Sherpa Sport Duffle Pet Dog Cat Carrier Airline Approved Small Blue 44050

I recently moved from California to Ohio and driving my cat wasn't an option, as he is 13 years old and gets very, very car sick almost immediately. He'd never been on a plane before, let alone outside of the house except for annual vet visits. So my wife and I decided that I'd fly the cat to a very nice pet hotel near the Columbus airport and then fly back home and we'd drive with our 13-year-old dog -- which is too large to fly in-cabin (and we didn't want to risk losing her in cargo).

Our cat is like our kid (especially to my wife) so we had to make sure to get the right carrier. We shopped and compared several airline-approved carriers and decided on the Sherpa based on reviews. Since you can only take one carry-on bag and one personal item, we appreciated the zipped pockets and storage areas of the Sherpa. We put in wetnaps, cat toys, food and snacks and a water dispenser (I filled once I got past security).

You need to take the cat out when going through security, so I asked to do that in the private room you'd otherwise never want to see. The TSA were very nice and understanding. And the process went without the cat escaping into the airport.

There were a couple of times when our cat was obviously unhappy during the flight, but overall he did fantastic. He slept mostly and had plenty of room in the Sherpa. We put an absorbent pad under the included fleece liner but fortunately the cat was able to hold it until he got outside and into his cat suite at the pet hotel.

Two thumbs up (and two paws) from my cat and I for the Sherpa.

My little guy has been traveling in a sherpa bag all his life,his old bag was pretty worn out and he had chewed on one of the zippers when he was a pup and it finally got to the point that it wouldn't close, so it was time for a new one. I was pretty disappointed as the duffle doesn't stand on its own and has to be rigged up with seatbelts when being used in the car, I would feel claustrophobic if I were he because it lays flat on him, he's been pretty good about the new bag but I ended up purchasing another of the previous style for his comfort. I guess if it were a short trip to the vet it wouldn't be too bad but was definitely not what I had in mind when I bought it.

This is ok when both sides are zipped up, but the one end flops down when unzipped which makes it hard to get my kitty into it.