Question; London To Ireland with a cat?

NinjaSavingKat

Hello there...

I have a question / query for all you seasoned pet owners.

I have a 4 year old tabby (please see avatar) who is going to live with my parents in Northern Ireland (lots of space in the countryside ) from my small rented room in London and I am curious about the best form of transport.

I am going travelling for a little while and have no intention of giving her up so my parents have agreed to take her as I am always concerned a "foster parent" in London may well refuse to give her back.

I am sure I could put plans (contracts) in place to prevent this but my parents have over an acre of land, lots of trees and bushes to explore, live in a very quiet rural area, have no other pets, will send me pictures when requested (:)) and generally love her as I do. AND she will have sole use of a very warm conservatory to lounge in.

So I will also have to bring some stuff back home with me, despite most of my items being sold before I go, I am not giving/selling every little thing. So cost is an issue as well. Car rental is around the £400 from a very quick search, ferry is then another £100 with petrol estimated at another £100.

In contrast BA flights are £95 with a further £125 for moggy who will be in the plane with me as she is under £6kg however there is the added cost of freighting stuff to Ireland as well..

However..... the ferry option is LONG. I don't like the idea (even if I go by foot) of moggy being stuck in the cage for that long, the flight option is just as long and am wondering if anyone has had experiance of this and could enlighten me as to the best possible option namely for moggy with cost aside. I want her (Dorothy) to be happy despite generally hating cars and any form of travel and am wondering if sedation is the best option although not one I favour.

Any thoughts, opinions would be appreciated with how I could manage this will minimal stress to her.

Thanks for your help folks!

SnowyOwl_2

i did this journey about a decade ago, moving from London back to N.Ireland. However in my case I had three cats. For me the best option was to drive with the three cats in the car. Yes it was very unpleasant for them and for me (they all peed, puked and pooed before Oxford) but we all survived. The three kitties were in their separate cat boxes. If I had to do it again I would have them all together in the biggest crate I could find - maybe a dog crate - and put a litter tray in with them. That's what I would suggest for you and Dorothy. If you need to clean out litter or whatever do it within the confines of the car, ie without opening doors or windows so that Dorothy doesn't escape. Then you know exactly where she is and that she is safe and comfortable. My three cats hated car journeys, but the vet said not to sedate them at all. They yowled for about the first 50 or so miles but ultimately were fine, we got back in one piece. Good luck!

NinjaSavingKat

I was thinking this would be the best option. It's just incredibly long and of course the most expensive options. But thank you for your responce. I get the feeling not many people have done this kind of thing before.

DannyBo

I have the exact same situation, except going to Germany - was hoping to see some great advice in this thread. I wonder why sedation would not be a good thing? I was hoping to go down that route.

NinjaSavingKat

Dannybo I have heard that recovery from the sedation is more traumatic for the cat than recovery from a long journey. I have just moved so haven't got a vet on hand to discuss with but discovered a colleague to rescue dogs/cats from Sardinia and beyond although he has a massive van. His girl/f is a vet nurse so I will get back to the thread with more tomorrow.

krlyr

You say the ferry is long, but then say the flight is just as long, is that the case? Wasn't sure if there was a typo.

If the timing is the same, I'd probably cost up a bit more seriously the car option and go with what's best for you. If cat's going to be subjected to the same amount of travelling either way, I don't imagine it would make too much difference. A large dog crate in a car may be slightly more comfortable for cat, but then a ferry may be louder, the motion perhaps more disturbing. I'm not sure I could say one was particularly better/worse than the other.

Perhaps look into calmative supplements rather than sedatives - e.g. the Feliway spray would work for travelling, Zylkene comes in a cat version (you feed to the cat a little bit before, to build up in the system) and so on.

Bailey101

I've taken my cats (one who doesn't travel well at all) on a few long car journeys and they've been fine. I have a big dog cage that I line with blankets and puppy training pads and there's space for their 'own' blankets and a small litter tray.

I wouldn't use a cat carrier for a long journey, I think it's too small and must get pretty claustrophobic after a while. With the dog cage, there's loads of room to stretch and get comfy and I cover the top and 3 sides with a blanket so they can see into the front of the car but not get scared at traffic whizzing past.

xx

NinjaSavingKat

Hello folks - thanks for the replies.

The more I think about is the more the car option seems best. I would get a small dog cage for her and she would have the back seat to herself. On a flight the cage size it limited.

No typo - both are long. Between getting from my house (whether car or train ), waiting in the airport, the flight itself and then travelling home from Belfast airport ( about two hours ) the car/ferry option is pretty much the same. The thing I was asking about was the lesser of two evils for puddy-tat.

I think the calmative supplements seem like a good idea. From London to Home is 9 hours. Which apparently includes the Ferry according to Google Maps although I take that with a pinch of salt considering road works etc. But at least I could have all my important things in one vessel;...;- )

So the only other issue is the fact I haven't driven since I got my license two years ago...;-)

NinjaSavingKat

My friends responce - although as expected..

"I think full on sedation wouldn't be allowed as like you say they would need monitoring all the time.I think you can use natural calming tablets or diazepam though. Might be possible? Cats and dogs were brought back by van.
I think the time before that the dogs were sedated, but then they were able to be checked on every so often.I don't think I'd sedate a cat and fly them".

balletshoes

I haven't done 9 hours - but I have done 7 hours, in the car, with our cat.
He had the run of the back seat of the car, I put a harness on him, attached to a dog seat belt clip, and attached to a slightly elasticated lead (it came with the harness). The lead was adjusted so he could stretch his legs in the back of the car, get up onto the parcel shelf comfortably, and even on to the front seats and my daughter's lap comfortably (although you may not want to have the lead length that long if you are the only person in the car with your cat).
In the back seat with him, I put his cat carrier (with the grill taken off so he could go in and out as he pleased) and a couple of blankets. In the back footwell I had a small litter tray, and in the other back footwell I had a water bowl for him. When we stopped for breaks we refreshed his water bowl, and gave him some cat biscuits.
He wasn't stressed at all with this arrangement, because he wasn't confined (and he's been used to being in a harness since he was little). He yowls his head off when I take him 5 minutes drive round to the vets in his carrier, but he was a pleasure to be with with his harness on and free range around the back of the car .

NinjaSavingKat

Balletshoes - it sounds like a little oasis for him. What a brilliant set up!!! Although I tired mine with a harnass when she was little and she went mental. She would love to sit on a lap so I might take a friend with me anyway to entertain or stroke her if she cries too much... I like the idea of her having the run of the back seat though with a litter tray and water...