Paws For A Minute® Travel Tip
Meet Q, I recently helped ship him to the east coast due to very sad circumstances. His owner had lost her battle with cancer. He was off to a loving temporary home until his owners sister could take him. 
I helped out with his travel arrangements and learned some interesting things about shipping pet’s in cargo. There are only two brands of crates that are airline approved.
- Vari Kennel and Petmate.
- Make sure the crate is big enough! The dog must be able to sit in the crate allowing 2 inches above his head. Then they must be able to turn around without touching the sides. The measurements of your dog to the crate can be rather confusing. For example, in this case, the crate which was designated right for his breed was actually deemed too small. We had to get the size bigger in order to comply with airline regulations.
- Health certificate required (must be within 10 days of travel)
- Crate needs to have two plastic dishes that attach to crate.
- Food should be provided in a plastic bag that can be taped to top of the crate.
- Absorbant crate pad
- Check weather conditions. Some airlines will not fly pet in cargo above or below certain temperatures, so check on the day you fly your dog.
- Ask the airline about metal bolts that hold crate together. Both crates that are airline approved have plastic casings on the bolts. The airline I used, required all metal bolts. I got them from a hardware store to remedy this before he flew.
Here is what they look like. The metal butterfly bolt needs to replace the plastic one for flying. Check with the airlines to make sure it’s required and that you have the proper one.
Oh, by the way, he made it to his destination safely and is now enjoying the snow for the first time!
