good morning from finland, from a retired finnair stewardess, who flew for 34 years...meeting a lot of flying dogs...never a sedated one, healthy dogs need no sedation travelling.
as i knew we had a dog/s flying with us, i used to go outside and say hello to them and all i met were fine and just normal going/arriving.
wishing you all a lovely weekend.
ritva
Some of the sedatives out there can cause a lot of problems with thermoregulation (ability to regulate body temperature), which can be a problem when weather is warm on the ground or in cold temperatures up in the air. There can also be an entire array of side-effects that can occur, as with any drug, but especially with sedative drugs.
I don't give sedatives to animals who are flying. If they are crate-trained and used to traveling, they should be fine. If they aren't, then I probably wouldn't be flying them. JMHO.
You can't sedate a dog and ship it by air on any carrier that I have ever checked with. I had to sign a statement to that effect for The last dog I shipped, and I think for other dogs I've shipped it was the same thing. Flying feels like a car ride to a dog. They have no clue they are up in the air.
I recently shipped two puppies, one on Continental and one on Northwest and they will not ship if sedated. I believe Delta has the same policy. Both puppies did fine. Contineantl has a great "PetCare" program where there are attendants that tend to the animals, I was very pleased with both airlines. The puppy shipped via Norhtwest was shipped via their VIP program and I was impressed with it as I was Contineantal PetCare program.
