Going to the vet with your cat

Layla gets antsy in her carrier on the way to the vet and meows loudly in the waiting room. And the vet nearly has to pry her out of her carrier.
Doesn't like the vets much, nope.

Well Bella goes to the Vet in a basket not a carrier she has Never been in a carrier. She never tries to jump out or anything just hunkers down.She is great with the vets. Bella is perfect don't you know!

Sophia never makes a peep a far cry from the way she acts at home. She is in a softsided carrier like for an airplane! No problems with vet.

Severino does not go in the carrier till we are getting out of the car he likes to sit on my lap. Once he gets to the vet the girls need to love on him, the vet wishes he would not purr so loud so she can hear his heartbeat!

Joey is another story he screams the whole way there and pees in the carrier. Once I brought Sev along just for company for him and he squatted on Sev and peed on him in the lobby. Of course the girls at the vet come to my rescue and bring me in a room and and clean up the cats and the carrier. That time Joe also pooped near Sev on the table it was ridiculous I was there for an hour and a 1/2. Joey is a big baby at the vet he sticks his nose in my chest and hangs on to me for dear life!!! Big tough guy!!!

Out of the 4 cats I have had so far, 3 of them rode quietly to the vet without a fuss nor do any of them get sick. Only Luvbug MEOWS LOUDLY all of the way there (and back). The funny thing is, Luvbug is as good as gold when he is there. Lil' Jag is catzilla-in-training, Sphinx was catzilla, and Kuce - she hides in her carrier and doesn't want to come out for anything.

Ophelia is a terror to get in the carrier - we literally have to tear apart the bedroom, flipping up mattresses and such, to catch her. Once in the carrier, she is fine. No noises, no real look of terror, no messes, she's just in there. Same with at the vet - she wants to hide, since she doesn't like strangers, but she's no problem.

Trent is easy as pie to get in the carrier. However, once that door shuts he YOWLS like he's being tortured until he's let out. Non-stop. It's really bad! But no messes and he's compliant with the vet.

What a timely question Tyler has late in life, developed car sickness -not on the level of his half brother, Christopher(RB), but impressively enough.

He now routinely ,at least urinates on the way to the vets. But on this past Friday, as I told the receptionists, he gave them his triple delight - peed, pooed and threw-up

I now know to always line his carrier with Cat paper. Oddly enough, he only cries right before he loses control. No drooling, no scratching to get out of the carrier, and on the ride home, he's styling..looking out the carrier, paws out, relaxed, and no "accidents" usually.

Of my 4, Wawa just loves the car ride but dislikes the carrier (after the vet, I usually let him loose in the vehicle). At the vet he is a good boy, very well-behaved as are the other 3. In the car and carrier, Joji, QT and Skinny are non-stop wailers.

Tom and Molly tend to be quite vocal, and Tom doesnt stop till he is allowed out of the carrier, then usually starts up again - he has been known to set others off in the waiting room!! Ginger used to be good at the vets, till they groomed him and struggled taking blood, now he hates coming out of hte carrier!! PEbbles is fine unless there is a dog in the waiting room that goes near her. I have only had one cat had an accident in the carrier, and that was a foster. They are all lined with either paper or a towel though.

Wonton hates car rides. i always feel so guilty when i have to take him in the car to the vet, or to the boarding place (the latter happens once a year, maybe twice, for three or four days). he cries and cries, his distress cry, and sometimes his eyes water too, and i seriously feel horrible. i just sit there wishing there was a way to tell him that nothing bad is going to happen to him, and that he's going to come home soon. he goes in the carrier easily enough, and he's ok when we're actually AT the vet.. he just hates the car ride.

It's quite stressful taking Jaffa as he's a nervous cat and scared of people and places he doesn't know. He's ok in the car going there as the vet is only a 5 minute drive away, but he's scared when he gets there and doesnt want to come out of his carrier. He hisses at the vet, but otherwise tolerates it. I'm always glad to get him home. Leaving him there for a dental a few months ago was awful as I knew he'd be so scared being taken through to the back by strangers to a strange place where he could smell and hear other animals. When I take him on a longer car journey (the cattery I use is a 45 minute drive away) he sometimes poos in the carrier but it's always a normal, solid poo (no diarrheoa) and he always manages to avoid lying in it so not too bad.

Mosi hasn't been to the vet too much but he screams his head off in the car. It's not that he's a bad traveller, just that he doesn't like being confined. Once he's being examined by the vet and getting lots of attention he's fine. Last time she struggled to hear his heart because he was purring.

I hate it when I have to take Reilly to the vet. It takes both Jeff and I to get him into the carrier (he is far too smart to fall for any tricks )

As soon as he goes into the carrier he pees everywhere, which is why I line the cage with those "absorbent puppy pads", sometimes he'll even do a #2 on the way to the vet and he cries throughout the whole car ride....it just breaks my heart

Once we arrive at the vet though, Reilly won't stay still, he wants to explore while the vet is trying to examine him.

My girls are generally pretty easy to get in their carriers, but cry pitifully on the drive to the vet. Fortunately it's only five minutes from our house. Once there, they're scared, but well behaved.

It's the most traumatic for Peter. I literally have to tear the house apart, flip the matress, pull the furniture out from the walls, etc...to get ahold of him. Before our last visit in June, he actually climbed up inside one of the recliners and I had to turn it upside down to get him out. Once in the carrier, he's silent and scared stiff. Neither the vet, tech or I could get him out of his carrier during his most recent check-up, so we had to remove the top of the carrier for him to be examined. He's known around the vet's office as the "petrified cat" because he goes still when anyone but me touches him. After we get home, he hides for hours.

Tavia flips out. She doesn't like going anywhere she would much rather be at home with her mommy and her dogs and her papaw (my dad calls her his grandcat). She cries the whole way and will sometimes pee she gets so scared. And she claws the vet every single time. Amazingly if I try to help she doesn't claw me she saves it for the vet and his techs. But I always try and give her pouch food when we get back.

Originally Posted by Miss Mew

I hate it when I have to take Reilly to the vet. It takes both Jeff and I to get him into the carrier (he is far too smart to fall for any tricks

)

As soon as he goes into the carrier he pees everywhere, which is why I line the cage with those "absorbent puppy pads", sometimes he'll even do a #2 on the way to the vet and he cries throughout the whole car ride....it just breaks my heart

Once we arrive at the vet though, Reilly won't stay still, he wants to explore while the vet is trying to examine him.

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Mew, you might want to look into this product

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Some of these stories break my heart. It shouldn't be a major problem to take a kitty in a carrier to the vet. The only thing my ferals do on the way to the vet, is some of them meow. If you take a dark cloth, spray the underside with Feliway Spray and put that over the carrier while in transport the stress reactions, vomiting, eliminating etc, will be reduced.

Thank you for the information guys. It has been extremely helpful.

We've unfortunately had to take them to the vet many times in the less than 2-years we've had them. (URIs, scooting issues, etc.) For Chloe it's a traumatic experience. She cries when we take her down to the car and then quiets down, huddling in the crate. I hate it.

Iris doesn't like being locked in the crate, but she's a total people person and loves to explore new places, so she doesn't seem to mind the vet as much. Though she HATES getting her temp checked.

Neither of them make a mess or anything, so that's good I guess. It seems to stress Chloe more than Iris, but they're usually back to their old selves shortly after getting home. We give them treats whenever we get back.

Mine get upset and hide as close as they can to me...but afterwords they're fine. So no, no real trauma here.

Gus hates the carrier and hates being taken out of his home. It takes the two of us to get him into the carrier. On the way there he meows as loud as he can. When we're at the vet, it both of us to get him out of his carrier. Once he's out, he'll wedge himself in between the both of us or find somewhere to hide. Everytime he's put on the exam table, he tries to jump into my lap. There's only been two times when he's been taken to the vet and "accepted" it... when he had a Upper Respiratory Infection and also when he hurt his foot. I always fee really bad for having to take him to the vet. I know he hates it and it causes a lot of stress on him.

Thanks Hissy, this is an interesting topic. Would Feliway spray help Villy? She cries all the way there and back and is visibly nervous, you can sometimes see her shaking, she occasionally pants and she always has sweaty paw pads. Interestingly, when my SO took her to the vets (he is much calmer than me) she was a bit better. I obviously give off nervous vibes which make her worse. I'm not sure that putting a dark cloth over her carrier would work as she loves to look out and see what's around.

Mine pretty much just meow the whole time. Cajun is the only one who turns into a monster at the vet. Otherwise they just sit in their carriers and endure.

Lily being timid, bites, scratches, and hisses the entire time. She actually bit the vet. Twitch just meows calm as can be, taking in her surroundings. Ophelia urinates and sprays everwhere, and does her normal "I don't like to be held" thing. Damita beats herself up in her carrier and gives herself a bloody nose, while Chico hides under Damita's big tummy.

Oliver could care less. Doesn't mind the car ride, doesn't mind the vets and is his usual laid back self.
Emma is a chore to get into her carrier and is silent in the car and in the waiting room, but once in the examination room she turns into a holy terror, so much so that we now have to sedate her straight away before the vet can so much as take her out of the carrier! She's very little but very LOUD and quite the meanie at the vets!!!