Plane crazy about pets

ledger-enquirer ^ | June 7, 2009 | Chris Johnson

[smokingfrog]

If you’re a golden retriever who loves to travel, you’ve no doubt heard about Pet Airways, the new airline that caters to pets — “A Pet Airline where pets fly in the main cabin, NOT in cargo!” its Web site yells at you.

Of course, if you’re a golden retriever, you’re probably more likely to be peeing on my column than reading it, so I’ll speak to the human pet owners out there — assuming they’re not peeing on my column.

As a pet owner who is strongly considering putting his dog on a one-way flight next time she drags a dead opossum into our driveway, I’m intrigued.

I’ve heard that flying as cargo can be a bit unsettling for typical household pets such as cats, dogs and walruses. When my stepmom flew with her old, ornery Siamese cat to Seattle a decade ago, Louie apparently became quite unsettled. And the results of the unsettling settled all in his fur. She took Louie into the airport bathroom to try to clean him up and folks rushed out of there faster than I would if ex-Sen. Larry Craig were tapping his foot in the next stall. They wound up taking Smelly Cat to some pet superstore where they went into disaster mode and called in reinforcements. The governor even sent in the National Guard. OK, I’m exaggerating — it was actually an elite pack of Cub Scouts.

The airline is for pets only, so don’t think you’ll be riding next to Fido. They will have pet attendants, potty breaks and basically be treated like a bunch of humans on a plane — except they’ll be called “pawsengers.” Seriously.

[smokingfrog]

[Mr Ramsbotham]

We have yet to hit economic rock-bottom.

[Rhinoceros]

My 25lb Jack Russell fights at his leash to take on a 100lb Rottweiller. I leave him at the vets for a teeth cleaning, the poor guy is singing one long soprano. That place is yer literal hell to most any dog. Anything they do at the Vet to relax the poor guys is Great news to me.

[Sarah Barracuda]

My sister’s dog Nemo is getting his teeth done on Thursday. Kinda nervous about him doing it. They are gonna sedate him, make him kinda woozy but still worried about him. When your dog had his teeth done, are there any complications to worry about or is it pretty simple

[LukeL]

Just put a valium in a dog treat then he won’t freak out in cargo.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Hildy]

don’t fret...I get my dogs’ teeth done like that all the time..no problemo!

[Rhinoceros]

Sorry for the late reply. There’s always a small danger in putting anything under, but I assume it’s a very small risk or they wouldn’t do it at all. My dog was fine.

I’ll add that when I picked him up at the vets that afternoon, he was running around fine, but he didn’t recognize me. He was still loopy. He wasn’t his normal self until the following morning.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Our dog Nemo had the procedure done today. Thank God he is alright. They first did some blood work on him to make sure he was Ok, then they gave him some morphine and this other drug. I think they gave him too much, he is just a little dog, well, when he got home, he was totally out of it, he walked around like he was drunk, wouldn’t drink water, he came to our house so that I can see him and he wouldn’t go over and play with his bone or any of his toys, like he had no idea what to do with toys or a bone. The most concerning part was the not drinking of water.
Well my sister called about an hour ago, she gave him some of his wet food with some water and he ate it, then he jumped up on her bed using the doggy steps.
Then he growled at the other dog they have, the second I heard that I knew he would be Ok..when Nemo growls, you know he is fine. Poor little guy, he was crying cause his teeth were hurting him. He had gingivitis pretty bad on his gums so they gave him medication to prevent infection. So I guess it hurts him, like it would hurt a human who gets their teeth cleaned. I am just glad that both of our doggies are both alright. Thanks for writing me back