Snuzzy’s Weekend Flight to Sweden to Escort Cat Home
Any of you who have read the “Norton” books — “The Cat Who Went to Paris”, “A Cat Abroad”, and “The Cat Who’ll Live Forever” (the trilogy is available through Amazon’s used books program) have probably harbored — even if for the briefest of moments — a fantasy of being able to take your cherished feline on your world travels.
And a split second later, the thunder clap of reality jolts you from your reverie, as you realize that this would involve a flight of ten or more hours in length, during which either the said cherished feline is screaming from his carrier, or you are downing scotch after scotch to allay your fears about his well-being while he is stashed in the cargo hold.
I couldn’t do the cargo hold thing. I know that it is commonly done and many animals are safely shipped cross-country by that method, but I would worry of how terrifying it might be for the cats — especially for sheltered indoor cats. A ride in the cabin would be no picnic, either. In my family, Mao (the very vocal Siamese) would be braying like a donkey in his I’m-being-tortured-somebody-call-PETA voice; Rocky (under normal circumstances, a pretty quiet cat) would yowl himself hoarse; Tripper would be rockin’ the carrier like a Mexican Jumping Bean (actually, he’s too big to fit in an underseat carrier so the point is moot); Skeezix would be fairly quiet, but when it came time to poop (which he does frequently), the stench would clear the cabin and he would likely projectile-squirt the contents of his bowels on anything and anybody within a five-foot radius. The TSA would subsequently ban “loaded cats” on planes.
And that is why today I salute Snuzzy (whom most of you know from Snuzzy.com), the penultimate Cat Guy, who is today flying from San Francisco to Sweden to bring his cat-buddy Tailer (that’s him on the right) home to live with him. Snuzzy recently relocated from Sweden, and now that he’s settled in after the initial move, it’s time to go back and retriever Tailer. He’ll do the whole roundtrip this weekend, and the return trip will involve about 20 hours of air travel with cat in tow. Yes, you read that right. He’s flying to Sweden and back over a weekend, solely to ensure that Tailer not be subjected to travel in the cargo hold. (After all, we all saw what happened to that Siamese in Snakes on a Plane, right?)
Snuzzy is going to videotape this adventure, and has consulted with Catster Vetblogger Eric Barchus DVM for tips and tricks on how to accomplish the feat. Check out Part 1 of the video series here. If you’ve ever contemplated air travel with your cat, this promises to be a must-see. And, don’t forget to enter your guess of how many cocktails Snuzzy will need to buy for his fellow air travelers in the comments field of this post.
Snuzzy will have periodic WIFI airport access to see comments left for him, so please drop by Snuzzytown if only to leave a comment saying, “Dude, you rock.” Because Snuzzy really really really rocks.
Mom’s been on a plane when passengers seated next to her were traveling with small dogs, but never cats. We think it’s a true-cat lover who will go to such lengths to help his cat have a less-stressful flight (and fortunate to be able to bear the expense as well!). We’re a bit more concerned that Tailor may not transition well to life in the big city… But Snuzzy will probably figure that out too!
That guy is some sort of cat man. We need to get Mom a cat man like that. Only not one who’s moving anywhere.
Snuzzy deserves some sort of award after he endures 20 hours of flights with a cat in tow. We drive our mommy crazy on a ten minute drive to the vet, so 20 hours is very hard to imagine. I love your description of what it would be like to ride in an airplane cabin with your four cats. It’s probably fairly accurate, but very funny.
We were aware of the weekend cat move and Jan says she can’t even imagine spending 20 hours in a cramped plane with any one of us.
We watched Skeezix’s snake on a plane movie but we don’t get it. Maybe because we missed the original?
hey karen nicholz … dat wuz tmi wid regard to mi bes frend skeez.
duhr.
jh
[...] of the fall colors, and heading back to SF with Tailer, via Stockholm, tomorrow. A quick trip, but traveling with a cat is often like that. More updates to follow! Add this entry to your shared bookmark service These [...]
[...] of the fall colors, and heading back to SF with Tailer, via Stockholm, tomorrow. A quick trip, but traveling with a cat is often like that. More updates to [...]
thanks to all for the great comments–Tailer and I are spending a last night in Grythyttan, Sweden, before heading to Stockholm tomorrow. Then we fly to Paris, and then direct to SFO. It’s going to be a wild ride, but we’re looking forward to it. (I use “we’re” quite liberally, of course.) I’ll put pix up of Tailer’s pre-flight trip to the vet and his last couple days in Sweden on Snuzzy tomorrow and in-transit updates and video as I can.
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Snuzzy is one Pawsome Cat Dude! Mom completely understands and would do the same - no rides in cargo for her girls.
A few years ago Mom was in Palm Springs for a conference and rescued a feral kitten. She secretly kept it in her hotel room then bought a carrier that fit under the seat and brought it home on the plane with her (then she re-homed the kitten cuz we were not real happy having another cat around). Snuzzy better watch out - kitties in a carrier on a plane are real chick-magnets!!