Flying cats and dogs: Relationality, empathy and care in the transportation of animals by air

Abstract

The carrying of companion animals by air has grown into an international business involving approved vets, pet travel agencies, airlines, and animal terminals. This study investigates how the experience of transportation is shaped and draws theoretically on an approach of more-than-human mobility. In detail, I approach mobility through relationality, empathy, and caring practices by considering air transportation as an anthropocentric means of animal movement. Movement, including the specific conditions used to carry companion animals, influences the experience of mobility, triggering multispecies empathy and caring practices. Empirical accounts provide 16 online interviews with cat and dog caregivers analyzed via a qualitative content analysis. The interviewees shared transportation experiences in the aircraft cabin, in the hold, or when carrying animals as cargo. The analysis reveals that caregivers and companion animals experience air transportation relationally and the separation of caregivers and companion animals causes negative transport experiences.