[SoarsieD]

Hello everyone,

For those of you whose pets have traveled before, please help !

My dog will be traveling on an airplane for 4 and a half hours. He will be under-cabin (as cargo), and although Continental has an animal-team that monitor their pet-travelers and are reputed to be the top in animal-transporters, I am still unsure of whether or not to sedate my dog. He is a big dog, a doberman mix, and is around 2 years old.

Many things I have read say that I SHOULD give him some form of sedative, and many things say that I should NOT. I would hear some of your opinions on the matter if possible, and maybe some personal experiences regarding this.

If you could help me, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks so much ,
S

[Sidney]

When my family set off on a road trip my mother and I sedated our two large dogs.

Sedating for a plane trip, it might be a good idea because of the stress your dog will be under. I would consult your vet on how and what you should do to insure a safe trip for your dog since it's only two years.

[Daisy]

Hello there! I have not had to take my dogs on an airplane yet, but I did have to bring my two cats from Germany to the US. I wanted to sedate them, but my vet highly advised me against it. It had something to do with them vomiting and choking on it. I wish that I could remember exactly what he said about it. I do remember him saying that sedating a dog where you can watch them and sedating them, then putting them in an unsupervised location, are two different things. OH! And there was also something about them not being able to regulate their body temperature correctly.

Honestly, there's nothing better than a vet's advice when it comes to stuff like this. Most will even answer your questions over the phone and you won't have to worry about paying for a vet visit.

[DoggieVogue]

Yes as Daisy said, consulting your vet is the best way to go on this issue. I would recommend a mild sedative but no matter what you'll have to go through your vet for the prescription so it's best to talk to him/her about it extensively before making a decision. I wish you the best of luck, I've heard that plane travel can be one of the most stressful things for a dog so I hope it goes well for you and yours.

[Sophie45]

I agree-definitely a conversation to have with your vet. Maybe also looking into Benadryl-I have heard that a lot of people give their dogs Benadryl for long car rides or stressful situations, because it makes some dogs sleepy (not my dog-but I've heard it works very well for some dogs) and Benadryl is quite well tolerated by most dogs-but I would STILL recommend asking your vet about Benadryl.

Also, if you do decide to sedate, I would ask your vet about doing a 'trial run' first before the flight, when you're going to be around them for several hours just to see how they will react.

Good luck!

[Yogi]

Also note that airlines will require a health cert. This is obtained from a vet. It will need a physical and the form has only a limited number of days which it is good for. At that time you can talk with the vet about the pros and cons of sedating the dog for travel.