate, both for Bloo and the cats?
The airlines regard the breed as brachycephalic. No, they really aren't, but that's how the airlines call it, and it does affect their regulations for flying the dog. It actually irritates the crap out of me, I
hate it when people try to call my dogs brachycephalic. But you can't really rock the boat with airlines, we just have to be grateful that there are still a few left that fly dogs.
Bloo might actually fit in a 300 then, see if you can try one out. Mine are a little shorter, but the 300 is a bit bigger than they need, they just don't fit well enough in a 200.
I don't know about the cat crates, but for Bloo, unless you can afford one of the super fancy metal ones, I'd stick with Vari-Kennel/Sky-kennel. (Sky-Kennel is the same manufacturer, and is pretty much the same, I think they maybe used to have more differences, now it seems to be just color). It's the industry standard, so you know the crate will be accepted by the airline, and they can be purchased for a fairly reasonable price. I'd advise shopping online for it, though you'll have to pay shipping of an oversize item, you can sometimes get a good enough deal to make it worth it. I bought my Sky-Kennel through dog.com, which has a flat $4.99 rate on shipping, and paid about $85.
I replaced most of my plastic bolts with metal, for added safety. If you want to buy those, you can do that at this site:
http://www.dryfur.com/
And probably in other places too, but that's where I got mine. They have a variety of pet travel accessories, and a lot of information about flying with a pet, so I would recommend looking at that site anyway. (orders I've made from that site have arrived the next day, but they happen to be located in the same city as me, which undoubtedly helps.)
The first time I flew with a dog, I purchased an airline kit from them. The crate comes with "live animal" stickers, but the airline kit had more, and I plastered them
all over the crate. It's actually a good idea to decorate your crate in some way to make it easy to recognize. If your dog is flying baggage, you can usually watch out the window and watch the cargo loaded, to be sure your dog gets on the plane. Some kind of info on the crate to personalize your dog helps too, since it reminds the baggage handlers that this is a living creature. I imagine that Bloo is probably pretty friendly, so just her name and "I'm friendly!" might be enough. With a shy or reactive dog, some sort of sign indicating the dog is shy and new to flying is a good idea.
My first trip with Tess, when we flew back from Minneapolis, I was watching the baggage loaded, and I could see the baggage handlers going over to talk to Tess through the crate. Dogs are loaded last, so she was waiting in a baggage wagon, but I think every baggage handler out there went by and spent a couple minutes in front of the crate.
Some people also suggest making up a note to send to the pilot to tell them there's a dog on board (which they're supposed to know anyway), with like a picture of the dog, etc. That kind of thing hits me right in the social anxiety, so I've never done that. The other recommendation I haven't followed is to call the airline 24 hours before your flight to verify that your dog is indeed booked. Phone calls are too hard for me, so I haven't done that either, but if you're less freakish than me, or have someone else that can do this stuff for you, those are other things to consider.
My airline of choice is Alaska, they are the cheapest for flying dogs as baggage, and they take good care of them. You can't always get an Alaska flight that goes where you want to go, though, so you may have to choose another carrier. I do know one person that likes Delta.
Some airlines won't ship dogs as baggage, and will only ship them as cargo. I'm not sure how that works when you're flying yourself.
Here's Tess, all snug in her crate in Minneapolis. I've taken the zip ties out of the door, because this was after we'd landed, and I was just taking her to the potty area before going to get our rental car. The little cart is the kind they have for rental in airports. You can also put wheels on your crate, but they have to be removed for shipping, so I find it easier to just rent the carts in the airport.
And here's the stub they give you, to show the dog is loaded: