Well meaning but clueless cat sitter and keeping cats quiet in the car

<sigh> One of my colleagues watched my cats while I went to my parent's for spring break. Apparently, she let a neighborhood tom sneak in the house. (granted he is a gray tabby and two of my three spayed girls are gray tabbies) I'm not terribly worried about disease as FLV/FIV is pretty rare in our area and all of my cats are current on that vaccine and all others. (I also know the neighborhood cats and the one is question is healthy and friendly.) I have no idea how long the tom was in the house. Another friend came over to check on things, got him out and reported back to me. So, when I got home I had the appropriate supplies to combat tom cat pee. My cats do not appear to have any physical damage.

When I got home they were in my room. Marmalade came out to greet me, but I had to find the others who were hiding under my bed. Once they saw I was home, they seemed a lot happier. Once I cleaned up a few places I suspected as being targets, they seemed even happier. Within a couple of hours they were more or less back to normal though a bit more easily startled than usual. In general, my cats are used to a very quiet environment, and my colleague is a much louder person than I am.

How do I mitigate any lingering trauma?

More importantly, how do I keep them quiet in the car. The only reason I did not take them is my dad could not handle the constant meowing on the six hour car trip. My vet gave me mild tranquilizers, but that didn't seem to keep Loudmouth from meowing the whole time when I went home at Christmas. They were quiet the first time I took them home. I was able to put both of the grays in one carrier. I want to try a carrier big enough to hold at least the two grays. Should I find a carrier that can handle all three or just the two gray sisters? What else can I do to keep them quiet and comfortable on the car trip?

Angie

I'm pretty sure you can't keep cats quiet in the car, to be honest. Others might have suggestions for you, but in my experience, it's unavoidable.

As for the other thing, extra affection and some time to settle down should help - depending on how long you were gone (spring break - guessing 2 weeks?) it might take longer to reassure them that everything's fine. They are probably upset that you were gone as much as by the tom. You could get something like the Feliway plug in - we definately find it works to help calm the savage beast

Keep an eye out for any signs of illness - cats are very good at hiding pain, and it's possible that one of them got into a fight with the tom, resulting in a bite, resulting in an infection.

When you travelled with them before did you put a blanket or towel over the carrier. When we first took Bijou for a longer trip, I put a towel over the back and sides of his carrier and left the front open. I don't know if that will make a difference for you. But then again, both Bijou and Mika are really good travellers and actually enjoy going for car rides. Bijou will quite happily jump into the car and lay down on the backseat waiting for the ride to begin.