Moving in a month - Advice?

Hi all -

I will be making a long 10 hour drive in my SUV with my 5 cats.

Of course, they all hate the car, and some go into quite the panic mode - biting the metal grate of the carrier, (one even cracked a tooth), and yowling and peeing sometimes. 

And that's just a 15 minute ride to the vet.

Sooooo,

I would welcome any advice and description of your experiences, good or bad - even your mistakes since I can learn from that too.

Here's my plan thus far - let me know what you think:

I did buy a car pet separator, the grate holes are small enough but I can still talk and see them.  So they will have the entire back of the SUV and not interfere with me driving - (I had a cat once get UNDER the brake pedal-- what a nightmare moment.)

I think I will place a comforter down to cushion road jiggling in the back, place 2 cat carriers with the grate doors removed so they can huddle in a sanctuary cave if they want to hide, and yet also "let them out", let them feel more control if they can move around, even though it's not much room back there with 5 of them. I also have 2 of their regular house cushioned fabric sleep cubbies that they can hide in.

I'll put a litter box in one corner, and I suppose a bowl of kibble, if only for the familiar smell to perhaps add a bit of calm.

Now that I type that out, they're won't be much floor space at all left for them to walk around.

I bought tons of Feliway spray, and Rescue Remedy... will saturate the car in the coming days with those.  I'll place worn T-shirts of our body smells too.

I have catnip from my garden I will clip and stash in a few spots.

And I'm going to talk to my vet about a genuine sedative for the 2 really panicky guys, maybe all 5 should go ahead and get a dose for the trip?

What do you think? 

I have done some initial research and it seems Xanax is safe and effective for cats, though folks have varying experiences... keep in mind I will be using this once, and maybe a day or two at the new place if they are still nuts.

I have left over alprazolam (generic for Xanax), but it is .25 mg.... I would like guidance on per pound dosage you all have had effect with.

I also have temazepam but that is more a sleep aid - and seems less on point. But maybe if they are nodding off in the car, that's the best of all solutions....?

I read that the "class" of drug is safe for cats, but not much on those who've relayed their experience with it.

Finally - I have been "practicing" with one and two at a time - just putting them in the parked car and feeding them Party Mix treats and baby talk and petting... they panic at first, but calm down a little, some take a treat... but that is with the car not running, not moving, and with access to mommy to comfort them...

I suppose I will have to graduate to having all 5 in the car for a dry run.  I worry that in their upset mode, they redirect their aggression and they'll lay into each other (when one gets picked on, typically they all pile on) and get really hurt.  I won't be able to get back there to break them up since it's too risky to open the doors back there and have them escape in a rest stop two states away! I could unscrew the separator and lay it down into their space,,,, I guess.... to crawl back there, and force the 2 sets of siblings (that are used to being in carriers together) into the 2 carriers and add the doors back on (I'll have those up front with me), and the 5th cat can be loose.

Ugh.  I'm scared, guys.  This is going to be miserable any way you slice it, right?  I'll be so glad when moving day is behind me.

I think the best thing to do is to keep them all in separate carriers. The trouble with them all being loose is that if anything happens while you're on the road, car breaks down, accident, you get pulled over etc, there is always the risk that they'll get out.  You could make regular snack and potty breaks and let them walk around the back of the SUV while you're parked, but I wouldn't risk having them loose in the back while you're moving.

When we moved across Japan with just one semi-feral cat our vet gave us a travel sickness medicine for her that also made her really sleepy. That made it a lot easier to get her into her carrier and meant that she slept for most of the trip with just one litter box/snack stop after about 4 hours on the road.

Line each carrier with those puppy pee pads, just in case. I think it will be much less stressful for everyone if they're asleep for the trip.

Have you seen this?

 [article="30165"]36 Awesome Tips For Road Tripping With Your Cat​[/article]  

I totally agree that each cat should stay in their own carrier, OR if you have some that get along well, put them together in larger dog crates together. I doubt they will eat at all during the trip... Mine didn't when we moved. We put all three siblings in a large dog crate with a bunch of shredded newspaper and had a water bottle thingy attached to the side that they could drink from. No one ate, drank, peed or pooped

Remember if they are not totally contained when you reach your destination and open up the back, they may all make a mad dash OUT and be long gone

Getting them used to the carrier now is great. Using rescue remedy and some sort of pet calming spray in the carriers is good too. I don't think feliway is what you need here. There are actual calming sprays that come in a bottle that work really well believe me. I've been using them lately because we've been doing construction.

Review that article on road trips. It's got great info in it. Good luck!

Yes, I did read the link, thank you for pointing me there. 

I am spraying the inside of the car with "Animal Relief Formula" calming spray - flower essence combo that, if I remember researching when I bought it, is very comparable to Rescue Remedy.

I also am spraying the Feliway.  It seems to be a hit with my one cat, who lounges and stretches himself out on a window I spray with it; when he didn't used to do that, so I think it helps him feel groovy.  The diffusers helped my one other cat get over an indoor spraying issue, which I think translates to = calming.

Regarding enclosing in carriers or taking the doors off - my concern is - how damn long the trip is, combined with it being 5 cats total,  I mean 10 hours in a crate is adding to the misery in my opinion. 

I could see it if it's for an hour or two.  But 10?

Even if I eliminate the barrier grill separating them from the front seats if I go with closed carriers, so I can crawl back there, letting 1 out at a time (with me taking up all the rest of the space with my elbow hopefully clearing the litter box!  I don't have a van, so I can barely fit back there with all those carriers) to probably freak out as each tries to escape, maybe eventually decides to use the litter box, all the while as I wait, the 4 others are ramping up the nerves - "what about meeeee? I want oooooout" ....   I have a large dog carrier, but if I have more than one in there, not much point in putting them in there, rather than having the back of the small SUV just be the carrier.

I have it arranged so I can load them in a closed garage, and at my final destination I will have a closed garage, so the only time I will open the back is when I'm safely there and have the garage door shut.  It is an attached garage, so then I can wrangle them to the bedroom.

Plus, just in case there's a disaster and they accidentally get out during the road trip, I got them all micro-chipped and registered.

I think they will hide in the carriers and their familiar cubbies... but having them open also gives them a sense of control. 

At least, that's my sense.

I appreciate your experiences.  I am considering all you say.

Anyone else with history of using sleeping pills or sedatives?

Also - vet just called me back and will look up what he wants to recommend - I forgot to ask about dosage for Xanax. 

I recall dosage for felines is more than humans, so not to be surprised if an 8 lb cat gets what you get.

Will research again but what have you all found is effective per pound?

Just reiterating that our move was 750 miles, so we were in the car for way longer than an hour or two    And, again, I don't recall any of my three (at the time) needing to potty.  Once we got on the road they meowed for awhile, then settled down and were fine.  Everytime we stopped for gas or a "pit stop" they started in again, but soon settled down again.  We all got into our routine and it worked out just fine.  Maybe what helped was that we played books on tape the entire time rather than cranking up the radio...I have no idea.  I know it helped ME with the long trip .

OH!  and this was 25 years ago, so I don't even think there were such things as Rescue Remedy or calming agents.  If there were, we didn't know about them.  The furkids were on their own and had to "tough it out".  AND they were in the back of a hatchback...not even a small SUV ('course, we didn't have individual carriers....as I said before, we had all 3 in one large dog crate.  When they are scared, like at the Vet, they tend to get comfort from one another. 

I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of the travel sickness/sedative Mu was given. It  was one specifically for cats, just one tablet crushed into her food.

Our trip was close to 9 hours long, she was happy in her carrier the whole way.

Wow, Norachan - that's encouraging, 9 hours eh.

And Mrs. Greenjeans - that translates to about 13 and a half hours!  I'm impressed!

So I practiced yesterday with the 2 "enemies" I have.  They are the only two that actively dislike each other.  Well, I should say - Navarre hates Jean Luc, and Jean Luc defends himself.

So it's a one way street, but anyway - when Navarre starts a squabble, Jean Luc doesn't back down.

Over time I have gotten them to have an uneasy truce, and they will even eat side by side now, and lounge on opposite corners of the bed.

But still, when they want to pass each other in the room, there's always a hissing, growling stand off...

So in the car there was Navarre, grousing at Jean Luc who was sitting in my lap minding his own business.  I am envisioning it being a nasty scene if they are trapped in the back able to get at each other... with 3 other cats in the mix, that could be a real West Side Story brawl.

Sooooo,

I am thinking now of putting Jean Luc, who is much smaller and prefers to hide in times of stress anyway (former feral), in a small carrier, and place him on the passenger seat next to me, completely away from his enemy.

I also have straight up sleep medicine - Restoril, and Ambien.  Hmmm, will research safety and efficacy for felines today ....

Norachan - that's interesting there is a specific travel pill for animals.  So it wasn't Dramamine?

4catsNcounting said:

I also have straight up sleep medicine - Restoril, and Ambien.  Hmmm, will research safety and efficacy for felines today ....

Norachan - that's interesting there is a specific travel pill for animals.  So it wasn't Dramamine?

Click to expand...

It may have been something similar. I'm in Japan and the drugs all have different names over here. I just know that it was specifically for cats and that the vet carefully weighed her before prescribing the size/number of pills she should be given.

One dose was enough for the entire trip. I think that even if you have to buy something new for your guys one dose each won't be too expensive.