Diabetic kitty traveling in the cargo hold

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Ariel and Hermes

Ariel and Hermes

Member Since 2023
Hello FDMB experts,

I am a new member of this message board. Our Ariel has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and I am hoping to draw from the enormous wealth of accumulated wisdom in these forums. Thank you all very much in advance!

We have some stressful situations going on because of our upcoming (permanent) relocation from USA to UK, and I'd love to get some advice on how best to prepare our cat for the journey. Unfortunately, due to UK regulations, Ariel will have to travel in the temperature-controlled cargo hold of the airplane. This means she will need to be separated from us for up to 20 hours, which is obviously making us very nervous.

Here is some background info:
  • Name: Ariel, Sex: Female spayed, Age: 7 years, Weight: 15.5 lbs
  • Recently diagnosed with diabetes (about a month), BG was 440 when initially diagnosed (animal calibrated number from the vet). She is currently given 2U of insulin glargine (Semglee) twice a day. She stays between BG of 100 and 250 for the most part (human meter) at the current dose. No history of ketone.
  • We intend to hold the current dose until we arrive in the UK, to avoid introducing more variables to this already stressful journey. Also, I note that Ariel still eats some dry food (Dr Elsey's) -- I'd say half/half wet and dry at the moment. We hope to transition her completely to wet food eventually, but at the moment I'm trying not to push her too much before the flight.
  • Ariel is otherwise healthy and playful. The only clinical sign we observe is mildly increased urination.
Now, if I understand correctly, the biggest risk we need to manage is somehow having her BG go too low while she is in the cargo hold with no one to help her. So the following is my tentative plan:
  • 2:30AM PT, Nov 28th -- Last insulin shot, 2U
  • 1PM PT, Nov 28th -- Last feeding, per airline regulations ("2 hours before kenneling")
  • 1PM-4PM PT, Nov 28th -- Test BG frequently and make sure that it's trending up (i.e. previous dose is wearing out)
  • 4PM PT, Nov 28th -- Drop off the kitties at the airline facility. Put lots of ice cubes in the bowl so the kitties have access to water throughout the flight.
  • 8:45PM PT, Nov 28th -- Takeoff
  • 7:15AM PT, Nov 29th -- Landing (I'm converting to pacific time for convenience). The kitties will be transported to the Animal Reception Centre and will be given food when they get there.
  • 10AM-12PM PT, Nov 29th -- Pick up kitties when they clear customs, feed, test BG and administer insulin as necessary
If there are expert members who have had similar experiences with traveling and/or fasting or otherwise have insights into this matter, I'd love to get your opinions! Please advise whether this plan is safe enough, and whether there is anything I can do to make it safer. To be clear, I note that her BG levels these days (100-250) are not remotely close to being in the hypo territory, but I am unsure what effect this extended fasting (~19 hours) will have on her BG levels during the flight.

Another point that mildly disturbs me is the depot nature of insulin glargine. My current plan puts Ariel's last insulin shot at ~13.5 hours before I drop her off with the airline. Is this OK or too aggressive? Do you think there is a risk from the remnants in the depot somehow driving her BG too low during the flight, especially given that she won't be eating for many hours?

Thank you for reading this very long question and I appreciate your guidance.
 
Are you by any chance home testing Ariel's blood sugars? If we can take a look at them, we might be able to suggest a dose that will keep her from dropping too low while you don't have access to her. People here use a common spreadsheet format, details in here: New? How You Can Help Us Help You! We'd need to only really see the last couple weeks of data.

I flew with Neko, but it was only a 5 hour flight, followed by a couple hour drive, and she was in the cabin with me. Most airlines say the pet has to be under 15 lbs, so even if you could have Ariel with you, that wouldn't work.

Are you testing Ariel for ketones? Or was she diagnosed with DKA or ketones when she got her diabetes diagnosis? Seeing ketones would have me more worried about skipping her shot.

I'm kind of surprised the airline doesn't have special regulations regarding diabetic animals. But it is what it is. I also had experience fasting Neko for procedure with anaesthesia, just once was I worried she was going lower and gave her a token dose. On my trip, she got her regular dose, cause I knew roughly what her blood sugars were going to do, and I would have access to her again close to her nadir. Some cats get stressed by travel, which will cause blood sugars to go up.

I see you are giving Semglee. It might be harder to get a Lantus/glargine prescription in the UK, as vets there are supposed to start diabetic cats with Caninsulin or Prozinc. Make sure you buy a good supply to take with you. When I travelled with Neko. I had a lunch size cooler with a gel pack, where I kept her insulin and other meds that needed to stay cool. If you haven't already, you might want to ask your vet for a letter describing Ariel's medical condition and medications needed. I found that made it easier going through customs. I was only away a week, but I still had a week's supply of syringes and blood sugar testing equipment with me, on carry on. With the cat and all her meds, I wanted to make sure nothing got delayed. All her stuff arrived on the flight with me, just my own checked in luggage got delayed. :rolleyes: Thankfully I had packed a toothbrush.

In Neko's carrier I had some pee pads lining the bottom, just in case, a fleece blanket she had been sleeping on and smelled like home, plus I rubbed the inside of the carrier with Feliway wipes. She also got some Rescue Remedy for Pets before going in the carrier. Plus I put in her favourite toy.

I am in Canada, and I have heard of airlines that specialize in pet travel, meaning they only carry animals, not humans. Just a thought if you haven't investigated that. They probably have more experience in carrying pets and maybe ones with medical conditions. The only issue might be arrival near the time you do.
 
First of all, thank you for your very thoughtful reply, Wendy! I really appreciate it. Thanks for all the general travel tips as well. I've heard about the difficulty of getting glargine prescribed in the UK. I expect to be able to take enough supply for 5-6 months at least, and hope that we will eventually be able to find a vet who's sympathetic..

Yes, I am home testing and I just created a spreadsheet for Ariel and put the link in my signature. It contains records from Nov 3rd onwards (prior to this date I was a lot less organized). Please have a look and let me know if you have any observations.

And also yes, it is sad that Ariel has to travel this way, but I'm told that for inbound commercial flights to the UK there really is no way around except for service dogs. And unfortunately I think there is not enough time for me to look into other options now, due to the tight time constraints I have with the new job I'm starting in the UK. I will need to make the current arrangement work as well as it can.

Lastly, ketones -- no, thankfully she did not have DKA or any ketones detected in her urine at the time of diagnosis. I have a human blood ketone meter that I used with Ariel a few times and it has always been negative so far. I think/hope the chances that Ariel will have ketosis during this flight are low. At least, she stayed in the 300-600 range for a whole week after the initial diagnosis but did not have a ketone problem.
 
I would definitely reduce her dose back to 1.75 units before the trip. That dose got her to 67, which is a bit too low for what we could call a "vacation" dose, or a dose where she can't be monitored. If you were following one of our dosing methods, and since you are feeding dry food, it would mean you'd have to use the Start Low Go Slow dosing method. Which also says to reduce the dose by 0.25 units if you see a number under 90. So that's a second reason to reduce to 1.75 units.

Good luck with the trip. Let us know how it goes. Too bad they didn't have service cats!
 
Thank you so much again for your advice! I will move her back to 1.75 units. I am hoping that after we get done with the move, we can transition her more aggressively to a wet food only diet and switch to the TR protocol.

Do you have any comments on my plan to administer her last insulin shot 13-14 hours before we drop her off? Does this sound like a good timing, or would there be reason to make that any earlier or later? To share some of my thought process, I was initially planning to give it 8-10 hours before the drop-off so she would still have some lingering effects from that dose for the earlier parts of the trip, but then it seemed to me that it's probably not worth the risk of a potential hypo situation while I don't have access to her. Am I thinking soundly here? Is the 14-hour separation large enough to ensure that the effects of insulin are sufficiently ramped down?
 
Check the regulations for flying with a cat to France. I have a very vague memory of someone (not on this forum) who flew USA-France then ? to the UK. Maybe flew. Maybe train. Maybe car. I can't remember.
 
Thank you for the ideas. As far as I know, it is the UK law that categorically prohibits the presence of animals in the cabin and it doesn't depend on the airline or the origin. The train (Eurostar) similarly doesn't allow any animals. I think it could be an option to fly to France and then drive from France to the UK, but this is unfortunately not a realistic option for me in my current circumstances.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Check the regulations for flying with a cat to France. I have a very vague memory of someone (not on this forum) who flew USA-France then ? to the UK. Maybe flew. Maybe train. Maybe car. I can't remember.
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Yes, I'm sure we had someone a few years go who flew to France with a cat in the cabin.
That would be much better than having your kitty in the hold for over 24 hours without food and insulin. That is not a good combination at all.
 
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I just read that great post that JL linked. I think I have read it in the past, but been a while! It did remind me of the harness. You can use Thunder Shirts, or I used a Kitty Holster harness, which also calms them down. Neko didn't meow once on the two flights.
 
Ariel and Hermes said:
As far as I know, it is the UK law that categorically prohibits the presence of animals in the cabin and it doesn't depend on the airline or the origin.
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This is completely accurate (I lived in the UK until 10 years ago when I moved to the US). It's a government regulation and exists because the UK (unlike most of Europe) is completely rabies-free. And they want to keep it that way. I'm not sure exactly how the regulation helps with that - you'd need someone in government to explain that part to you - unless it's in case an animal that is already infected but not yet symptomatic were to bite someone. As was already mentioned, your only other option would be to fly into somewhere in Europe and then either fly with her in cargo, or drive, to the UK. That flight could be as short as 1-2 hours though, so might work better for you if you have that as an option. Also, as you're coming in from a country where rabies is present, do make sure her vaccine is up to date and carry her vaccine certificate with you. You probably already know that, but if you can't prove she's not a risk she might be subject to a full 6-month quarantine - difficult with any pet, but terrifying with a diabetic. The UK likely also requires a rabies titer test to prove that the vaccine did something useful - certainly my 2 cats had the vaccine and then titer before leaving the UK (I'm still not entirely sure they needed the titer for Washington State, but it wasn't all that spendy and better safe than sorry).

One thing that I did want to mention that I saw people talking about in the linked travel threads is the use of sedatives. Most airlines now will not transport any animal that is obviously sedated. The reason for this is that all forms of sedation suppress the respiratory system to an extent, and the altitude of the plane suppresses it further. So the risk of a pet dying is significantly higher if they're sedated. Personally, I didn't think it was worth the risk - while cats do get stressed easily, when I brought my 2 (who were former ferals) with me, once the plane was in the air they simply settled down and slept through most of the journey. Their idea of stress is not necessarily the same as ours - while they're being physically moved around in their carrier, they're likely to stress. But once they're settled in the plane, they're likely to relax and sleep.
 
My deepest gratitude for everyone who chimed in with advice and useful links and information. And I apologize for the late update on my part. Life has been extremely hectic since we arrived. I had to start work almost right away and we are still trying to sort out our general living situation here.

Thankfully, this trip turned out to be quite uneventful for us. I ended up giving her last insulin dose at 4AM, which was about 12 hours before I dropped her off at the cargo facility (IAG Cargo). Food was cut off about 3 hours prior to the drop-off. Ariel and her brother Hermes stayed in their office for about 3 hours and then boarded the plane, all separately from us. Upon arriving at the gate, we double-checked with the airline personnel (British Airways) that our cats had boarded, and that the hold they would be traveling in was correctly pressurized and heated. Overall, the staff were very kind and helpful at every juncture, which helped to ease our minds a little bit.

The flight took about 10.5 hours, and upon arrival I called my UK customs clearance agent who was able to confirm that Ariel and Hermes had arrived safely. It seems that with British Airways, pets are the first "cargo" to be unloaded and they are transported immediately to a nearby "animal reception centre". Upon arrival, I was told, they take out the animals from the kennels and put them in larger individual pens where they can stretch a bit and have access to food, water, and litter boxes. Customs took about 3 hours to clear, and we were finally reunited with the cats roughly 19 hours after we dropped them off. Fortunately they were both in great condition and showed no clear sign of distress. It seemed that they had urinated during the flight though, and we had to clean them a bit before heading home.

Ariel was obviously very happy to see us and kept meowing at full volume. How relieved we were to see her! We immediately checked her BG and it was ~190, which was not so bad given that she had spent ~1.5 cycles without insulin by that time. We fed her and administered her usual dose at the animal reception centre before leaving. We had been worried that the trip might cause them some sort of trauma, but our cats were perfectly happy and even playful the moment we arrived at the hotel. :)

So we are very very grateful that this trip basically worked out as well as we could have hoped for. Do I recommend it to others? Hell no! We were both nervous wrecks the entire time, and I swore to myself a thousand times that I would never do this again. Whenever possible, pets should always travel by their owner's side. Unfortunately I had some very tough time constraints for my new job, and what I found out in that limited time was that Ariel (16 lbs) and Hermes (19 lbs) were both simply too big to travel in the cabin according to most airlines, including the non-UK ones.
 
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