Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was looking for a light but sturdy carrier as my cat is about 14.5 pounds and the weight limit on my particular airline was 17 pounds for pet plus carrier. [In the end no one actually weighed them, but my plan was to first remove the 'bed' inside if they asked to.] It also had to fit under the seat in front of me [it would have fitted sideways if not for a bolt on the side of one seat leg, but they were fine with it going underneath lengthways fortunately] so I needed something that wasn't too rigid. I also thought the expandable part might be useful. Well... all I can say is it was absolutely fantastic. My cat had already taken two short rides in it to the vet, and unlike his usual carrier (bigger, but plastic with a thick blanket inside) he didn't howl at all, so that seemed promising. I think the soft bed and its fit are the reason. BTW, a tip for getting your cat inside: if you can, hold your cat upside down in your arms, drop his bum in first through the open carrier top, then rotate him forward so that his head and front paws go in; this worked every time. Now we had to do: 1hr by car to LAX, 2 hrs at the airport, 11 hours on the plane (Air France), 1 hr at CDG (Paris), 3 hours in a rental car to the Eurotunnel at Calais, 1 hr on the car train, then finally almost 6 hours down to the SW of England. [All of this because you can't take a cat in the cabin to the UK on any airline and I refused to fly my cat in the hold, which meant flying to Paris, renting a car and driving to Calais, then taking the car train (Eurotunnel) to the UK, since I believe you can't carry a pet onto the trains (Eurostar) or ferries as a pedestrian, and the ferries make you leave your pet unattended in the car on their decks. FYI: as of writing this, Emotional Support Animals on US carriers may still be an exception to bringing a pet into the UK in the cabin due to the Americans With Disabilities Act, but although there are websites where one can certify one's pet as an ESA, I definitely wasn't okay with faking any kind of disability, even with the best of intentions; in addition, I believe that most airlines now require more medical paperwork anyway due to people abusing the system this way, and I don't think the UK govt likes it much either as (according to their website) the airports that accept ESAs will potentially make you wait a long time while they 'process' your ESA at the other end.] Through it all my cat only complained once (in the car headed to LAX; more of an "oh boy, we aren't going to the vet this time, are we"), and while I won't say he was exactly happy (he spent hours with his nose shoved into the darkest corner of the carrier, and there were two or three shortlived occasions when he'd had enough and just wanted out) he emerged intact at the other end, explored his new home for about 15 minutes, then settled down and started purring, eating, and drinking as normal. [Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm not sure he took advantage of the "Dry Fur" pad I'd lined the carrier with - the 'small' size fitted perfectly - so I was relieved when he also relieved himself as normal!] The small side window in one door was great - I basically had the carrier on my lap, petting him through the window while still blocking his exit with my arm, for 95% of the plane journey. And the expandable part was awesome too - being a big cat, he really appreciated getting to stretch out; he basically laid his upper body on my knees for at least half the flight (with the carrier body, holding his lower half, pressed tight against my tummy). The weirdest thing was that almost no one noticed I had a cat with me - I guess it didn't look like a pet carrier, just a regular tote bag. So although (after much angst!) I had all the correct forms, and they were checked at LAX and (after I reported to the "Pet Reception") at the Eurotunnel entrance, I have to wonder if anyone from CDG airport onwards would have even bothered to look if I hadn't told them. [BTW, in case anyone reading this review is going through the same process, I needed his rabies certification plus the correct health certificate for "England via France" and then had to make an appointment to have it properly endorsed by the USDA APHIS office in El Segundo. You can also mail the certificate to Sacramento, but if you have anything wrong it'll be returned, so if there's a time limit (e.g. it must be obtained <10 days before travel for US to UK) you may be in trouble. It turned out my vet's printer 'disappeared' the strikethroughs on the form without us noticing, so I ended up driving to El Segundo twice the week before we flew. And fyi, half the people I heard having their forms rejected had either gotten the rabies shot after the microchip or within the last 21 days, both of which are against the instructions.] ANYWAY... to conclude, this carrier helped to make a potentially disastrous and very stressful situation work as well as possible, and I'm VERY grateful. My cat isn't small and has decent claws (since he still goes outside regularly so we didn't want to cut them too short) but he still wasn't able to break through the mesh windows (which are great too) or sides, despite trying a few times, although admittedly he was quiescent for most of the journey. Phew.