Cat Transport Services
Pet Travel Advisors is a door to door cat transport service. We handle domestic and international cat relocation across the United States and abroad, and the job covers the whole move: collection from your home, the right carrier or IATA crate, the airline booking and the cabin slot most airlines will not sell you online, the health certificate and its USDA endorsement where the destination requires one, and delivery at the other end.
Most cats are small enough to fly in the cabin, which makes a cat move simpler than a dog move and cheaper than a dog move. Where a cat is too large for the cabin, or the destination will not accept one, it travels in a temperature-controlled hold as checked baggage or manifested cargo. We handle both, we tell you honestly when you do not need us, and you can read what it costs to ship a cat first.
How Cats Travel
Size works in your favor here. Where a dog’s route is decided for you, most cats have a real choice. Here is what each option involves.
In Cabin
Where most cats travel. Your cat stays with you in a carrier under the seat in front. The cheapest route and the least disruptive one, limited only by carrier dimensions and by how many animals the airline allows in the cabin per flight.
Checked and Cargo
For cats that exceed cabin limits, for multi-cat households moving together, and for routes where the cabin is not offered. A pressurized, temperature-controlled hold and an IATA-compliant crate, booked separately from your own ticket.
Ground Transport
Door to door by road, for short and medium routes, for cats that do not tolerate airports, and where the timing suits a slower journey better than a faster one.
The Carrier Is the Whole Decision
For a cabin flight, the carrier is the only specification that matters, and it is checked at the gate rather than at booking. It has to fit under the seat in front, and the airline publishes the exact dimensions for that aircraft, not for its fleet. A soft-sided carrier gains you a little tolerance because it compresses; a rigid one does not.
For cargo, the crate has to meet IATA container requirements: ventilation on all four sides, a secure door, absorbent lining and dishes fixed to the door. Cats are escape artists in a way dogs are not, so the fastener detail matters more than people expect. We check the specific carrier or crate against the specific flight rather than against a general chart.
Moving More Than One Cat
Multi-cat households are common and they change the arithmetic. Airlines cap how many animals travel in the cabin on a single flight, usually a small number across the whole aircraft rather than per passenger, so two cats in the cabin can mean two bookings on the same flight or two different flights. That has to be settled before anyone buys a ticket.
Whether two cats may share one container depends on the airline, the destination and the cats themselves. Some carriers allow two compatible animals of similar size in one approved container, others require one each regardless of how well they get along, and some destinations have their own view. We confirm it for your specific route rather than assume, because the place this gets discovered is the check-in counter.
Where cats travel separately, we keep them on the same routing wherever the booking allows, so they arrive together and go home together.
Rabies-Free Destinations Set Their Own Calendar
Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Japan are rabies-free or rabies-controlled, and they protect that status with rules that have nothing to do with airlines. A FAVN or RNATT titer test at an approved laboratory, a waiting period counted from the day the lab receives the sample rather than from the day you book, and paperwork that has to reach the destination authority before the cat does.
The waiting period is the part that surprises people. It is measured in months, not weeks, and it cannot be shortened by paying more or by asking earlier. A cat moving to one of these destinations needs the vet sequence started roughly six months before the flight, and the flight is close to the last thing arranged rather than the first.
Hawaii is the one owners miss most often, because it is domestic and feels like it should be simple. It is not. It has its own quarantine law, its own fee schedule and its own timeline, and it is a problem for anyone who booked movers before they booked the cat.
What Actually Goes Wrong
Most trouble on a cat move happens on the ground and is preventable.
The commonest is the carrier. A rigid carrier measured to the published limit still fails if the aircraft that day has a smaller under-seat space, and cabin dimensions vary by aircraft rather than by airline. We check against the aircraft, not the fleet.
Next is the cabin allowance. Owners book their own seat, then discover the animal slots for that flight are already taken. The cabin space has to be reserved at the same time as your seat, sometimes by phone, and it is not always visible during online booking.
Third is the paperwork window. A health certificate issued a few days too early expires before travel, and reissuing it means another vet visit and sometimes another endorsement. The dates are knowable in advance and the whole sequence can be worked backward from the flight, which is what we do before anything is booked.
Paperwork, and the Order It Has to Happen In
A domestic move usually needs a health certificate from an accredited veterinarian, issued close to travel. An international move needs the same certificate endorsed by USDA APHIS, and endorsement starts at $101. The sequence is what has to be right: microchip before rabies vaccination, rabies before the titer test where a destination requires one, and the health exam inside a window that is often only ten days wide.
Rabies-free destinations such as Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Japan add a titer test and a waiting period measured in months rather than weeks. If one of those is your destination, the paperwork starts long before the flight does.
Stress, Not Speed, Is the Thing to Manage
Cats hide stress rather than showing it, which is why the usual advice to keep travel short misses the point. A cat that has lived with its carrier for three weeks travels better on a long route than a cat meeting the carrier on the morning of a short one.
Leave the carrier open at home well before the move, feed in it, and let it become furniture. American declines sedated animals in the hold, and veterinary guidance advises against heavy sedation for flying, so acclimatization is the tool you actually have.
Where We Move Cats
We arrange domestic moves between US cities and international moves out of the major gateways, including Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Seattle and Houston. Door to door is the default, so we collect from your home and deliver to the new one.
If your city is not a gateway, the plan opens with a road leg to one that is, and that is built into the timeline rather than left to you.
How the Move Works
Every cat move follows the same backbone, whether it is two states or two continents. Here is the shape of it.
Route and Plan
We map the route, confirm the cabin allowance and the carrier dimensions for the actual aircraft, and give you a timeline that marks the dates which cannot move.
Carrier or Crate
We check the carrier against the specific flight, or size an IATA crate to your cat, including the fastener and ventilation detail that gets animals refused at check-in.
Vet and Documents
We sequence the vet visits, prepare the health certificate with your veterinarian, and handle the USDA APHIS endorsement where the destination needs it.
Booking
We book the cabin space, the cargo booking or the vehicle, and confirm acceptance before you are asked to commit to anything.
Travel Day and Arrival
We handle check-in, track the journey and manage collection at the other end, and we update you rather than waiting to be asked.
Moving within the country? Our guide to shipping a cat to another state works through the same decision with real numbers.
What It Costs
Most domestic cat moves run about $300 to $1,500 depending on method and distance, which puts them well below the equivalent dog move for the simple reason that cats are small. In-cabin is the cheapest route where the carrier fits. International moves cost more, and the spread is wide because the flight is the largest line and it is priced per booking.
Our cost calculator breaks a specific route down line by line, including the government fees that most quotes leave vague.
Tell Us About Your Cat
Send us the breed and weight, where you are moving from and to, and roughly when. That is enough for us to tell you whether your cat can fly in the cabin, what the timeline looks like and what it will cost. If the honest answer is that you can do this yourself, we will tell you that too.
GET A PET RELOCATION QUOTE:
Frequently asked questions
Can my cat fly in the cabin?
Usually yes. Most cats are within the size limit, and the constraint is the carrier rather than the cat. Airlines also cap how many animals travel in the cabin on a given flight, so the space has to be booked early, sometimes at the same time as your own seat.
What if I have a flat-faced breed?
If you have a Persian, Himalayan or another flat-faced breed, we check that airline’s specific policy before booking, because some apply the same hold restrictions they apply to snub-nosed dogs. We would rather tell you the route is closed than book a flight that gets refused at the counter.
Can two cats travel together?
Sometimes, and it depends on the airline, the destination and the cats. Some carriers allow two compatible animals in one container, others require one each. We confirm it for your specific route rather than assume, because getting it wrong is discovered at check-in.
How far ahead should I start?
Four to six weeks for a domestic move. One to four months for most international moves. Six months or more for a rabies-free destination such as Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand or Japan, where a titer test and a waiting period set the calendar.
Should my cat be sedated?
No. Carriers set their own condition on a sedated animal, American declines them outright, and sedation carries real risk at altitude. Carrier acclimatization over several weeks does more for a cat than anything given on the day.
Do you handle the paperwork?
Yes. We prepare the health certificate with your veterinarian, sequence the vet visits so the timing windows line up, and manage the USDA APHIS endorsement where the destination requires it.