Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Make sure your pet is ready for vacation trip
A visit to the vet and a few practice drives can ease fears
They don’t talk your ear off, fight for the armrest, put their seat too far back or incessantly ask when you’re going to get there.
And that’s why so many of us love to take our dogs and cats along with us when we hit the road or take to the skies for vacation.
According to a survey by AAA, more than half of pet owners would take their dogs and cats on every trip if they could. The increasing number of pet-friendly hotels and restaurants found across the country indicates that traveling with pets is “a very popular thing to do and it’s also a growing industry,” notes Cynthia Harris, spokeswoman for AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah.
While many people do fly with their pets, it’s likely that most pets join their owners for road trips, Harris says, and dogs are our most common traveling companions.
Dr. Scott Bradley of The Ark Animal Clinic, 1651 N. Rancho Drive, says many of his clients travel with pets. Among them are people who take their dogs “on camping trips and road trips to visit the family, things that are not necessarily a long-haul type of thing. We have a lot of clients that like to cruise around in the summer in RVs.”
According to AAA, among owners’ biggest concerns about vacationing with pets are finding businesses that allow pets, learning about airlines’ pet-related policies and finding services the pets may need while on the road. But valley veterinarians say a little pre-departure planning can help to minimize the chances of pet-related travel complications and make getaways good for both pet and owner.
Bradley says a traveling pet owner’s primary focus should be to ensure that their animals travel safely and, then, to “try to minimize stress and make it fun for them.”
Begin by making sure the animal is up for the trip physically. Visit the vet for a checkup and, while there, ask for a health certificate if you’re traveling by plane or even just planning to drive to another state.
Dr. Travis McDermott, hospital director of Durango Animal Hospital, 3615 S. Durango Drive, says that, under federal law, “any animal transported across state lines is supposed to have a health certificate.”
And while it’s unlikely that anyone will stop a vacationing motorist to check a dog’s or cat’s papers, just about every airline will require a certificate before accepting a pet for transport, McDermott says. “And we do a lot of international ones as well.”
Make sure the animal’s vaccinations are up to date and ask the vet if any other pre-departure health measures are necessary. For example, dental problems, such as abscesses, and ear infections can cause pain to animals because of air pressure changes associated with flying, Bradley says.
Animals traveling to locations outside Southern Nevada als0 may be at risk from conditions they don’t necessarily face at home.
For example, “we’re pretty much blessed not having to deal muchwith insects” and diseases caused by ticks, mosquitoes and fleas, Bradley says. “But many parts of the country have a lot of insect-related diseases, and doing what we can to prevent those ahead of time is very important.”
If flying, call the airline well ahead of your departure to find out about its policies. Airlines typically have size limits for animals that fly in a plane’s cabin, regulations about transporting pets in a plane’s cargo hold, and temperature-and-time policies that may force pet owners to choose an earlier flight, a later flight or flights with short layovers.
McDermott says he knows of no patients who have experienced “any major issues” associated with flying with a pet. He notes, too, that while the cargo holds in which pets fly generally are pressurized, they’re not monitored. That means pets who already are experiencing a health issue of some sort can be put at risk.
A pet’s breed can rule out its flying. Some airlines, for example, don’t accept short-nosed dogs or cats for travel in a cargo hold because of the respiratory problems such animals can be subject to.
“A lot of airlines will not allow dogs that have smushed faces — bulldogs and pugs, Persian cats — and won’t let them (fly) because they have a rough time with heat and oxygen,” McDermott says.
Pets, like pet owners, can suffer from motion sickness, McDermott says, so talk with your vet if that has been a problem in the past. Also discuss with your veterinarian the pros and cons of sedating a pet before a flight.
“I always encourage people where we can to not sedate them,” McDermott says.
Bradley agrees. “I prefer not to sedate them because if there’s a problem, they may not have their wits about them,” he says.
“There are some really good holistic-type mood alterers,” Bradley adds. “They’re not sedatives, per se, but these kind of holistic products have tryptophan or something like that that will help to just calm them without (depressing) their mental faculties.”
McDermott says, too, that “we’ve had some people tell us lately that some of the airlines will ask if a dog is sedated and, if it is, they won’t let the dog go on the plane.”
To prevent accidents while traveling, “you definitely don’t want to load them with water,” McDermott says, and pack a few of the pet’s favorite toys to make them feel at home. If driving, make regular rest stops to let a pet stretch its legs and work off some energy.
If a dog isn’t accustomed to car trips, take it on a few shorter trips during the weeks before departure. “I always tell people if you’re going to drive for a long time, take them driving around town the weekend before,” McDermott says. “Make a longer trip to Lake Mead. Go up to Mount Charleston.”
Inside the car, keep cats in carriers and dogs in a harness. According to AAA, an estimated 30,000 accidents each year are caused by drivers being distracted by their pets.
“With dogs and cats, obviously some people let them roam around and it’s better not to do that,” McDermott says, while keeping an animal securely harnessed or crated also will protect it in case of an accident.