Cats n Cars don't mix!

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Hi

Can anyone offer any advice from experience?

We don't travel really often, but when we go away for two nights or more, we put our young cat into a cattery. She enjoys being there, but does not enjoy the ride.

She shakes and howls when we try to put her in the box, and then she is always sick on the way. We have tried to allow her to sit on her bed in the car but she just runs about and then is sick also.

We have tried holding the box on my partner's knee so she can see outside and talking to her - but, you guessed it she is sick!

Nothing seems to work and we are worried about the amount of stress on her and me when driving! She is a rescue cat and only 1.5 years old so perhaps she had some trauma before with boxes / cars.

I have heard there are herbal remedies that can calm cats. Or can anyone else offer any advice from experience? It's getting really stressful and I always feel like crying once we arrive at the cattery due to the state the poor mite is in!

Thanks to anyone who replies
GJ x

TrickyNiki

it seems your cat doesnt like the travel box as much as the travelling.

I got my cats used to the travelling boxes from a young age, I just left them lying around so they could play and sleep in them. Now whenever I bring them out they are always happy to go inside, but once back home I always leave the boxes out until the next day.

Maybe you could start getting your cat used to the travel box it might reduce the stress of the car travel.

Alex_Frost

Some free online advice,

Try googling "cat car sickness", one of the first links has some advice.

Pretty much just getting your cat used to being inside a car. May help.

DKLS

My little one hated travelling in the car, until one day I put a Faithless CD on fairly loud, and she went to sleep!. Not sure if the bassline mimics a comforting heartbeat or if she simply got used to travelling so cant say it was the CD itself that did the trick, but it worked for me.

Alex_Frost

Quality tuneage may be the way forward here....good shout that.

dizziblonde

I've never found an answer to this one. Mine HATES travelling (she hates my driving more than oh's - cheeky mog) but she doesn't throw up, she will just wee and poo all over the floor of the box, or try to aim it OUT the door into the rest of the car.
I've just found minimizing it wherever possible to be all I can do - so she goes to the nearest Ve-Ee-Tee to the house in the hope that when she's got there she's only hit the level of mild feline indignation as opposed to total wrath against humankind (and the makers of cat boxes). When we go away we're going the pet-sitting service route rather than a cattery - it's a similar cost around here and means she doesn't need to be transported.

Someone on another board suggested Feliway to me to calm her down when I need to transport her - haven't tried it yet.

xJayJayx

My cats were ALWAYS sick in the car when travelling and the only way we stopped the sickness was to not feed them before the journey.
If you are leaving relatively early in the day don't feed the cat (water is fine) and just make sure the cat is fed on arrival at the destination.
Worked well with my cats.

shelly

xJayJayx wrote: »

My cats were ALWAYS sick in the car when travelling and the only way we stopped the sickness was to not feed them before the journey.
If you are leaving relatively early in the day don't feed the cat (water is fine) and just make sure the cat is fed on arrival at the destination.
Worked well with my cats.

Completely agree with this.

On the rare occasions Coco had to travel she travelled horrendously. She would poo, wee and be sick on every occasion (which thankfully in her 15+ years wasn't many)
Only way to stop this was not to feed her for a few hours before travelling. If she had a vet appt before 12 noon I would stop feeding her from about 8pm the night before. If her appt was after 12 noon she didn't get fed that morning.
Even then she would still retch and try to be sick but nothing came out.

We only have Lily now as Coco died over xmas and she travels better but she's not completely happy. She pants now and then which is a sign of stress and she cries a little but once we stop she is fine.

You can buy something called Feliway which is a hormone spray that you spray in the cage before travelling which calms them down. You can also buy it as a plug in.

HTH

listerofsmeg_2

We've stopped the cat being sick in the car by not feeding him for 12 hours before the journey. He always poos and wees though. I've just got used to it.

My cats go to the vet once a year for their injections. Two of them are fine so they share a box, but one is awful. I line his box with newspaper and put kitchen roll over the top for absorbancy. When we get to the vets, they clean him out and put a pad down at the bottom of the box. Then when I get home (he poos and wees on the way back too) he has to have a bath.

Fang (the cat) has never had a bad experience in the box so I don't think it's bad memories that's the reason. I got him as a small kitten and he pooed in the box on the way home.

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Thanks all for the great advice. I'll continue to try lots of different things each and every time we take her out. I just wish she could understand our language that we're not trying to hurt her or that she's not been bad!

Thanks again all

xx

frankie55

My cat also hates travelling, but I have an angel as a neibhour (SP) and she loves to fed the cat when we are away, she even sits for half an hour or so to pet him. Kate also allows him to visit her and he has his own chair there, but, we had to tell her not to feed him extra creats as he started to get rather large and had to go on a diet. Maybe you could find another angel for when you go away, Our local dog walker will also go in and feed cats, she is police checked and insured etc. There is something nholy about a cat yowwwlllling in the car lol