Surely you don’t take a cat on holiday?!

[mnahmnah]

I’m sat in departures at the airport and a woman has an actual car in a carry case.

1. why would you want to take your cat on holiday?!
2. how do the practicalities work when you get there with the cat - does it stay in the hotel room?!
3. the cat is meaowing constantly. It can’t be happy?!
4. what about fellow passengers who have cat allergies?!

My friend brings his cat sailing with him.

within Europe/Turkey (maybe Nirth American but I don’t live there) everyone travels with their small dog or cat in the plane-people we know choose the breed so it will always be carry on size. It’s only the U.K. that this doesn’t happen so we are always surprised. The pets are often given a sedative and I’ve never seen or heard much from them as you might expect…except for my brother’s cat but that is another story!

It was a long time ago but was once on a plane with a lovely pooch and the owner was playing ball with it in the aisles during the flight. Doubt you’d get away with that these days.

And it never occurred to you that people might be flying for a reason other than a holiday?

My in-laws travel to and from their homes in France and the UK with their cat. They stay in each place for a month or two at a time and so the cat comes too!

I've got a ragdoll cat who doesn't really care where he is, just as long as he's with me. I'd happily take him on a holiday here in the UK but not on a plane. More so because, even if they did allow pets in the cabin, he's too flippin' big to fit in a normal sized carrier and would not appreciate going in the hold with the luggage. Now if they let him sit on my knee with his harness and lead...... 😂

I'm a member of a few ragdoll Facebook groups and it seems fairly common for people to take them on holiday with them. Ragdolls are often described as being quite 'dog like' in character (walking on lead, sociable, bonded to their owners, etc). I suppose it just depends on the individual cat. My other cat, a tuxedo moggie, hates being taken out of the house and would be like the cat in the op's post, constantly meowing, and just be terrified.

My little rescue cat was originally flown over from Seattle (American owner who came to UK, then surrendered her pets a couple of years later). I cannot imagine her being on a plane for so long, she's incredibly nervous - or perhaps that's why she is now nervous.

I take my cat on holiday, no different to a dog 😂

moving ? I moved from Canada to the U.K. with my cat and she stayed in her carrier with me while we flew .

As a previous poster said, allergens are everywhere. You also get dogs on trains for example. Years ago, I was in a van with a small group of people going to a sporting event. About 15 minutes after setting off, the driver started sneezing and coughing. The poor guy almost ended up having an asthma attack because my friend and I had just been to the stables giving our horses a cuddle and got some hair on our coats.
I'm afraid if you're that severerly allergic to anything, it's on you to always carry antihistamines / inhalers / etc and to let people you're travelling with / airlines / holiday rentals know in advance.

why not? people wouldnt think twice about people taking their dogs on holiday with them so why not cats

I am currently hosting a friends cat. Cat has been here before several times so knows the house and set up, indoor cat so I have to be vigilant about doors and windows. Currently cat is lurking under a small wardrobe which is its preferred place, comes out in the evening. After about a week it will come out during the day and glue itself either to the sitting room sofa to people watch or to the comfy chair in the kitchen to watch garden birds.

Depends in the cat and reason surely.

Some cats bond to people rather than places - ours have bonded to location so we have cat sitters as even catteries would stress one out in particular.

It's likely we'll have to move at some point in their lives and we don't drive so it will be working out least stressful way of doing that for them.

But you can't escape for some fresh air on an aeroplane

Is it on holiday, or could the cat be moving to a new home, say with family who live abroad (not that I think it's a good idea)?

Was it dressed like this?

If so it was possibly the pilot.

True, but you can let the airline know about a severe allergy so you're placed as far away as possible from any cats / other small pets (it's not exactly a mass phenomenon) travelling on board. If that and taking anti-allergy meds isn't good enough, you probably need to stick to carriers that don't allow animals at all. You might still end up sitting next to a pet owner with a bit of pet hair on their clothes, though.

People posting "what about dog allergies".....they tend not to be as severe as cat allergies.

I have to take antihistamines if I am in an enclosed space within 3 metres of anyone with cat dander on their clothing. (I will know that they have a cat within about 3 minutes)

If there was an actual cat under an airplane seat near me it would cause me significant breathing problems. It hasn't happened yet and I really hope it doesn't. But another good reason I am more than happy to continue to wear an FFP2 mask on planes.

I once took a rescue hedgehog to Centerparcs. He was too underweight to hibernate & there was nobody at home to feed him. <derails thread>

My feline overlord would insist on private jet only! Not a chance she would ruffle her fur with the hoi poli!

And if you sat next to me, you'd have an issue as my clothes are covered in cat hair generally. Should cat owners not go on planes?

Firstly, obviously you've no idea why she was travelling with her cat; she might not have been taking it on holiday and even if she was she might not have been staying in a hotel. Secondly, all cats are different and some are totally happy being taken on holiday anyway, as others have pointed out. Thirdly, if you have an allergy so severe that you will actually be endangered (rather than just a bit sneezy and uncomfortable) by a super common allergen present in a vehicle the size of a passenger plane, then it's your responsibility to discuss that with the airline when you book your seat and check whether your allergy can be accommodated.

DP gets bad hay fever and has found himself with streaming eyes, runny nose and a sore throat from sitting next to someone who was on the way back from a camping/hiking trip and whose clothes and rucksack was presumably covered in pollen, but he wouldn't dream of suggesting that was somehow the fault of the other passenger.

We ended up taking our rescue hamster on a Forest holiday with us once, he seemed to enjoy the change of scenery!

A pp has already mentioned it but..
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-62229602

@tralalom I personally don't have an allergy to cats. I was just making a point that some people are and so there needs to be give and take. It is a bit like people who refuse to not eat peanuts when told someone has a severe allergy. I love salted peanuts but can cope without them. Cats CAN go on the hold or be moved away from someone severely allergic.

However how much cat hair can you have on your clothes?I know plenty of people with cats and dogs. I have never noticed them covered in hairs. Sorry that is just an aside that means nothing!