How to Travel Internationally with Cats: Part 1 To Italy

Moving to Italy with Cats

You would be surprised at how many people (Americans and Brits) I met in Italy that had traveled there with their cats or left their beloved kitties home and went alone. Moving to Italy with cats is tricky but possible. Here are the materials you will need:

1. A cat or two older than 6 weeks

Why are you looking at me?

yawwwwwwwwn........

good yawn. back to......s l e e p. ahhhh 17 hr. naps are my jam.

2. An international microchip in the kitty. This is the size of a kernel of rice. This is the identification for Mr. Cat. It will go on every single document that will bring kitty to Italy. If Kitty gets lost this microchip can be scanned from outer space and they will locate the missing feline.
3. A sturdy plastic crate that meets International Animal Transportation Regulations.  I got these two medium dog ones from PetSmart.

They were meant for bull dogs and my Maine Coons are big ol'boys. Bentley is 49 inches from nose to tail so the cat carrier was teeny-tiny for him.

•     It should be a size bigger than you think your cat needs. 
• Kitty will need enough space to stand up, turn around and sit strait comfortably
• The crate needs to have "bumpers" on the side so that if the wall of the crate moves against the wall or luggage the kitty will still have some air coming in
• Windows on at least 3 sides
• A door with a spring latch so smart kitty won't know how to escape
• Zip ties that will go on each corner of the crate and all around the door. This is to prevent that the crate falls apart in case it falls...

4. A travel kit to help kitty stay comfortable. I got my kit from www.dryfur.com and it came loaded with everything I needed to travel with the Kitties. Mine had this:

• Pee pad to soak up any puddles kitty might make on the long trip
• Two food containers: one with frozen water that will de-freeze during the long trip and keep kitty hydrated and the other filled with food.
• Large "LIVE ANIMAL" signs that will stick to all the sides of the cage
• Arrows that will indicate which direction to put the crate. You don't want kitty flipped around.
• An external bag for extra food. This is good in case your plane gets laid over for a loooong time (as it happened to us) or worse: if your kitty gets displaced from your plane.
• An external bag for copies (not originals) of documents. You will have lots of fun documents to transport live animals internationally. This is the fun part. Oh, the best part is trying to convince kitty to take pills at the vet and seeing him fight. "Really, I am doing this so we can stay together!!!!" If the cat could talk, oh the curse words you would get...

5. Documents to import a cat to Italy. 

      Ok, this is really vague. You see, I was super careful planning our trip and began 6 months in advance getting the kitties shots and immunizations. Then when we arrived in Milano Malpensa the cats were dropped off an no one cared at all about their health records. Nevertheless, it could happen that some official at the border would want to go over each detail so this is what you would need.

• OK to fly by veterinarian. The MOST important thing you need is a small letter from your veterinarian no more than 14 days old stating that the cat is in good health to fly. The airline will check this. The vet will also need to indicate the weather that the kitty can tolerate. Cats will not be accepted on airlines if the departing or arriving temperatures are higher than 76 F or lower than 42 F. 
• Veterinary Certificate to EU. This PDF document needs to be printed months before the trip. Go over it carefully with your vet to make sure you have it all filled out and that Mr. Cat has had all of his shots and blood work.
• Pictures of cat. It is important to include a picture of the cat: one in the document bag with the microchip number and one with you along with all original documents.

Now for the fun part. Here is how to more or less prep your cat to go to Italy.

1. Talk to your cat. Let him know that you are going to move and that he will need to cooperate if he wants to stay with you. Old cats can do this. Mine were 10 and we made a deal that they had to live at least 5 more years to make it count. 

We can do this, Bentley. Really we can!

I promise to feed you more if you play along.

2. Introduce cat to travel box. At first they will hate the thing and do jumping jacks to avoid it. Just leave the door open with some food inside and they will go in on their own terms. The cats curiosity when left alone never fails. These pictures were taken over 3 years ago when they first met their crate. Pardon the mess, I was moving internationally after all.

What is this? I bet I can fit.

Cozy.

Maybe if I fight with the sale tag it will fight back.

It grows! Look at that! 9 foot ceilings now. I am going to live the good life!

Who is that stranger in my crate?

To be nice or to attack?

Surprise swats! Fatty is here to STAY.

Mah crib. 

Fatty fell in love with his crate.

Tempting them with food always works. Let them discover it.

3. Train cat over 6 week span.

    Put kitty in travel box in one hour increments at first with treats. Then two hour, then three. Never forget the treats. Do this till you can cage them overnight in a dark place. This simulates the total darkness of the plane. They will feel safe with their cage if they are familiar with it being their bed and not some scary cold box. 

4. Buy extra food (2 week supply) to take with you.

One 2 lb bag is enough for 2 cats.

Food always works

When you arrive mix new food with the food you brought to slowly move kitty to eating their new Italian food. This is important because there will be so many changes all at once that kitty might get sick from stress and stop eating. Ween the cat. 

5. Call airline(s) before booking your ticket to make sure they accommodate kitty below deck with luggage. We flew with American Airlines because they accept flying internationally with pets. Other airlines do not accept pet travel internationally at all.

6. DO NOT choose a flight that changes over in London. England does not have rabies and will put down any animal that enters their boarders. Germany will do the same if your cat looks weird. 

7. Call your vet  (at least 4 months in advance) and make a phone apt. Let your vet know what you are up to and see if he is up to doing this with you. You need a patient vet to go through this.

8. Put labels on the cats crate so you don't forget or do them wrong when it comes time to leave.

Hearts never hurt. I figured it would make the kitty look cuter in the case he was howling like a dog.

9.Book your flight.

10. Pack for yourself and remember to leave some weight allowance in your luggage for kitties food (2 lbs).

11 Three days before flight: check the weather and call airline to confirm that they know kitties are coming.

12. Two days before flight: sleep in old t-shirt for the next two days.

13. Night before flight: Freeze water for kitties and fill their food bowl. Hide said food bowl from cat to prevent fat cat devouring the entire thing. 

14. Day of flight: cut old t-shirt in two and put one in each cage for kitty to smell you, take food and water away three hours before flight. Put frozen water and food in cage right before leaving. Zip tie the doors to the cage.

At the airport introduce kitty situation before checking your luggage. You might have to x-ray your cat. They cats like it though. More than likely they will be curious about the entire thing. Say goodbye to kitty in a normal way and go to your gate. 

I am a nervous anxious cat owner so I wanted the flight attendants to make sure that they knew cats were on board with the luggage. Most of them had pets so were totally understanding and went to check that the cabin for the cats was pressurized so they could breathe, and that the kitties were securely fastened with belts on their cages to prevent crashing and movement during turbulence. 

When we arrived in Milano Malpensa the kitties were in their cages just as curious as anything and not shocked at all about the flight. The humans on the other hand? Oh, we were like a Russian circus team juggling a mountain of luggage, carry-ons, two GIANT animal cages and of course our passports. But the kitties? They were as cool as a polar bears toe tails. Neither of them peed during the 20 hour trip, nor did they eat anything. They were both just like "Dude.....that was the longest we have been in the cage. Did you see the cute flight attendants that said 'ciao micho'?" Not one immigration official checked their documents. They just looked at the cats and were like whatever, cats. It annoyed me because I put so much effort to doing everything right and they didn't even look at the documents. The cats looked at me fiddling with their very important documents were like "You are the one overreacting over this. We are just cats. Chill out..." In the end, the kitties traveled great and the most important thing I learned was to make them comfortable with their crate. During their first weeks in their new home both would go and take naps in their crate because it was familiar to them. Loud noises? Escape to the crate. 3 year old visitor tormenting petting them? Dash to the crate. It remained their "bed" till we moved back to the US. And that was much simpler.