Travelling with 4 cats...

by S:

Long before we booked our flights we read all of the traveling with pets information on the WestJet website and found that on any of the WestJet flights they only take 3 pets (regardless of size) in the hold - so we knew that one of our 4 cats would be going on the plane with us. When we originally booked our flights there was only 2 spots available in the hold - so we booked 2 in the cabin, 2 in the hold. Then we began our search for compliant carriers for the cabin cats. What an undertaking! The carriers had to squish down to 8.5" so that they would fit under the seat in front of us. The carriers we already had for them had a solid support bar at the top so they didn't comply to the regulations. L found carriers online that looked like they would comply, but when we received them they had the rigid bar at the top as well. Long story short - we went through a number of different carriers before finding Dogline which have airline approved carriers (not all airlines have the same regulations/requirements so it's best to double & triple check) We didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the carriers for the cats in the hold - they were easier to find BUT they also have structural requirements.

One thing we learned with my poor Teddy being so freaked out - take absorbent pads for the carriers and/or crates just in case the animals void in their carriers and need to be changed. Cannot say enough good things about WestJet and the care they took with our babies.