Cat carriers and other concerns

Hello.

My wife and I will be moving to Oxford in January, which is good news. However, we have a 10-year old cat that we want to bring with us. I know that the entry laws have recently changed (for the better) and they seem fairly easy to follow, but I'm just wondering how stressful the flight is on an older cat. (Ten is obviously not ancient for a cat, but he's no spring chicken.) He hates traveling the 3 miles to the vet once a year!) Do you think he'll be ok? Any tips?

Also, I've currently got a soft carrier that I'm sure is no good for cargo. Is there a particular model or brand any of you would recommend (that you know is approved for flight)?

His safe arrival and easy clearance through customs is my main worry about this whole move, in general. Is there any reason we should hire a professional pet relocation service or is it as relatively straightforward as it seems to be on the DEFRA site? I'd rather save the money but, at the end of the day, I just want the old boy to get over there with us!

Any suggestions or advice is appreciated. Thank you so much!

The process is quite straight-forward (and I did the old version with more steps/paperwork). The hardest part I found was that my mom (who was dropping my pets off at the airport for me as I was already here) misunderstood the timeframe for the tick/tapeworm (she thought it was within 24 hours, rather than 24-48 hours), so there was a bit of a scramble to get to the vet.

You'll need an IATA carrier, and I think it needs ventilation on all sides, and needs to secure with actual screws (not plastic clips or anything). I got mine off Amazon, but then at check-in they decided mine was about 1" too small for my cat so my mom headed to PetCo (or PetSmart) to pick up a larger size (which is part of the reason they want you to check in so early, so that you have time to do that if necessary). You'll also need to attach food/water dishes to the door of the crate.

My cat hates being in his carrier, but he made the trip just fine (albeit at age 5 rather than 10). He was unusually silent on the way home (he's quite vocal/whiny), and it took him about a week once he got here to really settle in and act like his normal self, but he handled the trip just fine, overall. My mom put towels/old blankets in the crates with my dog/cat, both for padding and so they'd have something familiar smelling on the trip. I don't know if it made a huge difference, but they didn't hurt. She also froze water in their water dishes so that it would defrost gradually on the flight (though the blanket in my cat's crate was wet so his may have spilled a bit).

Thank you! This is extremely helpful and reassuring. The frozen water trick is a good one!

Been there done that with an older cat.  We used a medium sized carrier which fit her favourite bed. She came through like a trooper. 

As for water, they told us not to put anything in the dish - they would do that for us.  We put puppy pads under a vet-bed liner and that kept everything dry.  The puppy pad soaked up a lot of water apparently, but everything else was dry. 

I found with the frozen water, it melted really quickly and then spilled everywhere so there was really no point. 

Our cat had moved around a lot and each time, she was essentially back to her normal self once she was with her people again.   

The puppy pad is a good idea. I wish I would have thought about that.  One of my cats was able to make the whole trip without an accident (and made a beeline for the litterbox when we got home), but the other one didn't make it and it was a smelly drive from Gatwick to Bath.

I was also told not to put anything in their dishes and when I got to the airport the guy from the airline asked if they wanted a bit of water and put some in the dish.

My cats made it through the trip just fine. I was definitely more stressed than they were!