By Kathleen M. Mangan
An estimated 10.7 million families move with pets each year in America. This means big business opportunities for pet retailers selling equipment and accessories for moving pets, whether by car or by air. It also means opportunities for innovative pet supply manufacturers to meet the needs of this market segment.
As a result of the increased mobility both domestically and abroad, there has been steady growth in shipping pets by air, and in the professional pet shipping and transport industry. Some specialty retailers are now offering pet moving and shipping or are collaborating with professional pet shippers to provide personalized, added-value service to their clients.
“Customers are constantly asking for advice on moving their pets or traveling south with them for the winter,” says Kathy Blackadar, owner of Fin, Fur & Feather, with two full-line shops in the Boston area. Her best selling travel-related products are hard- and soft-sided crates for carrying cats or dogs in the back of the car. She says travel water bowls, disposable litter boxes, homeopathic calming products and temporary ID tags bearing the car’s license plate number are also good sellers. Blackadar highly recommends dog seat belt restraints for safety purposes.
Arnie Costell, owner of Watson’s Senior Pet Supplies, launched his Canine Auto Safety Harness nearly two years ago and has seen increasing acceptance.
“It’s just as important to buckle up a dog as it is a child,” Costell says. “A dog becomes a loose rocket in a sudden stop, quick turn or accident.”
He explains that a 30-pound dog in a 30-mile-per-hour accident would be propelled with 900 pounds of force, enough to kill it. He uses safety-rated buckles on his product that can withstand a 2,500-pound force.
Auto Safety Restraints
Joanne Buchanan, manager of Teca Tu in Santa Fe, N.M., says she sells a lot of car booster seats for small dogs that provide safety with a tether to the seat. Car travel gear, such as back seat covers and hammocks, and rear-padded mats are also popular because so many customers travel to second homes in Santa Fe. Doggles are a frequent purchase to protect a dog’s eyes from airborne particles, wind and high-altitude UV rays when it puts its head out the window, she says.
Kyjen Co. decided 10 years ago to brand an entire product line focusing on the pet travel segment called Outward Hound Pet Travel Gear, says Linda Grimsley, general manager. Among the best sellers in the 70-product line are car booster seats, she notes.
“Small dog owners want their pets to be able to look out the window and stay secure,” Grimsley says.
Other travel products in the line include window bumpers, front seat safety barriers, travel bowls and travel gear bags.
Since necessity is the mother of invention, Rich Skowronski set out to invent the ultimate travel bowl because his golden retriever kept collapsing his collapsible water bowl when he laid down on the car floor. Skowronski’s Mo-Bowl Mobile Pet Water Bowl has a top rim to catch errant splashes, a series of baffles under the rim to dissipate wave action from even extreme car movements, and rugged plastic to endure the cold of winter and the heat of the dishwasher. It has an adapter to fit into a car cup holder and a bracket and quick release to mount on the side of a crate or cage.
“Dogs need more water in a vehicle than they do at home,” Skowronski says, noting that sun, heat, air conditioning, over-stimulation and airflow from open windows can lead to dehydration and overheating.
In Florida, Kim Tom, co-owner of Petland-Bradenton, finds that airline crates and carriers outsell the car booster seats and harness restraints.
“We sell more soft carriers that fit under the plane seat for carry-on pets than traditional shipping crates,” she says.
Eighteen years ago, airline passengers couldn’t take small pets in the plane cabin, so Gayle Martz, owner of Sherpa’s Pet Trading Co., set about changing the situation to travel with her lhasa apso at her side. She created a lightweight, soft-sided pet carrier with built-in mesh panels, and convinced airlines one by one to change their on-board policies.
“I created the carriers out of necessity,” Martz says.
Birds, Fish, Reptiles Take Flight
Birds can also be taken in many airline passenger cabins, so long as they fit in a travel carrier under the seat, says Dino Jasper, co-owner of Patterson Bird Store in Totowa, N.J. He adds that it is perfectly safe to ship birds as air cargo too.
“Most of our retail birds are shipped to us,” he says. “Birds are pretty resilient.”
But Jasper says the majority of owners opt to move their birds with them in the car, even over long distances.
Fish are tricky to move in the car, especially saltwater fish, Blackadar says. For across-town moves, owners typically pack fish in plastic bags or Styrofoam boxes with air or oxygen, taking care that water is free of chlorine and ammonia.
For longer rides, airstone, oxygen tablets or portable aerators ensure proper conditions. But for large, complicated aquariums, especially those with live corals and reef systems, Blackadar recommends that her clients use her aquarium service company to disassemble the aquarium and set it up in the new home, so long as it is no more than a few hours away.
For farther moves, Peter Falcione, owner of Norwalk Aquarium in Norwalk, Conn., recommends boarding fish while moving, getting the tank set up in the new home and then shipping the fish via air cargo.
Since Sept. 11, only professional shippers can ship fish by air, so Falcione collaborates with a pet shipper. He boards the fish in his fish hotel, packs them appropriately and delivers them to the airport, while the shipper handles the arrangements and paperwork.
Professional shipping is also a requirement for snakes, iguanas, lizards, turtles and other reptiles traveling by plane. Jim Whitt, owner of Scales & Tails, a reptile shop with three locations in the Denver area, says you can lose a reptile pretty quickly due to temperature, moisture and other issues, so he recommends that clients board their animals until they get situated, and then ship them by air cargo rather than moving them by car or shipping parcel post.
“Air shipment is best for reptiles, as long as they are packed right,” says Whitt, adding that in some instances heat packs, ice packs or moisture pads are necessary. Because of his expertise with reptile species, his clients trust him to handle the packing and shipping; he is a verified professional shipper.
“I’ve shipped plenty of $10,000 pythons and never had a problem in eight years,” Whitt says.
He adds that owners must check state regulations. For example, dwarf caimans are illegal in New York.
Air Shipping Safety
There are misperceptions regarding the safety of shipping pets through the airlines. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report, there were 27 pet deaths during air shipment from December 2005 through November 2006. This is a low incidence considering more than 2 million pets and live animals are transported by air annually in the United States. Many of these deaths were attributed to pre-existing medical conditions, short-nosed dog breeds with respiratory issues and inadequate shipping containers allowing cats to escape.
People can generally arrange for their pets to fly in the pressurized, temperature-controlled section of the cargo hold as either checked luggage if they are flying on the same flight, or as cargo if unaccompanied. (Commuter planes typically don’t have this option.)
But every airline has its own policies regarding pet transport, and these rules frequently change. All airlines require health certificates and have shipping container standards. Most airlines embargo transport when temperatures hit extremes, while some restrict shipments of pug or snub-nosed dogs and cats. Continental does not allow pets as checked baggage, and Southwest does not allow pets at all. Flights to Hawaii and foreign countries typically involve additional requirements.
Professional pet movers handle one-quarter of the air shipping business, according to Gale Young, spokesperson for the Independent Pet and Animal Transportation Assn. International and president of Starwood Animal Transport in Boston.
She adds that the service has become increasingly popular over the 25 years since the association was founded. There are now 180 member companies in the United States plus more than 100 worldwide.
“People get overwhelmed by the details,” Young says.
Professional shippers pick up the pet, complete proper documentation, provide the shipping container, select the best airline and itinerary, monitor weather and flight status, make alternate arrangements if necessary at the last minute, coordinate boarding and deliver the pet to the owner, Young explains. For international flights, they also help pets clear customs and avoid quarantine.
“Air shipment can become a scary situation if it gets too cold and the airline won’t fly the pet on the flight the owners are booked on, or there is a long delay at a connecting airport, or the pet gets to a foreign country and is sent back or quarantined for six months because paperwork is not properly handled,” Young says.
Professionals know which airlines have heated and air conditioned vans to transport pets to the plane rather than putting them on open luggage carts. They know the best departure times to ensure cooler nighttime landings in Southern cities in summer, or the best routing to avoid those cities altogether. They have a network of shippers to pick up the pet at other cities and take it to a kennel when there are delays. And they can often find ways to ship year-round, Young explains. Pet moving may also be an IRS tax deduction and reimbursable in corporate relocations.
There are some professional pet movers who use specially equipped vans for land transport only.
We Move Pets based in Bryan, Texas, offers coast-to-coast delivery with daily progress reports to owners via phone or email, explains driver Cissy Renfroe. They take a maximum of five dogs and four cats in crates in the vehicle, stop every three or four hours to exercise the pets, and sleep overnight in the vehicle with the animals.
Renfroe says her clients prefer the personalized service and constant monitoring, and often have multiple pets, senior pets or those needing medication that they need to move. She notes that land transport is more expensive than air transport.
Although moving can be stressful, when it comes to moving pets, owners have options that meet their needs and comfort level, and products available to ensure their pets’ safety and comfort.
Source: Pet Product News International Magazine March 2007 Vol. 61 No. 3
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