Re: Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?

"-mhd" <hamcheesebetweentheknees@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:jpq12419hhq4psb56iof12uu4ndlkstk8j@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"cshenk" <cshenk1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Although a soft one will work fine to hold a cat, you may find the cat
gets
>'scared' and pees in the carrier.  If you have a soft type, you will have

>an
>issue getting it clean again.  A hard carrier will not have this problem.
>Easiest hard carriers have an entry gate at the 'front' and at the top 
>both.
>Also, put a towel at the bottom so if they do 'pee' because they are 
>scared,
>you wont be bringing a wet kitty to the vet and trying to dry the worst
off
>as she/he gets examined.

I prefer soft ones as they much easier to carry and are probably much
more comfortable for the cat. As far as accidents go I would much
rather throw the bag in the washer than try to wash a car seat that
the hard carrier drained onto. A towel fits just fine in the soft bags
as well.

-mhd

I would imagine the size and weight of the cat might determine which type 
serves better. I haven't seen too many x-large soft carriers and would
worry 
about the handle pulling off if I was lugging around a large cat. I lug a 
lot of cats around though and most people only need to use their carrier
on 
the occasions kitty visits the vet.

I have had some cats who preferred not to have much of a view and many of 
the soft sided ones have screening on the sides that would provide too
much 
view to a skittish cat. I'm not overly impressed with the zipper closures 
either. If one has a cat who really doesn't want to be in the carrier, 
having to zip close provides too much time for the kitty to engineer an 
escape. I do like something with a top door though in case you need to get
a 
sick kitty in and out of the carrier. Years ago I had to take a carrier 
apart to get a sick boy out of it and have gone for carriers with a top
door 
since. You do have to double check to make sure the top door stays latched

though as some have a tendency to work their way open. Bottom line is that
I 
would imagine you get whatever type best suits your cat.