Please do NOT administer sedatives to any animal travelling in the hold of an aircraft.
From an expert. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AMVA), air transport of SEDATED pets may be fatal. Over-sedation is the most frequent cause of animal fatalities during airline transport and accounts for more than half of all fatalities in animals when flying. Except in unusual circumstances, veterinarians should not dispense sedatives for animals that are to be transported.
The effects of sedatives are unpredictable when given to an animal inside an aircraft being exposed to air pressure. At altitude, the physiologic changes from sedatives and/or tranquilizers may be enhanced. There have been a number of instances where sedated pets traveling by air needed veterinary care to recover from the sedation. Some pets could not be revived.
Although sedatives and/or tranquilizers should never be repeated for animals traveling by air, sedated pets may have adverse reactions in pressurized aircraft even when single doses are administered. Animals can respond very differently to sedatives and/or tranquilizers under normal circumstances. Cats for instance become more excited following the administration of "sedating" drugs.
Rather than tranquilizing, pre-condition your pet to its travel crate! Let your dogs get comfortable being in their crate as far in advance as possible. If they like to eat, start feeding them their meals and putting treats inside their crate. Or place their favorite toys or bed inside and encourage them to sleep and play in their crates. This will help your dogs be more relaxed in their "home away from home" while they are flying. Since the crate is required by the airlines to be big enough to stand up and turn around in, they will be quite comfortable when traveling. I often think they're probably more comfortable than the person sitting in the cabin above in the middle seat with a seatbelt on!
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