Travelling With Cats - Help?

Hello,
I just found out I'll be moving from one coast to the other, a good 2500 miles. The trouble is I have 12 cats, yep, 12, and I can't bare to part with a single one. We're planning to rent a van for the trip but I've never traveled so far with so many animals and I'm hoping someone can help out. Are there large cages that will fit in a van and are they safe? Is there an alternative to caging them? Where can I get fairly priced cages? I'm so nervous one of my cats will get loose and get lost during the trip that it's making me physically ill. Have any of you transported a large number of animals and if so please tell me how. Thanks bunches. Good luck and blessings, Prana

Welcome to TCS

I've moved this to Care and Grooming for you.

Thank you I wasn't quite sure where this should go. Good luck and blessings, Prana

Hi Prana,

Been there, done that

We moved 1800 miles with 40 cats back in October, so trust me, it can be done. You should use individual cat carriers; you can double cats that get along well up in the larger carriers. Line them with the kind of disposable pads they sell for puppy training. We fit 20 cats each in 2 SUV's. We stopped every few hours to give water to them.

There are pet-friendly hotel/motel chains that you can stay in. We had 2 overnights; check in, move all carriers into the room, close door to room. Set up litterboxes, food and water, then release the cats. A printed out list of all the cats helps for taking a roll call in the AM before you set out.

Please email or PM me if you have any specific questions, need moral support, etc. Best of luck with your move.

Just to add - Poise has a line of products for people with urinary trouble. They have thin blanket pads (disposable) for when people sit down somewhere (about 3ftx1.5ft squares). They have a thin plastic lining on the bottom and are very absoptive. Not sure if they are cheaper but I think they might be. I just bought some the other day as our whole cat prefers certain areas of the house not necessarily the litter box so I've laid these down and placed litter boxes in her fav spots hoping to retrain her. Also used by breeders for birthing. Might fit nicely in the carriers.

Never had to move a lot of cats. But I suggest you get 3 or 4 LARGE Verikennels and put 3-4 cats in each. VeriKennels are tough and more protective then regular wire cages.

Unless you've got about 8-10 small cat carriers to put them in. They would have to ride in an open (no seats) van rather then a truck. And you could strap them in on the airholes with the bungee cords.

If they are all in a van, when you stop for the nite, they could be let loose to use litter pan and eat/drink. But you'd have to lock the van or have someone sleep in the van with them for the nite.

Good luck in moving everyone.

Now, I know it might sound a bit unconventional, but I think it'll work great for what you're doing.

Buy storage cubes (the kind that are gridded wire panels that you fit together), and build a cage that is the right size for putting two cats in (you could do one that's three wide, two tall, and two deep, and put a couple levels, and it should be a great fit for two cats during a long travel. Fit them together with zip ties (which are about $2 for about 100 ties). The storage cube panels usually come at about 24 a box for about $20 (but you'd be able to find them on sale SOMEWHERE).

Here's a picture to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

Here it is in full-view


And here is a picture of the levels inside


You'll have to reinforce the levels, and general cage structure for the travelling with wooden dowels since you'll have kitties in it...which works GREAT.

You can attach food and water bowls to the cage with the zip ties so they can't dump them or anything. You can do what other said about lining it with those puppy pad things. You can do just about anything you want with this type of cage.

Granted, I build this for our bunny, but it would work for cats, too, since it's only temporary for the move.

You can create a door anywhere you want on the thing, build it in any way, shape, or fashion you want, etc. And, when the move's done...you can build storage cubes out of it, or build a funhouse for the kitties...your only limit is your imagination!

If you want more information, you can google "Neat Idea Cube Cages" and see what you can find. There are lots of sites out there that give step by step instructions, but it's so simple...you can totally figure it out by yourself. Me and my six-year-old daughter built it by ourselves, much to my husband's surprise when he came home!

Let me know if this helps, and if you have any questions about it.

P.S. If you decide to go with doing a cage like this, I recommend having a toe- or fingernail-clipper on hand to clip off the extra plastic on the zip ties. Very easy!

I myself will have to keep that in mind , although I am only moving 10 cats just about 400 miles. Let us know how it works out for you, I can understand how you don't want to part with any of your babies, and you shouldn't have too!! (hope none of them yowl though, haha, half of mine do alot in the vehicle...)

I just wanted to thank all of you for your helpful advice. I'll post here again after the move to let you know what we used and how it worked out. Thanks bunches. Good luck and blessings, Prana