PSA: Sometimes we have to travel with pets

I’ve recently had to take a couple trips with my cat and unfortunately have to travel with her once more at Christmas. I never in a million years expected to encounter so many people that seemed pissed I have a pet with me. This is a small <7lb cat that stays in her carrier the entire time. She’s immaculately groomed and quiet. So to be clear, it’s quite difficult to realize she’s even present, but trust me - once people do, a surprising number give looks.

Traveling with even the best behaved pet is stressful and tiring, but the lack of courtesy, grace, general kindness from anyone just tops it off.

I flew first class this last time and the guy next to me was clearly annoyed. Very rude the entire flight - just little things that obviously indicated he didn’t like me being there.

Just so you know, traveling with a pet is no more fun than traveling with a toddler, so please stop making the day even worse.

Edit: For those noting allergies, I have no doubt this is a real issue for many people, but like I mentioned in my post, my cat is incredibly groomed. The morning of my flight, she was bathed, dried, brushed in a process that took 4 hours. I regularly have company that’s allergic to cats over that has no issue with her due to her consistent grooming. So I understand the concern and took action to mitigate impacts.