Took my cat on a road trip....

Tiddlywinks

Booked a holiday in Scotland and the cottage owner said she was OK with us bringing our cat - she's very nervy and our normal house-sitter fell through.

The travelling (from south England to mid Scotland) took about 7 hours with stops but actually was not as bad for our girl as we expected so I thought I'd share how we handled it just in case anyone else is needing to take their cat on a long car journey.

We got her used to a puppy harness - one with a d-ring metal loop on the back rather than at the neck.

We got a short lead that plugs into the the seat belt clip in the car.

Using a small dog crate in the back, we put in kitty litter and some newspaper and a blanket and left the door open. We split the back seats and folded the bigger side down and left one seat up for her to sit on (with her favourite blanket) and be clipped into the seat belt.

We put some crunchy food and a large dog bowl only quarter-filled with water (to stop spills) next to her and then set off.

She howled a bit at first but then settled down - the harness attached to the seat belt allowed her to roam around and look out of the window but prevented her from doing a runner when we opened the doors at the services.

She scoffed her crunchies on and off all the way and didn't use the kitty lit at all - result!

We already knew that she doesn't get travel sick or we wouldn't have attempted it. We took lots of blankets that already smelt of her so that she felt at home when we got there and put her favourite on the bed straight away and she went straight onto it.

Just wanted to share the seat belt harness idea as it was bloomin' marvellous - our girl could move around a bit but not escape and we weren't worried about her making a break for it and getting lost. The lead also helped us keep hold of her when transferring her from the car to the cottage and back again.

Fridaycat

Thanks for sharing :T That is quite a journey to take with a cat, not only once but twice

rising_from_the_ashes

Wow! that's some trip!:)

Glad it worked out well - I'd never be able to do anything like that as wee girl is "unwell" within a couple of minutes of leaving the house:eek: - and I'd also be too scared that they'd escape the house when I was there and get lost outside:(

Tiddlywinks

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Wow! that's some trip!:)

Glad it worked out well - I'd never be able to do anything like that as wee girl is "unwell" within a couple of minutes of leaving the house:eek: - and I'd also be too scared that they'd escape the house when I was there and get lost outside:(

My old girl used to lose all control of everything (if you know what I mean ) when she travelled so I couldn't have done it with her.

As to escape attempts - my girl is not the brightest pixie in the forest and always, always goes to the wrong side of the door - we just put a bag in first at cat level and she runs away - this has worked for the last 11 years we've had her and she never learns - thank goodness .

rising_from_the_ashes

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

My old girl used to lose all control of everything (if you know what I mean ) .

Ohhhhhh yeeeessssss - I know that all too well!

Tiddlywinks

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhhhhh yeeeessssss - I know that all too well!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

With our old girl, going to the vet was planned like a military manoeuvre - we would cover all the seats with black bin liners, use a puppy training mat in the cage to soak up the "spills" and have rubber gloves, cat wipes, kitchen roll and lots of carrier bags.

We'd have to stop half way to whip out one mat from the cage and put in another one and give her a quick wipe down as she used to lie down in whatever she produced :eek:.

By the time we got there she looked a right state and we had to have all the windows open!

Those were the days and I do still miss the old girl.

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhh I'm afraid I'm chuckling at this as it's exactly what happens with Mia.

Poor wee soul - I keep hoping she'll grow out of it but ......
sometimes it's before I've even got out the street and once we made it to the turn before the vet (I really thought we'd get there that time).

I'm afraid she has to stay in the carrier until we've got to the vet as she's a nightmare to get into it and there's no way I could let her out in the car - but it's straight through to the back room to give her a clean & a fresh towel (I go with several - all binned by the end of the trip) when we arrive.

She's due her booster soon ......:eek:

Tiddlywinks

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

She's due her booster soon ......:eek:

Good luck!

Rather than using towels, we used those disposable puppy training mats and cut them down. Also, if the Pampers disposable changing mats were on special offer then we'd get those and cut them down. They're made of disposable nappy type material and do absorb a lot....... nice subject!

rising_from_the_ashes

Oh that's a great idea, thanks - I think I've got some in the back of a cupboard somewhere from when the dog was "unwell"!:D

murphydog999

Here's a journey for you!

We bought my cat back with us from Cyprus, if we flew into the UK she would have had to be placed in the aircraft hold. I couldn't bear this, she is only little, and would have been scared to death on her own, so this is what we had to do.

3 hours by road to airport, flight to Frankfurt where she was allowed in the cabin with me. My husband (who had travelled back to the UK a few days earlier) drove over to pick us up. (How understanding was that!!) Back through Belgium and France, onto the euro tunnel car train then a mind-numbingly slow friday afternoon trip from Kent to Wiltshire. Approx 18 hours!!! I have never been so pleased to get out of a car in my life!

She was absolutely brilliant, I talked to her as much as I could, she wasn't ill and took everything in her stride. She was let out her box as soon as we got in the car, apart from not liking the tunnel much, she just loved looking out the window, or sleeping in the new bed my husband had bought her.

Apart from the journey she had a new climate and house to get used to, but she seems to trust me implicitly and nothing fazes her. It was a hell of a journey but worth all the hassle, I could never have left her.

SavvyStudentSaver

In our family, we have 4 cats. 1 of which is fine in cars it seems- she's quite happy to sit on the back shelf of he car, watching the world go by. Another is Ok. Wouldn't say he's particularly happy about cars, but he can cope.

The other two however... they panic so much. We've actually had to take the male one that copes with his brother, just so his brother can see it's not too bad. One of the urinating variety.
Our last is the worst though- he panics so much in the car that he gets a really wild, feral, desperate look. Crouches low to the floor in self-defense, jumps at anything, and starts panting with his tongue out, like a dog. Apparently (according to our doctor) when a cat gets to this stage, it's really dangerous, so we're now scared to take him to the vets