Hello! My cat is a little over a year old and has a brother and sister who live with my parents. Every so often I visit them and bring her along. My cat enjoys visiting her siblings and is unfazed by the temporary change in environment; however, she hates the hour-long car ride to get there.
Every trip has involved sad/terrified meowing, clawing at the carrier door, and soiling herself. It would be much less stressful and stinky for her and I both if I could figure out how to keep her calm during the trip. I keep her carrier out all the time with a towel and sometimes a toy or some treats inside. I've seen her occasionally lay down in her carrier just to hang out. Unfortunately, she tends to get scared whenever I latch the carrier door.
I'm not quite sure how to handle training her to be okay in her carrier with the door shut. I've tried keeping the door shut for short amounts of time and rewarding calm behavior with treats. While that's worked a bit, if I extend the time before she gets the treat a bit too long, then she starts whining and meowing and clawing at the carrier, and she gets so worked up that she ignores treats for any tiny break in this behavior.
I know she's scared and wants to be let out, but I don't want to teach her that getting worked up like that earns positive results. I've been letting her out as soon as she stops clawing and meowing, but those few seconds of rest are usually over as I'm unlatching the door, meaning that she's sometimes getting out right after she started panicking again, so I'm not sure that this is very effective. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere with shutting her in, giving her a treat every few seconds for staying calm, and letting her out before she starts; I don't think she's gone past a minute without at least some panicking. I'm starting to consider leaving her in there and waiting out the terror until I (hopefully) see some consistent calm that lasts more than a few seconds. I'm not sure how long it would take for that though, and I hate seeing her so scared. What should I do? Should I try the "cry it out" method? Should I keep doing what I'm doing? Should I back off the training a bit? Something else? Help, please.
Every trip has involved sad/terrified meowing, clawing at the carrier door, and soiling herself. It would be much less stressful and stinky for her and I both if I could figure out how to keep her calm during the trip. I keep her carrier out all the time with a towel and sometimes a toy or some treats inside. I've seen her occasionally lay down in her carrier just to hang out. Unfortunately, she tends to get scared whenever I latch the carrier door.
I'm not quite sure how to handle training her to be okay in her carrier with the door shut. I've tried keeping the door shut for short amounts of time and rewarding calm behavior with treats. While that's worked a bit, if I extend the time before she gets the treat a bit too long, then she starts whining and meowing and clawing at the carrier, and she gets so worked up that she ignores treats for any tiny break in this behavior.
I know she's scared and wants to be let out, but I don't want to teach her that getting worked up like that earns positive results. I've been letting her out as soon as she stops clawing and meowing, but those few seconds of rest are usually over as I'm unlatching the door, meaning that she's sometimes getting out right after she started panicking again, so I'm not sure that this is very effective. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere with shutting her in, giving her a treat every few seconds for staying calm, and letting her out before she starts; I don't think she's gone past a minute without at least some panicking. I'm starting to consider leaving her in there and waiting out the terror until I (hopefully) see some consistent calm that lasts more than a few seconds. I'm not sure how long it would take for that though, and I hate seeing her so scared. What should I do? Should I try the "cry it out" method? Should I keep doing what I'm doing? Should I back off the training a bit? Something else? Help, please.
