The Wirecutter Show Episode 12: Traveling with Pets

MEL: They be eating that Italian tuna under the Tuscan sun. They couldn’t get enough of it, but they did not appreciate the journey, I will tell you that. If you have a cat, you’re loading them into a carrier. If you have a dog, you usually just walk them through the airport. And so, the thing you have to do first is you have to remove a cat from the carrier to go through security. So, that is the first challenge. And you have to remove them and carry them through the metal detector with you while their bag goes through the X-ray machine on its own. That is one of the more treacherous moments for human and cat alike, I think. You can get scratched, you will be covered in fur. It will just be upsetting, unless you just have the rare, very chill cat who doesn’t care. And then I think just keeping them in their carrier, making sure they know that everything’s okay. You can spray some of these pheromone analogs that are on the market, a FELIWAY is one of the most famous ones.
CHRISTINE: And you can just get that on Amazon?
MEL: Yeah, you can get that and at Chewy, Amazon, Petco, all the retailers, it’s everywhere. And so, they make diffusers, which you’re not going to bring with you because it’s a plugin, you can buy the spray. Your mileage may vary on that kind of thing. Some cats just don’t respond to it all. And if I have a long time before boarding I will go to wherever the quietest place is. If I have to be at the gate, I will find a corner where there’s not a ton of foot traffic. I mean, I don’t know how much that does for them, but it does a little bit. There’s so much stimulus that they’re freaking out. If you have a particularly anxious animal, you can ask your vet, as always, to see if they want to prescribe something.