I am taking my dog home with me to Canada. The total flight time including connections is 20 hours and 37 minutes. (Stop in Japan and Chicago)
What advice would you have for how to take care of him reguarding food and water and his kennel. My questions include:
Should I feed him (I kind of feel that I shouldn’t. He should be ok for a day without food)
Should I give him water and if so how and when?
What should I put on the bottom of his kennel?
Do you think he will pee during the flight?
Any advice on how to reduce his stress during the flight.
Any advice from people who have gone through the process would be greatly appreciated. I have already taken care of all the paperwork so that is in order.
[quote=“Lo Bo To”]I am taking my dog home with me to Canada. The total flight time including connections is 20 hours and 37 minutes. (Stop in Japan and Chicago)
What advice would you have for how to take care of him reguarding food and water and his kennel. My questions include:
Should I feed him (I kind of feel that I shouldn’t. He should be ok for a day without food)
Should I give him water and if so how and when?
What should I put on the bottom of his kennel?
Do you think he will pee during the flight?
Any advice on how to reduce his stress during the flight.
Any advice from people who have gone through the process would be greatly appreciated. I have already taken care of all the paperwork so that is in order.[/quote]
When I got my dog (from Australia), he came in a wooden crate with shredded newspaper on the floor. He had obviously peed during the flight, as the newspaper was pretty sodden, but he did not poo, so although he smelled pretty bad, he wasn’t disgusting. When we brought him home, we gave him small amounts of food, which he ate heartily, but it wasn’t until the third day! that he actually was able to move his bowels. I’d guess starving him for the day before the flight would be the best thing, but I’m not really sure.
Not something I’ve done before, so I’m speaking off the top of my head. I assume it’s pretty traumatic for an animal to travel such a long distance in an unfamiliar environment. A sedative with a long half-life, possibly?
[quote=“Lo Bo To”]I’ve read that sedatives can be a bit risky cause of how the dog might react to it at a high altitude.
I wonder if giving him no water might be the best so he doesn’t pee on himself. Surely 24 hours without water will be ok no?[/quote]
Who cares if he pees on himself? You can always give him a bath when you get to Canada. Dehydration is too risky - don’t muck with your dog’s health.
I’ve done this a few times. I’ve always made sure to keep the dogs awake as much as possible the night before and let them run a lot before getting on the airplane. If the dogs are just plain tired (maybe that should be plane tired) they shouldn’t need sedatives to sleep. I have always given them a water bottle and they have never peed in the cage. They were all Tugous with bladders of steel though.
My two cats didnt pee or poo on their 11 hour flight to the USA in the cargo hold of a 747. They didnt drink any of the water in their water bottles either. They arrived quiet and relaxed and seemingly unbothered.
I think its a recommendation if not a requirement that each animal be in its own cage and has a water bottle.
As per the recommendations on the BARK website BARK-Taiwan.org [quote]RECOMMENDATIONS:
1.Give your pet some time, a few weeks prior to departure, to get used to the crate and using the water bottle. Don’t use a water dish as the water will spill during the flight.
2.We recommend that you purchase a medium weight pet coat to keep your pet comfortably warm on its journey.
3.Also recommended is to lay down absorbent nappies (can purchase at pet stores and pharmacies) so your pet does not lay in its urine. Because there are usually different segments of flights it’s recommended that you lay down several nappies, some covered in a plastic bag, for each segment of the flight.
4.Don’t feed your pet anything for 6- 8 hours prior to departure. There are good chances that your pet will get sick if it has any food in its stomach. It’s better to let them fast for the entire flight including all segments. [/quote]
Sedatives are not recommended except in extreme cases.
Good luck!
I gave him food at about 3pm and water up until we left (My flight was at 10am the next day after a 3 hour ride in a van)
I watched the assclowns load him onto the airplane in Taoyuan and they half dropped him when trying to put him on the ramp :fume:
I had a stopover in Chicago for 4 hours where I had to pick him up. He had pooed in his cage and was quite a mess. The guy in Chicago at the oversized baggage said I had to clean him up or they wouldn’t accept him so I had to go to the bathroom and clean him and his cage with papertowel (enter gagging sounds here)
Picked him up in Toronto and he was quite shaken but he’s doing well now.
