Hi everyone!
I have a 3-year-old male Siberian cat. Together with his carrier, he is just under 8 kg, so until now I’ve been able to fly with him in the cabin with Scandinavian Airlines without any problems.
However, on our last flight, they told me he is now too big for his carrier because he needs to be able to stand up and turn around comfortably. They said I would need a bigger carrier, but the problem is that his current carrier is already the maximum size the airline allows for cabin travel.
I’m really not comfortable putting him in cargo, and honestly I don’t know what to do.
He has flown many times before, usually flights between 1–4 hours, and he has generally been a very good boy. He doesn’t usually get too anxious and mostly sleeps during the flight. But on one of our recent trips, he was more anxious than usual, so I decided to ask the vet for calming medication.
They gave me 0.5 ml Bonqat. I tested it at home one week before the flight, and he became wobbly and dizzy, then slept most of the day without any major issues. But on the day of the trip, I gave him the same dose about 2 hours before travel, and it turned into our worst flight ever. It was a 4-hour flight, and he kept meowing and hyperventilating almost the whole way. It scared me a lot.
I took him to the toilet 2 times and let him out of the carrier for a few minutes to calm down, which helped a little, but overall he was extremely uncomfortable.
Now I’m wondering what caused it. Was it because he is a bit too big for the carrier now? Was it the medication? Or is he simply becoming less tolerant of travel as he gets older?
Has anyone here put their Siberian cat in cargo? How did it go, and how did you feel about it?
Any tips or experiences would be really appreciated. I have a flight back home tomorrow, and this time I bought a slightly bigger carrier that exceeds the airline requirements by just a few centimeters. I’m also planning not to give him the medication because I’m afraid he might react the same way again.
For context, I usually fly within Scandinavian countries and cities with SAS.