Seeking the holy grail of cat carriers

June 1, 2024 3:40 AM

ISO a really good, easy to use cat carrier, available in the UK. This feels like it should be easy but I have been searching for many months now and it's not!

I need a really good, easy to use, ideally top opening cat carrier for a wily cat who haaaaates carriers.

I currently have the ubiquitous Amazon basics one but it's a bit small for my cat. It does allow you to lower her in from the top, as it's almost impossible to get her in through the front; but the top door is very fiddly to close, especially when you are trying to do it with one hand, while containing a big squirmy cat inside. (Cat tax. You can see she's a moderately big girl.)

I have a fabric one, which is too small, and I feel the zips are not secure enough.

I've looked online for other top-opening carriers, but the reviews are never uniformly good - either they break easily, or the handle breaks off, or they're not secure enough for a struggling cat, or they're not big enough. They're either very cheap (in which case I do not trust the quality) or very expensive (in which case I do not feel confident to splash out unless the reviews back it up, which they seldom do).

Please can you recommend me your absolutely foolproof cat carriers, that are available in the UK? Looking for sturdiness, ease of use, and ideally top-loading.

She has a vet appointment in a few weeks and I'd like to get it now so that I have time to acclimatise her to it.

posted by unicorn chaser to Pets & Animals (11 answers total)

I have almost that exact cat carrier that you linked, and I just use it as a top opening carrier. That is, I put the carrier on end so the door is at the top, and lower the cat into it.
posted by quacks like a duck at 3:51 AM on June 1 [9 favorites]

The large mesh style like this or this. You can also find these on Amazon but at over twice the price.
posted by Lanark at 4:33 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]

Look at dog carriers. We use a dog carrier that my cat can stand up in, and it seems much more comfortable than if she was squished.
posted by randomquestion at 6:10 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]

I use a mesh carrier for small/medium dogs. Cat carriers are too small for my 2 boys.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:09 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]

I've always liked soft-sided carriers because they usually have a (removable) fluffy bottom inside that the cat can grip, so he doesn't slide everywhere while the carrier is being carried or driven.
posted by amtho at 8:22 AM on June 1 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: have almost that exact cat carrier that you linked, and I just use it as a top opening carrier. That is, I put the carrier on end so the door is at the top, and lower the cat into it.

Great tip, and it worked when I did a test run, but the carrier is still a bit too small for her.
posted by unicorn chaser at 8:56 AM on June 1

There's this one in Pets at Home, which has a top opening, and which comes in two sizes. My only caveat with that one is that it might be a bit too 'open' for a cat, as it's my experience that cats prefer something a little more enclosed.

I have this cat carrier, which came with my cat when I adopted him. He's a reasonable-sized adult cat who hates getting in his carrier, and the top opening is very useful. If he's extra squirmy, I do the 'turn it on its end and drop him in' method.
posted by essexjan at 1:55 PM on June 1 [1 favorite]

A lot of cat rescuers I know use this triangle carrier - thats the Amazon US link but fyi that structure allows for easy access during vet visits.

I actually would not use a dog carrier - they are not necessarily designed to remain secure against a crafty cat who’s dying to get out (speaking from experience). Generally, hard carriers are the most secure, which is ultimately what you want from a carrier.

Any carrier is better than none, but ideally you have one for each pet in case of emergency.
posted by shelle at 6:24 PM on June 1 [1 favorite]

This might sound crazy but my favourite cat carrier is a strong but thin and breatheable nylon gym bag like this. I used a binder ring to clip the zipper pull to the shoulder strap, so the cat couldn't squirm it open. And be careful not to put the bag on a table or any raised surface when the cat is inside the bag, as the cat can still kind of walk inside the bag and could fall off the table. So just make sure to always put it on the floor, or hold it in your lap.

My cat would relax in the duffel bag and not cry - he actually seemed to like it, and would step into it willingly. I think because it cradled him like a hammock, it didn't require him to balance, he liked being in my lap, he couldn't see what was going on but he could feel that he was with me, and it gave him cuddly relaxing pressure. Whereas in a rigid plastic carrier, he was physically tense from bracing himself against movement, very nervous, did NOT enjoy seeing all the scary things outside the carrier, and thus would howl and hiss miserably the whole time, occasionally have a fear-pee in the carrier, and definitely sprint away when he saw the carrier come out.

The other thing I did in a pinch sometimes was put the cat into a pillowcase and then use several strong elastics (spaced out) to tie the end shut so it looked like bamboo (spaced out because then the cat can't pop them all open at once, even if the first one pops or shifts, the next one is still totally firm). I didn't like the pillowcase as much as the bag because the elastics didn't feel as reliable as the zipper on my duffle bag. But the cat liked it!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 11:46 PM on June 1 [1 favorite]

Not really a recommendation for carriers, but having gone through the struggle of cats hating carriers, when my last batch was adopted, I started leaving the carriers out and open all the time. I tuck them behind chairs, under end tables, next to a good brid watching window, next to my reading chair, under the bed. Each gets a soft blanket and every couple of months I switch out which ones are where.

After about a year of this, none of my 7 cats even blinks when I pull out a carrier, because they don't associate it with anything bad - even the 13 year old who used to hate carriers after a long run of mystery illness. I frequently find them napping in the carriers or even fighting over a desirable one... Or cramming both their butts in there. There is always some backsliding after a vet visit, but it doesn't tend to last.

Just a very low effort thing to try to make vet visits less stressful, because I remember all too well the struggle.
posted by unsettledink at 11:50 AM on June 3 [1 favorite]

The Sleepypod is excellent and zips open across the top so you can pour your cat right in.
posted by nicwolff at 1:33 PM on June 3 [1 favorite]