Bringing Pets

I used a soft-sided carrier. It fit under the seat, but it gave my kitties comfort when I put it on my lap, they were more "connected".

While at your Miami layover, get a one day pass to the admirals club (the one inthe d30 gates, not the d15 gate). Then ask the desk for a shower room to shower. Get your shower room and let the kitty out for 30 mins or so (time limit on showers). Bring some flushable kitty litter in case the cat needs to go to the bathroom. The shower rions are pretty decently sized. Just don't tell the front desk or the shower attendant what you plan on doing in there 😉

i brought my cat from miami, he did very well. i would not recommend letting your cat out at all. the cat might escape and get lost in the terminal. you could have your cat lightly sedated. our cat was in the crate all day and did very well. the only time we had to take him out was at the scanner/security area. our cat did not need sedation. he did not make a single noise the whole trip.

Thats why I said the shower rooms at the Admirals club. They are completely enclosed. No gap under the door, no holes in the walls. No exposed pipes, ductwork...Nothing. There is absolutely no way a cat could get out of the room and escape. I've travelled multiple times through Miami with cats and done this with complete success. Before I did it the first time, I thoroughly checked out the room to make sure the cat couldn't escape.

stxem, your post was not there when i posted. Sorry

Thanks for all the info! We will probably get a harness and leash if we do decide to let them out. I have a year to train my cat and get her use to a crate and traveling. I hope by then she can survive an 11 hour trip. And I have heard that sedation is a bad idea so I'm glad to hear that it really isn't necessary. Once our cat is in her crate now, as long as she doesn't see anything she doesn't make a sound.

Thanks again for the help!

There was no way we could have brought our cat if we hadn't sedated him. He slept it off for a full day afterward, and I do feel bad that we had to do it, but he would have been howling and screaming the whole way! No amount of training was going to change the fact that he hates traveling. Good luck!

The flight day was tough on my puppy, but all the coconuts to chew on and a yard have made it up to her. She couldn't be happier. I need to foster a second dog and she'll really be happy.