3 Reasons You Need a Good Cat Carrier

               1. Make sure your cat will not run away when visiting vet

Yesterday I heard an alarming true story at the vet while taking Snowy to have her vaccine. A cat who was recently brought to the vet managed to run away right outside the vet’s office. How? Her owner put her in a carrier and drove her to the vet. After they arrived at the parking lot of the vet’s office, the owner took the cat outside the carrier and took the cat inside the vet’s office. That went well. However, after the visit, when the owner took the cat to the car, and tried to put her into the carrier again, the cat managed to slip outside the car and run away. Fortunately, after several hours of searching, the owner was able to catch her.

It was horrible just listening to the story. I cannot imagine how bad the owner felt at the time. That just reminded me again of the importance of good cat carriers. With a good cat carrier, we can simply put the cat in it and carry him/her to the vet’s office. After the visit, we put the cat inside and take the carrier to the car. Once we get home, we release the cats from their carriers. It is simple. We will never have accident like the one I described above.

This is where cats differ greatly from dogs. With dogs, we can simply put harness and leash on and take them by the leash. With cats, they are often too timid outside home and can be easily scared away.

              2.   In case of emergency, you can evacuate your cat quickly

About one month ago, when I was at home alone with our three cats, suddenly the fire alarm of the apartment building went off. I was never in that situation before, so it took me several minutes to realize that it was the fire alarm and I needed to get out as soon as possible. Then I realized I had three cats and I had to take them out with me. You can’t imagine how anxious I was at the time. Luckily we had purchased this huge Petmate Sky kennel for our Savannah cat. So I decided to put all three of them into it so I only needed to bring one carrier with me. It took me some time to catch the terrified cats, but I managed to take out the cats safely.

Our Egyptian Mau in her Petmate Sky kennel

After this incident, I felt lucky that we spent some money on this large sky kennel. It is not a regular cat carrier that you would have in mind, but it comes super handy in emergency situations when we need to evacuate the cats quickly. Since then we have put this huge cat carrier near the front door, so it is convenient to take it out if needed.

              3. When travel, your cat can rest comfortably

Our Egyptian Mau with her Sherpa Deluxe Carrier

We investigated on cat carriers before getting our first cat. Due to our frequent travel by air, we wanted to get cat carriers that are accepted by airlines for in-cabin travel. The one we got for this purpose is Sherpa Deluxe Pet Carriers. Our cats really like this. Even when they are not traveling, they like playing with it or resting in the carrier. When they were younger, we also used this carrier to take them to the vets.

Our Egyptian Mau in her Sherpa Deluxe Carrier

Since our cats are really large compared with most cats, we use the Sherpa Deluxe Pet carrier when taking them fly in-cabin with us, and use the large Petmate Sky Kennel for all other purposes. 

Based on above reasons, cat carriers are very important to the safety and general wellbeing of your cats. If you do not want to risk your cat getting away, make sure getting a sturdy and roomy carrier for your cat.