Traveling with Animals

My greatest worry about moving to Venice hasn't been the moving of stuff but of my furry family members, Abigail and Jasper.

Jasper in the Carrier

Abigail looking confused

Jasper, I'm sure, will be fine in a box surrounded by boxes in the hold of the plane. He's a brat like that. Abigail, however...not so much. Abigail is terrified of loud noises.

 Let me explain: While I was at Pennsic, my Mom took care of Abby. Of course, my parents are huge Game of Thrones fans. Being huge Game of Thrones fans, they were watching the new episodes while I was at Pennsic. Quickly, Mom discovered that Abigail is *terrified* of dragons. The second the dragons came on, she would tuck her head into Mom's elbow and shake. It got so bad, according to Mom, Abigail started to hiccup! Have you ever heard of a dog being so terrified of something on TV that they started to hiccup?!? So yes, Abigail is terrified of dragons. Personally, I believe it's an understandable fear. I mean, to a baby dragon, Abigail is a roast your own chicken nugget.

 Anyway, here I am about to take Abigail on board a mechanical dragon. I finally got my flight information sorted and I'm allowed to take her on the plane, in cabin. (She fits into one of the soft sided sherpa carriers easily). I will be with her the entire time because I honestly don't think it would be kind to put her in the cargo hold. ...Then there is Jasper. Putting a cat in a box surrounded by boxes may be cruel only in the sense of putting a kid in a candy store and saying you can't have anything other than the jelly beans. It's not terrifying.

 However, United is now telling me that they won't allow pets in the cargo hold to Venice. Umm...what? I was not told this at any point when I started calling up and asking 20 million questions to make sure that, when I booked, myself and my fur family members could all move to Italy easily. Sure, Abby is fine in cabin but they only allow 1 animal per a person. .... I've emailed United to see if there is anything they can do to get Jasper to Venice with me rather than forcing me to book a separate booking with another agency just for him. (The guy on the phone said that British Airways and KLM will do it. I don't think he understood the problem. I want my animals on the same flights I'm on, darn it!) Luckily, there is time to get this sorted. Not much, but I'm hoping and praying that Jazz will be my checked baggage while I carry Abigail on board with me.

Since I'm carrying Abigail onboard, I've been getting her used to the soft sided carrier. She's okay with it - she'll sniff it and let me put her in it. However, she finds it a bit embarrassing. She'll make dramatic sighs while in it and only do half hearted barks at people she sees while inside the carrier. It's all very teenager angst-y and hilarious.

I took Jasper in the carrier today because I had to take them to get microchipped. If anyone is worried about getting their animals microchipped, don't be. According to Abigail's wagging tail, it doesn't hurt in the least. Jasper was far more upset about everything - but he also had to get his rabies vaccination so I think that didn't help at all. He whined, profusely, from the backseat on the way over to the vet. Not a peep out of him on the way back. The vet thinks that the shot scared him straight. Lol! He was fine when I let him out of the carrier when we got home. Correction: He was fine when we got home. Even still in the carrier, the second he saw where we were, he because to whine again. He was not pleased that I waited until we were inside to let him out of the carrier. However, he did demand pets almost immediately so, clearly, not traumatized.

Hopefully, I can get the Jasper situation resolved quickly so I can move both my furballs to Italy with me. Next on the list, selling the stuff! Anyone who needs fabric, you need to come to Greenbelt, MD labor day weekend.