It’s great to see international music superstar like Taylor Swift, who is such a tremendous role model for young and mature people worldwide, recognizing that she needs to safely transport her feline friends when leaving the safe confines of swifts home.

Previously, I’ve had to call Swift out for her less-than-safe means of transporting her feline friend Olivia outside of the safe confines of her home without using a pet carrier (see Hey Taylor Swift! You’re Not Safely Carrying Your Cat).
The basis for that article was a series of paparazzi photos showing Swift leaving her New York City apartment with Olivia nestled in Swift’s arms instead of being safely contained in a pet-appropriate carrier. Additionally, Olivia appeared to lack a collar or harness and leash to provide sufficient restraint should she escape from her owner’s clutch. Although Olivia appeared quite calm and content being held by her master, the potential exists that an outside force (loud horn, pushy paparazzi, sudden rush of a neighbor’s dog, etc.) could motivate her to flee from Swift’s grasp and become lost or incur injury or death.

Although Swift and Olivia were about to enter car, its still not a safe idea to let a pet roam free once inside. Permitting Olivia to walk around a moving car is a potential hazard to both the all passengers inside the car and other drives sharing the same road. According to a study done by the University of Alabama at Birmingham featured in Accident Analysis and Prevention in May, 2013, “both overall and at-fault crash rates for drivers 70 years of age or older were higher for those whose pet habitually rode with them.” Now I know that Swift obviously isn’t a senior, but I don’t know anything about her driver (who could be quite older). Therefore, Swift’s cat should always be restrained away from the car’s driver. Additionally, life-threatening trauma to our pets lurks in the potential activation of airbags. So, dogs, cats, and other companion animals should be kept in a location in the car not in close proximity to front or side airbags during vehicular travel.

As 2015 brings in a new opportunity for us to enhance our day-to-day habits, Swift seems to have changed her cat-carrying ways. She and a handler were photographed carrying blue and red cat carriers featuring embroidery that identifies the feline contents as Doctor Meredith Grey and Detective Olivia Benson. The Daily Mail article Even the cats travel in style! Taylor Swift takes her most treasured possessions with her in fancy personalized carriers as she leaves NYC apartment features the photos.

Swift even took to her Taylor Swift Instagram page to share a photo of the cat carriers sitting on a ledge in what appears to be a private plane with the caption “Not that giving Christmas presents is a competition, but this year, my mom won.”
I must extend thanks to Taylor Swift’s mother, Andrea Finlay, for gifting her daughter such useful items to benefit her feline grandchildren. With Finlay’s keen insight on how to keep Meredith and Olivia safe, hopefully I’ll no longer need to write further Pet-Lebrity News articles about Swift transporting the cats in a less-than-safe manner. Thank you Andrea!
How do you transport your canine or feline friend once you leave the house? Feel free to share your pet-safe travel tips in the comment section.