Last week we discussed travelling by land with your pets, and argued against the need for medications (sedatives/anesthetics) purportedly to ease the tension/anxiety which the pet would supposedly experience when travelling. We urge per caregivers to not place their pets’ veterinarians in the position of having to answer definitively in the negative when such medications are requested.
My position on use of sedatives/anesthetics for air travel is not dissimilar to that for road travel. Basically, the question that needs to be answered is: How necessary is the sedation/ anaesthetizing of one’s pet prior to air travel? Allow me to posit that the traveller’s pet is usually quite happy in its transport cage in the aircraft’s hold – even without a tranquilizing chemical being administered to the animal.
In the case of international flights, once the animal is well ensconced in the plane’s baggage compartment, it adjusts quite happily without the need for companionship and emotional support. In fact, more often than not, it is the pet’s owner who wishes to insist that he/she needs the pet as emotional support. Some airlines accept the pet travelling next to its owner – especially if a qualified medical practitioner issues a certificate advising that the individual needs the presence /companionship of his/her pet on board the aircraft in the passenger cabin.
Actually, such a request may turn out to be selfish, and not taking the comfort of other nearby passengers into consideration. Fellow travellers may suffer allergic reactions to a hair-shedding pet. Cats are notorious for producing allergic reactions – even in veterinarians with years of clinical experience and practice. This is an unreasonable and unacceptable state of affairs. I plead with every companion animal caregiver to place his/her pet in its accustomed and functional carry-kennel, and let it travel in the cargo compartment of the aircraft. It will, in all likelihood, fare well – sleeping most of the journey, totally without need for a tranquilizer/ anesthetic.
Allow me to explain another possible scenario: The animal arrives at its destination. The respective airport authority has to examine the dog/cat, but the anesthetic/ sedative administered pre-flight has not quite worn off. The animal displays a certain degree of listlessness. The airport vet has to make an important decision. Is the animal ailing from some disease? Perhaps it is an infection (transmissible?). At best, (for the owner), the Veterinary Officer at the airport would be willing to listen to the pet’s owner explaining that the lethargy exhibited by the pet has arisen because of a sedative administered by a vet before the animal was accepted to be placed in the hold. Almost surely, the Veterinary Officer at the arrival port would place the pet in quarantine – with all the concomitant bureaucratic processes/protocols and procedures. I can tell you that horror stories abound relative to the scenario in which the animal is placed in quarantine.
Need I mention that if the responsible officer is not satisfied with “pre-flight sedative” explanation, the animal will be euthanized and the carcass disposed of by incineration.
Believe me that I can share similar experiences with which I was acquainted in other parts of the world, and even here in Guyana, and which led to heart-rending consequences.
The moral of this whole story is: (1) Do not ask your vet to give your internationally travelling pet a tranquilizer/anesthetic prior to boarding the plane. (2) Place the animal in his “carry kennel” in the airline’s hold. In so doing, you would circumvent some very unpleasant outcomes.
