You will learn to judge a carrier on its opening, its rigidity and where it sits in the car, and why the one left out all year is the right one.
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A cat does not go into a carrier because it looks good. It goes in if the floor does not move under its paws, if the thing opens from the top, and if it has seen it somewhere other than by the car door.
Pushing a cat through a front door hands it two posts to grip. It braces, you push harder, and the object becomes an unpleasant memory for both of you.
From the top you lower it in instead of shoving it, and lift it out instead of dragging it. At the surgery, that is also what lets a vet examine it in the bottom half when it refuses to come out.
Models that split in two go further: the top shell lifts away and the animal stays sitting on its own blanket without having moved.
A cat reassures itself through its paws. A fabric bag with no rigid base ripples with every step you take, and the animal spends the journey hunting for footing that keeps sliding.
A removable board is enough. Check mainly that it lies flat and does not curl up when the bag is lifted by the handles.
Standing without ducking, able to turn around, lying on its side: that is the whole specification. Nothing beyond it.
Too big is a real fault, not generosity. In hard braking or a bend, an animal that is not wedged gets thrown from one wall to the other.
Take the measurement at home, with the cat stretched out, nose to base of tail. The floor of the carrier should be a little longer than that, not twice as long.
Anything not held down keeps going when the car stops. A carrier sitting on the back seat, on your lap or on the passenger seat is held by nothing.
Two places hold: the rear footwell, wedged between the seat and the front seatback, or on the seat with the belt routed the way the maker shows.
Check the belt route before you buy. Plenty of bags have no route at all, and a belt laid across a lid holds nothing.
A catch that needs two hands is a catch you open badly, usually at the worst moment: in a car park, with an animal pushing against it.
Try it empty, both ways, with one hand. Then push the door from the inside with your fist: if there is play in it, a determined cat will find that play before you do.
A cat may urinate or be sick on the way, and that is neither rare nor its fault. A glued-in fabric lining that cannot be removed keeps the smell and brings it out again next time.
A rinsable shell, or a lining that comes out and goes in the machine, plus a towel you can afford to lose. That is all that separates a neutral carrier from one that announces the last episode.
A carrier that only leaves the cupboard on appointment mornings becomes a signal. The cat is not learning the journey, it is learning the object, and it hides before you have even picked up the keys.
Left open in the room, door off, with the bedding it already likes inside, it goes back to being furniture. It is the only improvement in this piece that costs nothing.
It is also the honest answer to anyone about to buy a better model: the model is almost never the problem.