CLEVELAND - Jean and Michael Hoffmann didn’t think twice before taking their six-year-old, tiny dog Cooper with them on their trip to Arizona in March.
“We travel with Cooper all the time, as much as we can,” Michael Hoffmann said. “When we put out his travel kennel, and unzip the top, he actually jumps into it.”
They said Cooper enjoys the Arizona weather and family activities. “He goes out to dinner with us,” said Jean Hoffmann. “He loves it!”
While Cooper has had some health issues in the past, the Hoffmann’s said their vet cleared him to fly from their home in Minnesota to Scottsdale.
“He's been on planes at least three or four times, mostly to Arizona,” Jean said.
During the flight, the Hoffmann’s said they couldn’t see how Cooper was coping.
“It’s an airline rule that the animal will remain under the seat for the entire flight,” Michael said. “With all the cabin noise, it's hard to tell what's going on with the dog. It wasn't until we landed that we discovered that the dog was having serious, serious issues breathing.”
After landing at Sky Harbor Airport, they rushed Cooper outside and out of his kennel. “The dog was collapsed on the sidewalk and its tongue was blue,” Michael said.
Copper’s situation was touch and go for days. “We tried to take the precautions we were told to take,” said Jean. Cooper required emergency surgery, but he survived. He’s now back in Minnesota living a normal, happy life.
The Hoffmann’s said they’d love to bring Cooper back to Arizona, with one exception. “I would probably drive,” Jean said.
INCREASE IN PET PROBLEMS ON PLANES
The Hoffmann’s are not the only pet owners who have had to deal with problems on flights. We looked through hundreds of animal injury, death and loss reports collected by the Department of Transportation. From 2009 to 2010, we found the number of incidents increased from 29 to 55, or 90 percent, on U.S. operated airlines.
While the DOT said the number of incidents is small compared to the millions of animal transports each year, we found some airlines had more incidents than others.
Delta reported the highest number of incidents between 2008 and May of 2011. It had 39 total cases of deaths, injuries and losses. American Airlines had the next highest number of incidents, followed by Alaska Airlines.
In response to those incidents, Delta responded:
Delta takes the lost or harm of any animal very seriously, and their safe transports is our top priority. In an effort to further reduce risk during animal transfer, on Feb. 15, 2011, we changed our policy to no longer accept any American, English or French Bulldogs.
American Airlines sent the following statement:
Our Traveling With Pets webpage on our website AA.com covers all of this. And we encourage our customers to be familiar with these policies, because we don’t want any harm to come to a treasured family member.
Alaska Airlines issued this memo:
Every pet injury or death during one of our flights is taken seriously and while the number of pet injuries and deaths on Alaska Airlines flights has decreased in the past several years, we continue to be vigilant in safeguarding the pets in our care.
PROTECTING YOUR PETS
“The figures are skewed towards those who allow pets in cargo and potentially the bigger carriers,” said Dr. Billy Griswold, an Emergency Veterinarian practicing in the Valley.
We found the majority of the incidents involved dogs, specifically English, French and American Bulldogs and Pugs – otherwise known as short-nosed breeds.
“It makes many of those dogs have more difficulty breathing," explained Dr. Griswold who also said some breeds have more problems than others.
“But singling out all the dogs in a breed would be difficult, because there are a number of pugs, bulldogs that we see that still can breathe functionally,” Dr. Griswold said.
He recommends having your pet examined and getting a health certificate before you travel, and plan far in advance.
To prevent injuries during travel, pay attention to the environmental conditions. “Heat, poor ventilation, cold potentially and trauma associated with efforts to escape shifting of baggage,” he said.
Dr. Griswold is against using sedation on animals, even if they’re flying under your seat. “It depresses their respiratory and cardiovascular systems,” he said. “It makes it more difficult for pets to maintain their balance.”
He said pre-existing conditions may explain why pets pass away onboard flights. “Those diseases that weren’t too big of a problem at home can suddenly become a life threatening illness,” Dr. Griswold said.
No comments:
Post a Comment