Anybody ever do a road trip with your cat?

jlmarta

I've got this crazy urge to do a road trip with my child bride but we have a cat. I know there are pet-friendly motels along the way but I can still foresee problems that could occur. 

Has anyone done this satisfactorily?  Do you have any suggestions that would ensure a smooth trip without the possibility of the cat getting loose in a strange town or other, worse things?

We've tried boarding the cat at the vet's facility but the cat didn't like that at all. By the time we returned home the staff at the vet's asked us not to bring her again since she pretty much terrorized them all. One idea I'm looking into is to hire a petsitter to stay at our home with the cat until we return. Don't know how that idea might work out. 

Anybody got any other ideas?  

[Deleted User]

I took a cat from North Carolina to California and back. He did pretty well but after being cooped up all day in the car, he would run around in the hotel room for an hour or so after you turned off the lights to go to bed. 

We didn't dilly-dally and made it home as fast as possible. We carried him into and out of the room while he was in his litter box. We were very careful to make sure he never ran out of the room. 

We were young (I was 18) so it was easy to deal with since he mostly slept under the car seat for long periods. 

Amos_Umwhat

The only road trips I've taken with cats have been moves from one place to another.  The cats seemed to invariably HATE this.

In recent years we've employed the house sitter option, because we've got 3 dogs and 5 cats and this was cheaper than boarding.  We've also gone on trips and boarded the dogs, left the cats outside, and just had my sister stop by and feed and water.

I've also know folks with big RV's that take their cat, and that seemed to work well.

Good luck, whatever you decide..

YankeeMan

Cats generally do not travel well.  You could experiment with a short trip to see how the cat does in the car, but most do not like it.

onestrangeone

 From what I have been able to figure out cats don't do well with any kind of change, for some cats something drastic like a road trip could be very traumatic and result in a personality change (almost never for the better) I agree with YankeeMan start small scale and see what happens, you never know with a cat.

I have left ours alone in the house for up to 5 days, as long as he has food and water he's okay, anything longer than that I have someone he knows stop by and hang out for a bit. 

Poopy_Jones

Kitties do not travel well. I have 4 ( my avatar ) and have had cats over the years and none of them liked the car. When Mrs Jones and I go away for a small trip we get a friend to feed and water kitties. Much better for everyone especially the cats

webmost

While it's true that cats don't generally travel well by car (I've even known them to run away at a stop and never get found again), oddly, cats seem to travel quite well on sailboats. I met any number of distance sailors with contented cats. I met a fellow from Yugoslavia who thought the reason sailors so often stowed cats was for provisions. I toted chickens and rabbits for provisions, so I could see the force of his assumption; but I don't much care for Chinese food, and have never tried Yugo food, so his remark surprised me. Don't know whether cats make good bait, but they do come equipped with hooks.



None of which info is helpful to jmarta, but I felt chatty, so...

jlmarta

Thanks for all the great input, guys. It's much appreciated. 

Our cat has traveled with us extensively when we had our travel trailer but she has a tendency to want to get out and explore at exactly the wrong time and place. I once almost had a panic attack when she slipped out while I was fueling up in a very busy truck stop. 

I think ill have to pursue the petsitter plan more thoroughly. Nothing else 'feels' right, under the circumstances. 

Thanks again....  

peter4jc

Good luck, Marty.  There are other benefits to having a house-sitter and it's a good idea whether or not they're there to watch the pets.  I don't think most cats really need more than a daily visit, or every couple days - they're usually content to be alone - so if you can't find a house-sitter, maybe you can arrange for someone to pop in once in a while.

Funny, that everyone responding so far has been on the forum for a long time.  I guess the newer guys don't like cats.   

Wylaff

I grew up in the country where cats were expendable. At any given time I had 5 or 6. I liked them, but it seems like every other week one was hit by a car or eaten by a coyote. Guess I have a hard time thinking of cats as more than convenient pest control.

jlmarta

Thanks, Peter. I just thought I'd throw the question out there since there are a lot of readers and probably a good number of varying experiences from those readers regarding the question. 

And i was right. Lots of info available from the BOTLs/SOTLs on this forum if only a person thinks to ask for it. 

kswildcat

I'd just have someone pop in every 2 or 3 days to make sure food water and clean litter box.

I've seen many cats camping out on the dash of trucks, on the shoulder of the driver and so on.. usually the ones camping on the dash were huge... I'm not a fan of cats and have only had 2 to try to keep a gf happy..