Cat that loves the car

My cat loooooves riding in the car.  But the thing is, we don't keep him in his cage. He wears a harness, and then his leash is tied to my seat belt, and he just sits there on my lap. He usually puts his face against the window and watch the surroundings with excitement and curiosity. 

We have bought him his own seat belt, which is just a leash that goes in where a seat belt would go. This one is supposed to be used if the whole family is in the car, and he sits in the back with me. Then he can have a seat to himself, and still sit in our lap if he wants 

What is your opinion on this arrangement? Are we taking a risk? He really loves it!

I've also seen some cat carriers that can be used as car seats, do you have any experience with those?

PS: I don't drive!! He's not sitting on my lap while I'm driving!! The crazy factor stops somewhere   

Aww, cute!!
My cat too loves the car - and will often sit in it for hours even if not moving! However, it's always a risk not having them in a cage in case something frightens them. In the UK it's illegal to drive with an animal not under control & no cage is just that. I guess with a proper cat harness designed for cars, surely that's ok?

Wow, so people in the UK can't have their dog sitting beside them..?   

The seat belt leash (have no idea what to call it..) is actually for small dogs though, but it was a more expensive version of the ones for cats. They look exactly alike, but the ones for dogs look stronger.

That's so cool!  My newest cat loves riding in the car too.  I adopted him as a stray - he was living in the parking lot of an apartment complex so I think he got used to cars.  The problem with that though, is that he will get in the car with anybody . 

I don't use any kind of restraint because I'm usually picking him up from one or two streets over.  One of these days I need to start a thread about how to keep him from wondering about everywhere.  Anyways, in regards to your cat being safe, I would think that a carrier/pet seat would be the safest way to go.  I feel the more room he has to move around, the worse it is safety wise.  How long is the leash part of the harness you attach to the seatbelt?  If it's long, I would be worried about him flying forward then being jerked back if there was ever an accident (so sorry to be so morbid - I'm just thinking of worst case scenario).  On the other hand, I've never used a seatbelt harness and I tend to over worry so please don't let me sway you one way or the other.

Haha, my cat is just like that. Whenever we're out for a walk, and we spot someone who's getting in their car, he starts running towards them and tries to jump inside the car. This is one of the reasons I'm to scared to let him go out on his own 

I think it can be up to 45 cm, but it's possible to make it shorter. 

When he sits in the front seat with me, he wears his normal leash. But I make it shorter (it's actually 8 meters) so he won't be able to suddenly jump on the driver. 

Here's a picture I found of one of the car seats I saw in the store : 

withoutaname said:

 
Wow, so people in the UK can't have their dog sitting beside them..? 

 

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Yeah! But I don't think it's obeyed by folk that much.  I didn't know about the law until my partner got pulled over by the police as he had a cat who used to like sitting on the dashboard. He was visiting friends on a farm and he always took his cat. I guess its ok until you get caught '-)

I've spent years with my dog in the car without restraints, but they have occasionally tried to climb in the front & on my lap which is scary. I guess the law is there for a reason when I think about it!  One of the nicest memories I had was my fella at the time had a soft-top car and I took the dog in it, while holding onto her lead. She loved it, the wind in her face, ears flapping - she looked so happy :-)