.

[Wolf]

I have no problems with that what so ever. Thank you.

[liz]

Gaugan has never liked small cages, and will beg and plead to be let out. She cant ever be covered because she panicks. This is left over from when they amputated her toe. She sits on my shoulder or on the headrest just above and will stay only in those positions until I stop the car and tell her she can sit on the steering wheel. She is a very well trained bird, we have both trained each other and we work together like a well oiled team. When I take Gaugan next door I tuck her in my jacket so she stays warm.

Rambo has never had his cage door closed. When I got him I took the door off because he would sit on it and poop farther out into the room. I promised Myrtle I would never cage her again since she spent her first year of life in a little cage. I am practical though and know that if I have an accident a loose parrot would get scared and loose when help comes. Rambo likes bye byes and will climb in the carrier on his own. They get a small French fry on the way home. That is the only time I open the carrier and I am stopped.

[marie83]

It's illegal to drive in this country with animals unrestrained. It would also invalidate your car insurance.

Whilst any method of restraint isn't going to prevent injury it can lessen the severity. The difference between being flung inches across a carrier and being flung a foot or so into a windscreen is stark. Even an emergency brake at 30 miles an hour would more than likely tear a bird from whatever it was gripping on to and possibly even 20mph.

I had to do a lot of research into transporting animals safely unfortunately there are no crash tested carriers for birds and other small pets like there are for dogs. Most crates/carriers just pop open on impact even if they are restrained by seat belts.

My preferred method for vets trips for small birds and the like is a converted cat carrier in the rear footwell with towels to pad around the sides which stops the carrier sliding round. Even if the carrier did pop open then hopefully the towels would be enough to hold it together enough to stop bird escaping into the car and then outside.
For a larger bird I would probably use my kings cage strapped in with a seatbelt as it's the strongest one I have and least likely to pop open or spear a bird. I might even pop it in my crash tested dog crate instead for double protection! It would depend on the type of journey I was making probably.

ETA- I've had 3 accidents and none of them were my fault. They were all low/no speed and there was still a lot of damage to my car and I had bad whiplash from being flung about in my seat belt. 2 times someone ran into the back of me when I had already been stopped at traffic lights for a minute or so. They were just ordinary nice everyday kind if people who are only human and made a mistake. Its no grand theft auto round here! The other one someone jumped a red light, swerved in front of me and I ended up hitting them. I had only just started at a green light so was doing no more than 10-15 mph. I dread to think if aanything other than my handbag had been loose in the car cuz that hit the dash with alot of force.

[seagoatdeb]

I always have carriers and travel cages if I go on trips, but I take Gaugan (Red Belly Poi) on short trips that are just for her. We go through a drive through for me to get tea and then she sits on the steering wheel and watches the people and birds and usually spins around and gives me little kisses. She also likes if I drive to a park, there lots for her to watch there. If people see her on the steering wheel they come close and make comments and Gaugan shouts out "peek a boo" at them. These are short distances. I am aware of the dangers , but her happiness outweighs the small risk for me. The larger risk of car breakdown, I am carefull of and dont take my birds out in cold weather, just in case. I live in a desert area in Canada, it can get cold on some winter days, but we get very little snow. It doesnt look like we will have a white Christmas once again.

[Pajarita]

That's what I do, also, Marie. I strap the parrot carrier or cat carriers/small dog crates with the seat belts in the back seat or, if they are small cages (for the little ones), I put them on the floor and move the passenger seat back so it's putting pressure on it and holds it in place. For the large dogs, we put a large crate in the back of the SUV and put stuff around it so it doesn't move.