On the advice of the American Humane Society, United Airlines have decided to ban purebred cats and dogs with shortened faces traveling in the hold. In my view this is because they have poor breathing. They are more likely to suffer health issues when traveling due to the stress of it. Persians, too, can be nervous and become stressed. Do they overheat when stressed?
There was a time when this airline carried a whole range of pet animals but they have now restricted pets to dogs and cats excluding short-nosed and snub-nosed dogs as well as strong-jawed breeds. They refer to dogs there but there are some snub-nosed cats as well, the most common of which is the Persian and the shorthaired version of the Persian, the Exotic Shorthair. They have also banned the Burmese. Fox News do not specify that the Exotic Shorthair is banned but by extension this breed has to be because it has the same head confirmation and therefore potential breathing issues as the Persian. Correction: further research, and on a different page, they list four cat breeds which are banned, namely, the Burmese, Himalayan (pointed Persian), Exotic Shorthair and Persian.
There appears to be a flaw in the policy. There are two types of Persian. The flat-faced Persian can have breathing difficulties which are well known. However, the doll-faced Persian cat (traditional Persian) is pretty much a normal domestic cat with a standard head conformation and therefore this type of Persian cat should not be banned by United airlines. I wonder if they have considered this.
In all, United Airlines have banned 25 breeds of dogs and cats from the cargo hold say Fox News. Of these, 21 are dogs and four cats. They are not accepting reservations for the branchycephalic (round headed and flat faced) dogs and cats. There is a list of more than 50 dog breeds (including ‘sub-breeds’). Please check this page for complete lists.
It would pay for passengers of this carrier to check the rules before heading to the airport. These changes represent revisions to their PetSafe travel program. The ban starts from June 18, 2018. The purpose of the change in policy is to “further minimize risk and ensure the comfort of pets we fly… Prior to today, we flew all sorts of animals. Geese, foxes, leopards, you name it, we pretty much flew it… We will only fly dogs and cats as pets that belong to our customers”.
This is a response to the news that United had the most animal deaths for the past two years.
The so called Persian breed should be banned. Period. Breeding cats is animal cruelty. Inbreeding causes mutations. If you really love and care about cats, help homeless cats and rescue a stray.