How stressful is flying with a pet?

You're listening to Pet Candy. Hey pet parents, welcome to Bees and Queens. I'm your host, Caitlin Palmer. On my show, we talk to fellow pet lovers and discuss the wonderful and quirky world of pet care. Welcome to the show Dr. Nelva Bryant. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining me tonight. Thanks for having me, Caitlin. I really enjoyed. I'm really excited that you brought me on to your show today. I'm so excited to have you. You've done so many cool things. So tell me you're a veterinarian but you work for Delta. Is that correct? Yes, yes. I'm honored to work with Delta Airlines. I started with them in July 2018 during the pandemic to global hiatus and came back again in August of 2021 and I've been on board since. I really enjoy it. Initially brought on, I'd say why would an airline hire a veterinarian but I was brought on to help review and revise the policies for animal transportation. During that process, I started noticing some things that potentially our pet owners can do to help prepare their pets for air travel because I don't think there's enough information out there to help people get their pets prepared. It's more to it than just say, hey, I need a health certificate. There's a lot more involved within everything. So definitely want to share that information. It's a lot more than just jumping the car and go. I mean, think about it, your pets, you might say to them, hey, we're going and it was like, I don't know what you're talking about. I mean, think about most pets are probably accustomed to a car ride. Not many are accustomed to a plane ride and how do you prepare them for it too? So you know, it's you can't just think that they're ready for it and all I need is this and go and you have to think about the animal too. How can we get them prepared for air travel? It's really the main thing you start focusing on and that's going to gear from making sure they're in a compliant air, compliant crate for air travel, basically. And that's that's an issue because a lot of travel crates might advertise that they're compliant, but they're not. So you have to be careful. You have to know and know the right type of crate to put them in so that it's sturdy for air travel by cargo. You also want to make sure these of your pets are acclimated to being confined in it. So, you know, we have our crates. We use them for potty training and I'm not excluding cats, but if you think about a majority times, those travel crates or the crates are used to potty training dogs. So we have them for that. And then once they're trained, you put them away and then, hey, I'm traveling, you pull it back out and then we try to shove them inside and I think it's fine. Number one, you got to make sure it's the appropriate size for your animal because they're probably grown significantly from when you once used it and they're not used to being confined anymore either, too. So you got to make sure they're, you know, accustomed to being confined. A lot of them, you know, we don't do this anymore. So though you might get the ones that have anxiety and they'll, they can break out of these crates or none of them are totally where they can't get out of. So well, there are some, but the standard what standard crates that are used, they can break out of those. You have to be careful. So, but yeah, a lot to really do to get your pets prepared. Another thing that we don't think about too often is the fact that is my pet healthy enough to travel. And I always say a common misconception is that when you go to your veterinarian and you get a health certificate, again, we're saying health certificate. So we're thinking they're healthy, right? But that's not necessarily what it means. Health certificate really is a certificate veterinarian inspection. And so basically, it's stating there's no evidence of infectious diseases in that pet. So and maybe they'll put their vaccination records, rabies vaccination certificate on there. But it's really geared towards infectious diseases between animals. We're not talking about potentially my dog that's diabetic, that has liver disease that has anything medically that can impact my animal and that during travel, that can get worse because of stress or what have you. So we're not talking about, you know, health certificate is not addressing that. So what we need to start doing is reviewing the medical record with your veterinarian and asking these questions up is my pet healthy enough to travel. Let's start considering that and everything. So what would be some things that would maybe suggest a pet is not healthy enough for travel? One major thing will be anything with heart disease or lung disease, anything that you know, cardiovascular respiratory diseases, number one, those two areas, you don't want them to have that because during transport, the and going to the elevations and everything, it could be impacted. But basically, those systems can be impacted will be impacted by the elevations and altitude. And you don't want that to have a problem. So yeah, I hate to say it, I do know some situations with some dogs that had underlying heart conditions that didn't do well and everything. And during transport, if you think about it, while they're in a cargo hold, there's no door trap door, at least down to the cargo where you can take on the animals. So there's a period of time where they're not being, they can't be monitored closely. They run into something you won't know until after the fact. And there has been situations and it's unfortunate, but it really had nothing to do with airline. It had to do with that pet and it's underlying medical conditions. So you just want to check for all that. And I know for our listeners, some people are wondering, why do I have to have an exam before I can take my dog on a flight? You know, why does that matter when it's like this? This is why, you know, and you also, a lot of people, me included, have pets that are anxious and have to take some little calming supports every now and then. And there's a reason why they have to be examined for that as well. Right. A lot of times folks will go to some of the medications that more have side effects of being more sedative, such as tracidilminous others. You have to realize it can also impact their cardiovascular system, you know, if they're the paddocks, you know, it can impact them internally. So you want to make sure that they're healthy enough to take this medication too, because there's side effects with that. You know, it's funny, it's side effects of everything we do in life. As far as we take in, you have to realize that it will impact them. And during travel, you just don't want them to succumb to problems regarding that. So you just got to be really careful. The best bet really, honestly, to do is as most airlines have done is they don't allow the transport of pets that have been sedated because of that worry and that fear. What you can do instead is, and that's when they're traveling by cargo. Now, what you do with your pet in cabin, even though technically it's going to have the same impact on the animal, it's just that that's under your care. And that's your decision to do so. But when the pet is being transported under the custody of the airline, no, not allowed. But what you should do is anything, use something that's not going to impact their cardiovascular or any other system or having side effects like that. Using more natural type products will be more ideal than, again, your tracidones and other medications that can cause sedation. Sure, absolutely. So tell me a little bit before we get too too much farther. Tell me about your own personal pets. Oh, my Naya is sitting, she's laying in her bed right behind me. She's doing very well. I she does not travel because she is an American bulldog. She's about 80 pounds. I have been in love with bulldogs. My whole family, we love them. That smush face. So up at home in New York, everyone, everyone at home has the French or English mixes. And I don't know why I decided I wanted to get an American bulldog. And she is the largest dog I've ever had in my life. I went from a 15 pound dog to an 80 pound dog. But that's my heart there. She's doing great. She's an eight year old. Like I said, female American bulldog. She's my heart. Oh, I love her. I wanted when I was a kid and homework bound came out, you know, chance was was an American bulldog. I wanted an American bulldog so bad. And my parents were like, Well, why don't we get a dog like shadow who was a golden retriever? I'm like, No, I want chance. Every time I hear American bulldog, I'm like, chance. Uh huh. No, she's my babe. She's always been good in a I purchased her because unfortunately down a minute, Lanza, my son and I single parent. And we I had a break in, which was crazy. I don't know what happened. I don't know if you hear my crazy story, but um, all I know is all I know is that I was it was a Saturday night. It was around midnight. I was sleeping and all of a sudden my alarm goes off and it didn't occur to me mentally. What was going on at the time? So I ran out of my bedroom, ran downstairs and show off the alarm. Then I looked to my right where the front door is and I saw a glass on the floor on the floor. Then I looked and saw the door was open and then it was like, Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding. She said, breaking. So I ran to the door, closed it, locked it, ran to the alarm, set it, ran back into the bedroom, locked the door, well, and then ran to the bathroom, locked the door and you think all 911. So no one was in the house, but I put myself in major danger during that time that it just didn't occur to me. So I thank God. Always watching over me because I really put myself in danger running to the door. I mean, crazy. But after that, I have been putting off for the longest. My son had been living in his house for many years and I kept saying, yeah, I'll get a dog. Yeah, we'll get one. And so about a month later, I got a dog. And finally, I'll be honest with you, she made this house a home for me. It's like, this is what it was missing. We'll be right back with more Pet Candy. Hi, this is Shay. And I want to tell you about my new show on Pet Candy, Cooking with Shay. I make vegan eating easy and fun. Check it out on Pet Candy TV. Oh, what's that saying? A house is not a home without a dog. Oh, and I think that reaction is very valid because I don't know what I'd do in that situation. I mean, you don't know until it happens. My family, well, a few family members have said that they felt that I didn't, don't react like maybe others or I don't have the quick common sense of like, well, I've never been, I've never experienced it. How would I know? I didn't know. I guess it didn't occur to me until like, oh, that's what just happened. And I guess I can't always just walk around feeling like nothing's, I don't know, I've never even thought about stuff like that. I'm not really the one that's running around defensive. So I just don't think that way. No, absolutely not. So we've got, you got your beautiful girl. What's her name? Naya, N-Y-A. And the Naya means it's, I, my son, I forget what language is it was in. I forget exactly the language you came from. We went to Wikipedia and put in something for new. The name was supposed to be new and we saw all these different languages, what new meant. So Naya popped up. And I may be, it may be Nia, but I put, since it had a Y of course, my friends said Naya. So yeah. And she's your dog, you could call her whatever you want. Yes. So what types of animals do you typically see flying in planes? Is it mostly dogs and cats or do you get some exotics and ferrets? All animals can potentially be transported by cargo. What we see primarily here from Delta is going to be your, I mean, pets right now are embargo, we're still really trying to get to a pandemic and everything and get things in order. So pets are embargoed, but besides your dogs and cats, there's breeder, there's chippers of birds, laboratory mice might have zoo to zoo shipments of animals. Let's see. We had recently a cute little cheetah cub that was transported. Yeah, it was transported in cabin and everything. It was a situation where the mother cheetah, I believe she did not produce enough milk or something for the cheetah. So they were transporting it to another location so it can get proper care and everything. So yeah, various animals. It continues on. Again, horses were not doing that with Delta, but I'm not sure about the other airlines. All animals potentially can be transported and everything. The main issues behind it is you just want to make sure they're shipped in compliant containers or crates. There are standards for that. The standard for it is through the International Air Transportation Association, the live animals regulations manual. They give you all the stipulations of what the container should look like, how many animals per container and all the things like that. So you want to comply with that. And that's why I back up a little bit. That's why I was mentioning you want to make sure they're in a compliant, as far as your dogs and cats, in a compliant crate. And the standard is through the IANA International Air Transportation Association. They make those standards. And we were talking before and some of these crates that are advertised like they're compliant for airlines are not. They're not. They're definitely not. Tennessee, I think I told you, I work weekends at Banfield and I'm excited why I see different crates or containers they bring pets in and always taking photos. And one I saw recently where it had a little thumbs up and a photo of an aircraft and a thumbs up next to it. So I'm saying that, hey, it's airline compliant, but it had all the features on it that made it non-compliant. Like that's really bad advertising. So if you think about it, if a crate is easy to assemble, easy to put together, where it's just clip here, clip there and it's done, that's not going to be compliant because if it's easy to put together, it's easy to fall apart. Crates to have multiple doors, say how you have cats, people have the carriers that have the top door or the door at the bottom, that's not compliant because you just want one way in, one way out, not multiple ways. So there's a plenty, IANA gives the features of a compliant crate. We need to really start learning that more than just buying whatever is out there and stuff. So like I said, though, getting ready for travel, these are things you need to research and make sure you comply with. And the worst thing that can happen when there's false advertisement is that you get to the airport thinking you did everything you were supposed to do and they say no, and then you flip because you're like, what do you mean? Oh, this says it's right and it's wrong. And then most of the time, folks get mad at the airline thinking that they were wrong. Like, no, actually, we have the policies. We know what it's supposed to look like. So what should pet parents be looking for in terms of a crate for travel? I mean, you can use those, the rigid plastic containers are great, the routine pet ones. It's just that you want to make sure they're held together with nuts and bolts between the two parts because they're usually, there's a gate, the front part has a gate with a little hinge and a lock on one side. Then the other two parts you put together and you should close the top part and the bottom part with nuts and bolts, not plastic clips. And that's going to be your heater right there. Ventilation should be only on the top portions. If there's ventilation on the lower half of the bottom part of the crate, that's not allowed. So there's many things. Trust me, I've seen crates. Oh, you know, another thing about crates, it's interesting and people have to be mindful of too. The fact that people sell, you know, they use crates and stuff, they'll sell it at Frank's List or what have you, they'll sell it. One thing I've noticed that there's no expiration date on plastics for this. So over time, the plastic does degrade and the ability really to contain the animals go down. The plastic on those shatter actually, which is amazing, they shatter when it's damaged. So just have to be careful with them. I would not recommend anyone buying a used one and using it for travel because of that fear of that. Again, think about things, dry rot. So you don't know how long it's been, how old it is, how it's been kept. It could have been outside somewhere. So the plastic is probably degrading and then you put an animal in thinking it's going to keep it and now it's not as solid and sturdy as it should be. Sure, they'll fall out the bottom. That's happened to us. I work at a vet clinic and that's happened to us so often. People bring their cats in and the crate, like you said, they only go once a year or less. They put it out in the shed, in the garage, whatever, and they take them, put them in, they're freaked out. You get here, it breaks, the cat's gone in the woods. I mean, it happens. Yeah, but yeah, that's the thing. We don't think about, again, I don't think there's any expiration dates on these crates. One thing that I noticed and it's not a comparison at all as far as saying we're doing for this and not the others, but I think it's interesting to know that, I'm sorry, it's a different topic, but it's interesting to know that child car seats have expiration dates on them. I didn't know that because I only have one kid, so I didn't realize that. So I only use my parents. But there's expiration dates on them too. So and they do it, I guess, because they realize the plastic upgrades and everything, they can go down. No, but the safety of the babies being transferred, which is awesome. Well, when it comes to pet crates and traveling, there's no expiration dates on the plastics that's used and maybe we should be because, again, great, it dry rots and can impact the animal staying inside, they can break out and get lost or whatever. So for their safety, I wish there was something in place so we can move towards that too to prevent negative outcomes for using old crates that are dry rotted basically. Yeah, for sure. So is there a website or anything that people could go to where they can purchase a crate that is 100% definitely airline approved? During the pandemic, I started when pets fly on Facebook and fairly recently, and it's basically it's a method where you had any flushes with regard to the transport of your pet domestically or internationally or just any questions you might have, I would just use a way to educate the pet parents. Well, I've expanded my social media presence, so I have a website now. And on the website, I do have that information available of compliant crates that I've identified through Amazon that are definitely compliant. So check it out. Again, the website is when pets fly. Unfortunately, I didn't get to domain, I have to work on that. But right now, it's the website address is when pets.com. Nice. And we'll link that in our show notes too for anybody that may be planning to travel. So what about, and like you said with the pandemic, there's not a whole lot of this going on, but sometimes people get to go out of the country. Can you take your pet with you to go out of country? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of work involved with it. So folks need to understand that. I think that the kind of misconception when we travel in the US, you never think about the fact that you're required to have a health certificate to travel between states. But a lot of times if you're driving by car, most folks won't do it. You're trying to travel by air, by cargo, it's an equipment. But that's the only time it's in a sense required. There's a big misconception that folks think that if you're traveling internationally, that, oh, well, we just need a health certificate to travel internationally. And that's no big deal. But when you're traveling to another country, you have to meet their entry requirements, their animal entry requirements. So, and that might mean more than just, oh, my dogs vaccinated against rabies, that might not be enough. You might have to have a rabies titer, all the other vaccines up to date. Some countries have rules on micro, they have to be microchipped. First, then the rabies vaccination, either the same day or after the microchipping, all these little stipulations that you like, oh, he's fine. No, you have to make sure that you things are in order. Because if you get to your destination and you don't have that, it will be denied entry, you will be coming back to the US or your pet will be held in quarantine while you might be on vacation. And guess what, you'll be paying for it as a pet owner. That's your responsibility. So, traveling internationally is not as simple as everyone thinks. And you really have to do your due diligence to get ready for it. And working with number one, working with an accredited USDA accredited veterinarian, that's going to be important. And just be aware sometimes it takes more than just maybe 10 days, it might take four to six months to get your pet prepared. We'll be right back with more pet candy. Hi, I want to tell you about my new show, Simply Pets with Shannon Gregor. We talk about pets, life, love, and everything in between with the coolest people on the planet. Don't miss out on the fun. Check it out on a podcast platform of your choice. And I read somewhere that if you're going from the United States to Canada, you have to have a flea and tick prevention. Is that right? Oh, yeah. I mean, even that, there might, there's other countries, aside from flea and tick prevention, depending on where you go, you might have to make sure your pet is treated for tapeworms prior to going. Yeah, you might have, and they in the country can dictate what's utilized to, they might think, oh, he's on hard guard for this, like they might have additional things they want to do, and you must comply. And they want, they don't want you to say, yes, I've done it. They want to see documentation, that all the, everything is complete. So just be aware, as far as traveling internationally, there's a lot of work involved with getting your pet prepared. And really, if you think about it, and you really want to do it, start working with your veterinarian early. Don't wait till, say, two, three weeks before your, your vacation, your plan travel to meet those requirements and everything. It is a big challenge to get all the information done for your pets. Yeah, absolutely. It's a much bigger deal, like you'd said, than it sounds like, you know. I remember at one clinic I worked at, there was a couple that they were, they were a military couple, and they were being stationed in Germany. And this was before the pandemic, thank goodness. We were able to get their health certificates, international stuff altogether to get them to Germany with their family. But oh my goodness, that was such a big deal. Like to the point that it looked like the husband was going to have to go ahead and the wife was going to have to stay and finish up with the dog. It was, it was a huge thing. Well, see, you've seen it. But again, a lot of folks don't realize that when they're traveling that you really have to schedule this out in advance, I mean, months out in advance. So just to get everything done. And again, you don't want, it's not me to requirements, and then potentially be denied entry for your pet or for it to be held in quarantine. If it's denied entry, I mean, it has to go back. Someone's got to pay for that. So, and a lot of times sometimes, I've seen situations where they might feel that the airline, you know, as far as, you know, how we are as Americans, we want to blame somebody for something that went wrong. And a lot of times they'll say, Oh, the airline, well, the airline knew I was going, they should have known. Actually, it's your responsibility. And what we're doing with Delta is we're working further to ensure these things is really start checking in advance. Don't let them travel unless we, you know, they need requirements to start requiring the information to be upfront and see it. Because ultimately, I mean, it's the customer experience will be, will be diminished if they have to go there and come back, they'll be unhappy. And just to ensure everything's all in order, we need to have some extra things in order to help them comply, basically. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, my goodness. So you went, you went to Fed school and you worked in private practice? Is that right at first? Well, I did practice for one year. I've been in love with this told you've been in love with Atlanta, my whole life, practice for one year, year down here in Atlanta. And but while I was in that school, I fell in love with veterinary pathology. And my mentor there was John King, Dr. King. When I graduated, came down here, he tracked me down was asking if I was happy in practice. And I liked it, but I just didn't think it was really a big challenge for me. It just kind of gets routine sometimes depending on the practice you're working in. So yeah, I wanted more of a challenge. So I, he asked, was basically saying, get your, go ahead and apply your information up here to get into the veterinary pathology residency. And that's what I did. From that, I just came a different pathway. Just was veterinary pathology. I worked with did a fellowship after that, let's see, after that, I did a fellowship with CDC, getting a laboratory animal pathology, then crazy me joined the army. After the fact, most veterinarians are joining the army while they're in that school and have the tuition and everything taken care of while they're in that school. And they just work in the army, which makes sense. No, not me. I graduate from that school. And then I go to the army and everything, which is fine because I'm just, I like opportunities, I like challenges. So it was an opportunity. And I just felt it was a good choice to go down that path with something different. So I joined the army, had really cool positions that I had there when I was in the army. They didn't put me in a because I had already had a veterinary pathology background. I was working actually in a research facility, doing electron microscopy, I was doing some cool stuff and research. Yeah, so I did some great things with them. My initial tenure came up where I had to decide if I wanted to continue on or get out. And I just wasn't feeling it too much. I felt like it was a lot of control so over my life or my direction. So I resigned my commission with the army and started my commission in the United States Public Health Service. So you'd say like I said on the Friday it stopped here and then on Monday I started in the other one, didn't lose any time in service, but it allowed me more flexibility about the choices I wanted to make. No longer where they were saying you're going to be stationed here, you're going to do this here. It was like, hey, if I want to work here, I apply for it and I'm there. So it offered me a lot of cool opportunities where I work with USDA safety inspection service for a little bit. Then I wound up, oh, I'll prided that I was with FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. You'd be like, wow, I know. So just different things. Finally, I ended with CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention here in Atlanta, Georgia, and did a lot of cool things there. So it just gave me that variety. In a sense, I worked in the federal government. I still was an active duty, but I'm working in the federal government and just had different experiences. I love it. But in the meantime, part-time, because I'm just sometimes that way, I still did clinical practice on the side. That's so awesome, Dr. Bryant. You do so much cool stuff. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's been a really good career. Honestly, I've done things I never expected I would have never would have expected. So it was really good. Being in the United States Public Health Service is awesome because our deployments with them were more humanitarian type for disaster response things. So I deployed for Hurricane Katrina and was there and helping with the animals that were trans from the flooding. They were moved to a makeshift. It was huge makeshift animal shelter and a horse stadium in Baton Rouge. We were there for a couple of weeks and just trying to help them out. It was just a good experience, honestly. So I did that. I did an experience where I went to El Salvador and Nicaragua for like a humanitarian type thing. We went on a naval ship, stayed there, went landside, vaccinated animals in countryside, and came back. It was cool. It was really interesting to see something different kind of thing. But I will be honest. It wasn't I think the coolest thing I've ever done was and this wasn't this was just like a TDY experience to per-duty experience with CDC where I did the work with the Ruequetzial Branch on a one health project that was called the Rocky Mountain spotted fever rodeos, what we called it. And it's where we worked with environmental health specialists, MDs, veterinarians, and we were all trying to combat Rocky Mountain spotted fever on the Indian Reservation in Arizona. Coolest thing ever. My husband has Rocky Mountain spotted fever and then I got Lyme disease. So we're unfortunately we're a tick-borne family. It's the ticks. Well on that reservation, they don't have the same animal ordinances that we have here in the states since they're their own sovereign nation. So because of that rules behind, you could say, well I'm not saying rules for rules, but as far as confinement of dogs, they can have as many as they want in everything. So the more dogs you have in that environment, the more ticks you have. And ticks don't care. They want a blood meal, right? They don't care and children were dying. So this project was developed to help combat it. And one main thing that I was responsible for or help with is that we did a makeshift spade and neuter clinic on the reservation and we targeted a part of the community and spade I think was close to the months time we spade and neutered at least 200 animals around that and everything. So wish it would have been more, wanted more, but I say we took a, we still took a bite out of the population and everything. We'll be right back with more pet candy. I love my fur babies so much, but when they're stressed out, it makes me stressed out. Mine hate loud noises like thunderstorms and fireworks and sometimes they just don't want to be left home alone. To help keep your dogs calm and moments of stress, use Brave Paws anxiety and stress support chewables for dogs. These plant-based chewables promote calm behavior with natural ingredients that have been clinically studied. Did I mention they're fast-acting and non-drowsy? I especially love that the natural ingredients are sustainably sourced. How cool is that? Want to learn more? Check out mybravepaws.com. Your dog will be happy you did. That's pretty good. I mean that's a lot of puppies that were. Yes, yeah. So we work with students from, it was students from Virginia, Maryland tech. Senior students from there were there doing the surgeries. We had also some students from North Dakota State University that also assisted. They were more graduate students from, the coolest thing, they were graduate students from Africa and they were learning about the project and everything and trying to use a lot of things we did in their countries and everything. So it was really, really good. That's awesome. Oh gosh, and you saved so many, not only so many dogs, but so many people too. That's amazing. That's so awesome. Well, that's good. My main thing, like I said, is I'm thankful for the opportunity to work where I do with Delta. But main thing is I want to do is just share an education of trying to help people get prepared because as far as a veterinary perspective, I don't think we have that out there. Someone might tell you, oh, get this crate and everything. Okay, it must be acclimated, but we do need as far as veterinary and start looking at the medical history of animals and start giving some advice on. I mean, it's, of course, it's up to the pet parent to decide, but if you knew that your pet had an underlying condition or you could have the significance behind it, would you force the issue for it to travel and potentially make things worse? I don't think they would at all. So we need to start advising, giving that advice more. Same as in human medicine, if you have an underlying heart condition or whatever, your doctor, your physician is going to tell you you shouldn't be flying and there's a reason behind it. So as veterinarians, I just want us to start being more an advocate for the pets flying and start sharing this information. And again, it's the pet parent that decides, but if you let them know the significance behind it, and maybe they don't understand it, but start sharing that information with the pet parents. Yeah, no, absolutely. And thank you for shedding so much light on it. And the main thing, one of the main things I would like listeners to take away from this is veterinarians require an exam before a health certificate, like you said, for a reason. It's for your pet. It's not that we just want money, you know, it's not just so we get paid. I mean, there's a reason underlying conditions is your pet safe to travel. We have to make sure they're vaccinated. This is all for the animal and human safety. Make sure you have a compliant crate. It's great to know that there are some that look like they're good, but they're not. I would encourage you to check out Dr. Nelva Sight. Yes, please, please, please do. Like I said, and then once you get that crate, make sure it's the appropriate size for them. You might say it's funny, you'll get a crate saying you have for your cat. The cat is crouched in it. And they say, oh, he's fine, he's crouched in there. Well, actually, that's or to be crouched a whole trip and that crate like that, that's actually against animal welfare regulations. So if the airline turns your way because of that, don't get mad. It's animal welfare regulation. It's not that oh, he's fine. No. And I've heard folks say, oh, my veterinarian said it's fine. No, it's not fun. Okay, because there's regulations that the airline must comply with. And if they don't, and if something happened, they can lose their license. So don't get mad at the airline if they refuse you based upon something like that, the appropriate size. And even then, again, with the being a compliant crate, don't get angry. Just do your due diligence prior to travel, do your research, and make sure your animal is in a compliant crate, appropriate size for your pet, and also being acclimated and comfortable being confined. And again, let me keep going down the list. And medically sound and fit for travel. So these all things have to be in order to make sure it's a successful trip for you. Absolutely. Safe for the pet, safe for you. Everyone arrives where they're supposed to be happy and healthy. Let us all be safe and get to our destinations there and everything. And as far as we're saying earlier, sedation, sedation is not allowed. Research and find some other product that potentially is that that can calm your pet, but is not going to sedate them. Actually, you know, it's funny, I read a study, and it wasn't a USBA study was I think out of Canada, and it was mentioning the fact that they were did a study on at Leavers dogs, and they were testing the cortisol levels on these dogs during travel before travel, after travel, and then they compared it with giving us something that causes sedation and something didn't or placebo. And they saw the same cortisol levels if they were given the sedative or not. So that's telling you that they're still having stress, they're feeling the stress. But now under the sedative, they can't respond like they normally would the ability to write yourself or off balance, all these things that can happen when they're sedated compared to if you just let them be alone. Sometimes folks are saying that sedative is really for that pet parent for them to feel more comfortable thinking that they've done something for the animal, but they didn't. So that's for you to feel comfortable. And I don't think they necessarily need it. I mean, there are pets that have anxiety. Well, guess what? If they have anxiety, and it's that severe, maybe they shouldn't be traveling. That's my child on an airlines for bid sedation, right? Right. So just a lot of things to consider when you're traveling trip that so again, you want to do everything you can in the best interest for your pet. So start thinking from their perspective too. Yeah, absolutely. Because we love them. What about so your breaky cephalic breeds? So if anyone doesn't know, that's like a smush face dog, like a Frenchie or a pug. Because they have trouble breathing already. They have trouble breathing normally. Okay, give it. Normally they might snore or what have you. There is a true syndrome with them, the breaky cephalic airway syndrome with them, where they're a lot of them, they have what is it? Long-edged soft palate. Their trachea is more constricted. They have, ah goodness, everything's just smushed if you think about it there. So they have difficulty breathing normally. And why is it a big deal is because dogs, you know, they pant to, when they're overheated, we sweat, they pant to dissipate this heat. With all those, all these structures being confined, the normal way for a pet to dissipate heat is to panting. And it's difficult when they have all their facial structures are now confined and everything. So it makes panting a little bit different for them. During transport, they get easily stressed. They overheat because they can't pant properly or dissipate the heat properly. So they're prone to developing heat stress and heat stroke. So breaky cephalic breeds or stub nose are restricted by most airlines because of that issue that can happen with them and everything. So definitely, I would say if you have them, I mean goodness, I know you want to travel with your French bulldog and your Swedish. And again, I told you my family loves bulldogs, but they don't handle it well. And it's not in their best interest to travel. And again, most airlines will definitely restrict it by cargo. What you do in cattle with your pet, that's your responsibility, but it still is something you have to be careful about. Because again, they take it very easy overheat and get, like I said, heat stroke and die from that. And we don't want that to happen. If you check, if you actually research the animal incidents reports, the department transportation actually collects data from all airlines, US airlines regarding illnesses, not illness, I'm sorry, injuries, escapes and deaths. They have to report it yearly. Also the number of animals that are being transported. So you can actually look at these reports to find out what animals were dying. And if you go back pre years back since they've been collecting this data, a lot of the pets were rakey cephalic, a snob, no breed dogs that died. So then based upon that, airlines over time have become more stringent because we don't want that to happen. And that would seem so. Please don't, please don't falsify information. Please don't ask for veterinarian to falsify a health certificate to say it's a some other breed. That's not on the restricted list. I've seen it happen numerous times. Don't do that. You're putting the app, you're a pet at risk for that. And just don't do it. It's not right. Really not right. No, that's not healthy for anybody. Oh my goodness. But people do it all the time just to get what they want. And they may, and they may be fine. But it's just that one that it happens to, you don't want it to happen. No, that's a risk for my baby. If that's my French bulldog, I'm not willing to take that risk personally. So what happens if someone comes on with a very obviously it's a pug, but their paperwork says it's a lab mix or just something weird? I mean, can the airline decline it just based on no, that's a pug or do they have to kind of go off that health certificate? Not that anybody would do that. I'm just curious. Every airline is different. With us within Delta, we will be, I guess it's because I'm probably because I'm involved with them. I can very easily consult with them at that time frame. And if I see it and it's a pug and it says something different, I can very easily say no to deny it for the safety of that animal. It's denied. But you know, there has been instances where as you're saying it's accepted and what have you, and it's made it through. But again, if something goes wrong, it really airlines not at fault. We didn't both fly it. We didn't both fly the information you did. So you can't blame the airline for that because we told you. So now, you know, you can't expect the airline to now be the breed control too. So there's some of, you know, some of the responsibility has to go on to that pet owner and everything. So I guess the statement is saying just please don't falsify information just to get what you want because you're putting that pet in red skin. That's not good. That's really good. You wouldn't want to do that with your pet. Oh, I believe it. I believe it. I know just with some places that restrict pit bulls, you know, I've seen so many, no, that's a pit bull, but it's a lab mix or it's a... No, that's a lab mix. Right. You know, it's a mix. It's like, is it though? It's like, sure, guys, whatever. Yeah. But that's different. That's not traveling and at risk of dying, you know. So they need to realize that. But yeah, again, would they falsify information? Really, it falls on for that pet owner with that information. But again, the sad thing about it is though, I do know that at least I've heard of situations where the pet owner has asked a veterinarian to put a certain breed on there knowingly. So they know. And we shouldn't... I mean, I don't know. We're not breed patrol, even again, we're not taught breeds. We just... We learn breeds from just association and seeing them, but we're not really taught... At least when I went to that school, we were taught breeds. So it just puts us all at an awkward position regarding that. For sure. And then, I mean, you're torn between you want to help the pet owner and your first commitment is to that animal. Right. Right. And then, like I said, we should, like I said, more education and everything just needs to be able to understand sometimes the significance behind these decisions that are made and everything we do. Let's try to put the animal first and do everything in the best interest for them or for everything, you know, traveling, make sure, again, like I said, everything's complies with the airline as far as compliant crate for the pet owner. Just make sure your pet is medically fit for air travel, more than just your health certificate. Make sure he's medically fit for travel. And it's going to take time. Again, the examination, yes, is needed prior to travel, but if you're there, hey, take the time. Hey, can you review... Can someone review my medical history? Remind me, because it's funny. People forget sometimes when things happen with their pets or and everything. I had someone recently said, oh, my dog didn't have this. This dog didn't have the other one. I looked at the record. I'm like, no, your dog was diagnosed with this on this day. So I didn't remember that. So sometimes you have multiple pets, you know, review the right medical records with them and just he highlights this happened this year. Okay, we did have an infection here. We, you know, review it. And that changes. I mean, that's why you have to have a yearly or however often examined blood work. I mean, well, they were fine three months ago. Okay. Well, that was three months ago. They don't think they get the... I don't know if they want to get it. They just don't get how it's not as simple as you think. And don't get me started. I just had someone this past weekend, they sent an email with a photo and they wanted a dog with a skin condition, crust and everything. And they wanted a diagnosis from a little photo and was kind of upset that no one gave them any medication or required them to have a visit. I'm like, I was like, I said, hey, really? Want me to answer that through that one little photo? And they're like, yeah, I'm like, well, not answered. It's like, I have to see the animal. I can't dispense medication on a photograph. So I said to say, I need to realize the significance and there's a lot of work in veterinary medicine. We do a lot and there's a lot of expectation on us. And they need to realize that it's not as simple as you think. You can't call your physician and say, I got this little thing over here, but show a picture of this thing here. What is it? We'll be right back with more Pet Candy. Have an anxious pet? Brave paws may help. Brave paws anxiety and stress support chewables may promote calm behavior and dogs who exhibit nervousness and anxious behavior. Our clinically studied and patented botanical blend contains naturally occurring bioactives, which have been found to promote a sense of calm and relaxation in dogs. What's even better is its fast acting and non drowsy. Come get it today at mybravepaws.com. Thank you so much for joining me today, Dr. Bryant. You really taught us all a lot of very valuable information. And for all of our pet parents and you're traveling, you're planning to travel, you should definitely go check out winpets.com. That's W-H-E-N-P-E-T-S.com. Thank you. It's Pet Candy. Pet Candy. It's Pet Candy Radio.