Taking cat on a road trip
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| We used to have an indoor/outdoor cat who was easy to take on trips. Our current cat is an indoor cat. How do you take your cat on a trip if he's used to using a litter box? How about taking a cat on a move -- do you keep the litter box in the car, or just pull over periodically to let them go out using a harness and leash, or what? TIA |
Anonymous
|
If you are moving / traveling with a cat, you set up a large carrier with a small cardboard litter box taped down in the corner. Rest of carrier has soft blankets/etc.
If the cat is an indoor-only cat, the harness/leash/outdoors is not likely to work and would scare me to death--too easy for the cat to bolt (yes, even with harness). |
Anonymous
|
I have indoor cats.
First of all, I would never do this for a trip or for fun. It will be fun for exactly no one. The only time I would do this is to move. And that - that I had to do. I moved a 22 hour drive away, split across two days, with my two cats, and a year later, I moved back (same deal). I spoke to the vet in advance, this is what he recommended: 1) Cats can hold their pee (and in fact pee much less frequently that people anyway) for a fairly long time. He recommended not worrying about the litter box on the journey. So I just put them in their carrier and off we went, and 11 hours later we got to the half way point (stayed with a family member), let them out to run around in their house, and I had a temporary litter box all ready to go (basically just a plastic bin with litter that had a top so it would travel). They both had very long pees when we arrived, but were fine on the drive. They had all night to run around, stretch their little legs, eat, pee, poop, etc. Then it was back in the carrier for day two. 2) I had initially intended to let them out of their carrier (but keep them in the car) at rest stops (so they could pee, stretch their legs, drink some water, etc) but my vet STRONGLY advised against this. They don't need it, and it has the potential to be a disaster. What if they slip out of the car? What if you can't finagle getting them back in the carrier from inside the car? The vet was ABSOLUTELY right about this - honestly, the hardest part of the trip was getting them back into the carrier on day two (it took like 30 mins and I almost got scratched) and I can't imagine having to do that in a car at a rest stop! 3) The vet also strongly advised against letting the cats roam in the car during the drive. It's so easy for them knock the gear shift, freak out and jump on you at a weird time, or most dangerously, get behind the pedals, making it difficult/impossible for you to break. Also, in some cars, it's possible for a cat to actually get up into the hood/engine of the car from the area behind the pedals and you do NOT want that. Also, once I decided to drive a UHAUL, the vet said that they absolutely would be able to get into the engine area from behind the pedals and under no circumstances should they be allowed out of their carrier in the cab. 4) My cats were car criers (as I knew from our 20 minute drives to the vet). I asked the vet - he said to prepare myself, that there was a non-zero chance that they might just cry the whole way. I was steeled for that - but they cried about 45 minutes when we started in the morning, then went to sleep. They wake up and cry another 15-20 minutes at each rest stop as well, but then back to sleep. So the bulk of the trip was really fine - I think I only stopped twice a day both days. Overall, it was totally fine, I'd do it again if I had to move, but never, ever for fun. It was very stressful for them, probably took a solid week after, each time, for them to calm down and return to "normal" and it took way longer to adjust to their new homes after the move than it did after short, cross town moves (which we had done a lot of). |
Anonymous
| Agree you should not do this unless you have to. Cats are extremely territorial and it can be really difficult them to leave their home territory. They are not like dogs, who are primarily focused on their humans and territory is secondary (still important, but less than being with their humans). In most cases, a cat will do better at home with sitter who comes daily and, ideally, who they know at least a little. |
Anonymous
|
PP has some really good advice.
I'll just add, consider putting the carrier on the floor or somewhere where the cat cannot see out the windows. I had one cat that absolutely flipped out when he could see out the windows but would just go to sleep if the carrier was on the floor. |
Anonymous
| You stop and let them out, occasionally, on a leash. And you prepare for the unpleasantness: they will meow, it's a terrible sound, for the first 20 minutes of any trip. And they start over again from the beginning, after a break, whenever they get back in the car again. |
Anonymous
|
They may jump on the driver's shoulder, or crawl up front between the driver's legs. It can be quite dangerous.
A generous-sized pet carrier really would be good idea. |
Anonymous
I wrote the long post at 14:42, and I wanted to address the leash thing because I forgot the first time. This is bad advice. First of all, an indoor cat used to a litter box is not going to go to the bathroom on leash at a rest stop where everything is different and smells different and is overwhelming when you just stop for 30 minutes. It's NOT going to happen. Second of all, in order to have the cat on a leash, you either need to have the leash on her the whole trip, or put the leash on her when you get to the rest stop, which would involve removing her from the carrier unsecured (or at least opening it partially, which as you know with a cat, is unsecured) in your car at the rest stop. As I spell out in my post, the latter is a BAD idea. The former is going to make your cat uncomfortable when lying down/sleeping the WHOLE trip, and for no benefit. You also risk her getting tangled or getting a leg caught in the harness when she's in the carrier. This is not worth it. You are right about the meowing! Expect it. OP, I strongly suggest you talk to your vet before you go. I found the vet very, very helpful, and there were lots of things I thought were important (like giving the cat a chance to rest/use the litter box) that are NOT important to a cat, but really are just projecting human needs onto a cat. |
Anonymous
Not True. I have had indoor cats. I have traveled with my indoor cats. I speak from experience. |
Anonymous
|
I traveled with my three cats cross country. I think it took me about 8 days. I had a large tube set up in the back seat for two of the cats so that they were contained but could still move around. Initially I did set up a small disposable litter box in there, but they never used it while traveling. The third cat didn't tolerate being with the other two so I set up a different tube in the front seat for him. All cats wore harnesses during the trip but that was just to facilitate taking them from the car to hotel/cabin etc at the end and beginning of the day. I would definitely NOT recommend taking them out on a leash at a rest stop. The most dangerous times (in terms of escape) for were these transfers from car to hotel. (I have yet to find a harness that a panicked cat can not get out of while on a leash....)
Definitely don't let them loose in the car - that is very dangerous (there was one time one of the cats managed to open the zipper of the enclosure and got out and I had to pull over to get her back in. A cat crawling on you or in the pedal region is not safe. Cats could see out the windows and this was not an issue at all for mine. There was almost no meowing - cats got very acclimated to the car over the course of the trip and it became "home" for them. So based on my experience it is possible to have a setup that is safe and contains a litter box in the car, but in my case it was not necessary - they just used the litter box overnight at the hotel and didn't use the car one. |
Anonymous
| What was the "tube"? |
Anonymous
| We take our two cats to our summer home every year, and they can go 10-11 hours without having to pee. We tried a rest stop on a leash once and it was a disaster. Yes, they cry at the beginning, but then they crash for the rest of the ride. And now they’re used to the drive, and start crying again around hour 10–their feline “are we there yet?” |
Anonymous
I used this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FOOO9Y/ref=twister_B07G2Z1VGB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 In the back seat I had put stuff in the leg wells to create a flat surface with the seat and was able to fit a couple of them zipped together with a curve so there was a u-shaped tube in the back. In the front seat I used one, put the seat-belt around it and also put a pillow between tube and dashboard. (I think the front seat version was less safe but had to improvise when it became clear that the oldest cat wasn't going to tolerate being with the other two.) |
Anonymous
Just to add - some cats can open the zippers on these things (as I learned) but a twist tie solves that problem. |
Anonymous
And one more thing - I think I used an earlier design with different branding as this was more than 5 years ago so may not be the exact same thing now. 
|