Transporting cat

FireFly_3

I'm moving house shortly, journey of about 300 miles, takes about four hours.
My 9 month old cat HATES car journeys and generally tends to freak out. Has anyone ever sedated a cat for their car journey and how did it go? Is there any risk to the animal? Also, is it expensive?

Thanks

Sirbendy

I've read some people mentioning bachs rescue remedy...my boys tend to not like the car either..it's fine until we start rolling.

We've got to move then in a few days...only a short trip though luckily. Got to move the guinea pigs as well, so I reckon if I do both at the same time, it'll work well.

FireFly_3

Thanks Sirbendy, I've tried RR before but he spits it out. He starts panicking from the minute I put him in the carrier so I am a bit worried.

Sirbendy

Check with your Vet, I'd suggest...

I tend to have them on the passenger seat so I can see them, they can see me, and we can have a good old chat. Last time I had Hex behind me, he got his paws through the bars and lacerated the back of my car seat.

Not sure it it does any good, but the box has their favourite fleecy throw in it, and when it's not in use we take the door off and leave it in a room, so they can come and go as they please...they don't mind going in it at all - it's just the car movement that upsets them.

Even AC/DC doesn't calm them down..heh..

ka7e

I've sedated a cat for a house move. He would probably sleep for the whole journey and still be groggy and "drunk" when you get in. It doesn't totally immobilise some cats, they just become very unco-ordinated and woozy. He may still be distressed by the movement and vomit or wet himself. Take a roll of kitchen paper!

Nomad25

Feliway travel spray works for some. Sometimes a vet will give you a sedative for a cat [depends on age/health status etc.], it is a tiny dosage. Please don't be tempted to give human drugs.

YorkiePud_3

I've not used anything for my cats when they have been in the car, but I do use one of the dog transporter cage/crates ... a lot of people have the open wire cages for cats and my vet said that with it being so open, they tend to feel very vulnerable.

So I bought a large dog transporter (the ones you can use for airlines, so they are VERY sturdy) ... they are closed in on the top, but have little patterned cut outs at the sides at eye level sp that the cat can see out of it, and they have the wire mesh door at the front, so whilst they don't feel so closed in and can see out front and sides, they really are secure and don't feel so "on show" ...

I find an old pillow covered in a fleece blanket is the perfect size to fit in on the bottom and up to now (touchwood!) my two have settled down beautifully in it for any travelling in the car.

The one I have was about £45 but it is so sturdy and am sure it will last forever!

SnowyOwl_2

I moved from London to N.Ireland some time ago - I drove and sailed with three cats in the car. TBH I was concerned about my three getting really nervous and freaking out but had few choices about how to transport them. Yes they did whine and scratch but they got fed up with doing that quite quickly. The absolute worst was that all three of them had to pee and poo in their transporters - I felt sorry for them, I really did. But there was no way I was going to stop and take them out to clean them properly. A change of towels etc had to do. Better dirty, uncomfortable but SAFE than risk their getting out of the car and losing them. The journey took from 6.00am to about 10.00pm.

Can you do some daily trial runs in the car with your cat perhaps starting with some daily carrying him around the house in his carrier or putting food in it so that he starts to think of it as a good place to be? Maybe he won't tolerate daily car journies but then again if he's scared of the car it may be that he's not used to it at all, after all he doesn't really know what a car is. I have a cat with a chronic illness who used to be scared of the car and cried like a banshee in it - but he's been to the vet about 30 times now and the car is of absolute no concern to him as it's normal for him.

Before I left London my vet gave me a tablet for one of my cats to help calm him. In the end I couldn't get it down his neck - but at least there is something available if you wanted to ask your vet. It was pennies rather than pounds in cost. Regards the rescue remedy you only need a couple of drops of it - if you hold his head back with his mouth open you'll get them in no problem. There isn't really enough in two or three drops to spit out so he will inevitably swallow especially if you aim for the back of the throat.

On the day it'd probably be a good idea to not feed your cat until you arrive at your destination. Of course give him water. Maybe you'll avoid a smelly car ride (cos it ain't nice!).

If the journey is awful console yourself that it's a one off....

pboae

Speak to your vet about it. I helped my sister move her cats about 250 miles, one was fine, the other was terrified of the car. Even the short journey to the vets would have her completely freaked out, and she would be sick and have the runs (having been starved all morning just in case) so she couldn't have anything comfy to lie on, because it had to be changed all the time. She gets insanely stressed by everything TBH but travel is her worst thing.

When she moved the vet gave us sedatives for her, because we were seriously worried that she might have a heart attack or something from the stress. We starved her first, I think it was 12 hours, then gave her a tiny bit of food with half a pill a few hours before we were due to leave, and left her quietly in an empty room with just the other cat and their beds and water.

That way they didn't get all het up by seeing stuff being moved around, then by the time we were ready to go she got another half a pill, she was already dopey and let us put her in her travel basket without a fuss (first time ever). There was a piece of vet bed in the carrier, with a piece of absorbent (incontinence) pad underneath it, in case she did have an accident.

But she was absolutely fine. She was pretty dopey for the rest of the day and the next day she wasn't quite herself (very cuddly and affectionate, not like her at all!) but after that she was back to normal.

I'm not 100% sure that I've remebered that right, we may have given her a 1/4 first, but I know we talked it all through with the vet and he told us the best way to do it. It wasn't expensive, a couple of quid maybe for the tablets.