Petland Canada's Amy shares her personal pet experience - GAP

As far back as I can remember, there has been animals and pets in my life. I was born in Tilbury, Ontario, a small farming community where my family spent weekends at a friend's local farm. I loved visiting the farm and being around the animals, especially the piglets. I grew up surrounded by animals, I have many fond memories and really directed my passion to work with animals.

January 1998, I moved back to Winnipeg, leaving my family behind in Calgary. I searched for an apartment that was pet friendly. I was so excited to be able to have a pet that was my own. I made my journey to the Winnipeg Humane Society to adopt my very own cat. As I journeyed through all the adoptable I visited so many animals that needed to find their forever homes. It was overwhelming to make a choice, I asked myself how could I ever choose and leave someone behind. Then something amazing happened, as I washed around, an orange tabby reached out and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and he was the one, then I realized that there were two. That day, Loki and Newton chose me and my life has never been the same. They also lived up to their names, Loki is the trickster and Newton my cat that figured everything out. Both so social and affectionate.

We have moved across the prairies together, they helped me through tough times, celebrated the good times and I have been caught having full conversations with them.

This past Christmas, Newton's wonderful life came to an end. This was the first time that I experienced this and I was not prepared. This has made me an even better pet person as I can now empathize and share my experience. I was also so worried about Loki, as he lost his brother, we worked through everything together and this has brought Loki and I even closer.

Since I adopted Loki, he has never left my side. Every day, he greets me at the door, follows me around the house, talks to me and sleeps above my head. They have been a huge influence and such a positive impact on my life. Pets really do make life better. J

Flying with your pet.

So much luggage! And a kennel!

Reading through the news this morning I came upon the sad story of a cat who escaped from it's kennel at an airport. It left me thinking about my own travel experience with Squish and how positive it was.

Squish generally travels with me every where I go in the car and when it came time for our cross Canada tour in April for the Urban Animal Regional Conferences I decided it was time to add air travel to our options. A great deal of planning and training started more than a month before the trip when I contacted Petland for recommendations on a proper kennel and spoke to the airline about their requirements. After finding the perfect kennel it was time to teach Squish that it was actually a good place to be with at first short and then longer naps in the kennel.

Chilling out in the kennel.

On the actual day of travel I was MUCH more nervous than Squish. To be sure she would be calm during the process we went for a long walk in the morning and arrived at the airport an extra hour early just so we could walk around outside to get used to the sights and sounds. As my vet had predicted, Squish breezed through check-in and the security process and suddenly I was leaving her with the staff and off to my gate. Again, I was more stressed than she ever was.

When you travel with your pet the airline typically comes to give you a 'boarding pass' for them after they have been loaded on the plane so I knew that she was safe up to that point. The flight I chose was a short hour-ish jump from Calgary to Vancouver specifically because it was a great introduction for both of us. When we landed in Vancouver I went down and gathered my luggage and just as I grabbed the last bag, out came Squish's kennel. She was calm and unconcerned with anything, my anxiety was certainly misplaced.

YVR has a great park system
running through the airport.

Our flight back to Calgary was a little more eventful given that her kennel ended up breaking but the airline was great about it and gave me full replacement cost for it with apologies and again, despite this, Squish couldn't have cared less. Obviously bad things can happen to anyone or anything when you travel but certainly in my experience if you are prepared and manage to calm yourself I would suggest you'll have a great experience and get to take your animal to some fun places along the way.

Checking in to the hotel.

Lisa Milton, Squish's Mom,
@summitLisa, lisa.miltonwork