Driving From L.A. To N.Y.C. With My Cat...

[segelkatt]

I too moved from Tacoma, WA (just south of Seattle) to Orange County, CA (just south of L.A.) in September 2009. My son drove the moving truck, my Nissan Quest van was on a flat-bed trailer behind it.  2 years before I had made the reverse trip, that time in August. (My son is a professonal big-rig driver so this was a piece of cake for him.)

The cats rode in the back of the van so I could just open the gate to check on them and they could look out, the carriers were secured with the seat belts. I had 2 large carriers facing out the back for 2 different cats with disposable litter pans, very small food and water bowls and blankets and next to them, jammed together, a rabbit cage for two other bonded cats, also with blankets, litter pan and food and water bowls. I left the windows half way down in the van and the side panels open as far as they would go.

We stopped at every rest stop and checked on the cats. They barely acknowledged that they were being checked on, if they had used the litter pans I would change the litter. I tried taking them out at the rest stop, they had no use for that, too much noise, strange surroundings, they buried their heads in my lap so I did not try that again.

We spent 3 days and 3 nights on the road, slept at Motel 6, sneaked the cats (in their carriers but took the two from the rabbit cage) and one large litter pan into the room. They were happy and slept on the bed with me. I didn't even have to hunt them down the next day. Since we had the truck we got a room at the back so we could park the truck in back, so no problem with sneaking cats. No fleas, no mess, management never knew cats had been there although some guest with cat allegies might have had a problem if the room was not properly cleaned after us..

At the border from Oregon to California we were stopped by people from the Dept of Agriculture. They opened the back of the truck and saw all that furniture and boxes so they knew we were really moving. They never checked the van as that would have meant to climb on the flat-bed trailer to open the doors and the windows were tinted dark, the front seats were loaded with my clothes that did not fit in suitcases which is all the inspectors could see as the front windows were not tinted. We were just waved through after that. Lucky too, as I had a bnch of houseplants in the van and California really frowns on that, they probably would have confiscated them and asked a bunch of questions about the cats and give me a hard time.

I had absolutely no problems with the cats, no upchucks, no messes all over the carriers,  they were happy to get out of the carriers every night, they were not traumatized as far as I could determine as they did not tremble when I took them out, just checked out the room and settled down on the bed.

Maybe it's because I did not make a big fuss over all of this, just acted like this was an everyday thing. Cuddled them before putting them in their respective carriers and cuddled them when I took them out, praised them for being good kids, same food and litter as always so as little as possible had changed while we were travelling. It worked.   

 

[segelkatt]

It has been awhile since I have posted but I knew I would find the info i needed here!
I have to travel with my cat and have put a harness on him so he can get used to it. We took him for a ride yesterday and he had his mouth open and was panting. Should I worry about that? He cried alot for the first few minutes then settled down but was still panting.
I was hoping he would take to the car as I would like to have him loose (harness on, leash handy) in the car. The back seat will be kind of full and there is not alot of room on the front seat for his carrier.
It will be about a 16 hour drive with lots of potty stops, but no hotel. I also plan on taking some 'used' litter from his box at home (in a baggie) to eaither put in his travel litter box, or on the ground in a quiet, out of the way area, so that he knows that THIS is where he should potty.
Am I crazy or should I keep him in the crate even though I cannot keep the door open due to space.
He is about 9 months old.

DO NOT let your cat roam around in the car. He'll end up under your feet, on your neck/shoulder, lap, everywhere you don't want him to be. Keep him in his carrier, he will complain at first and then just shut up and go to sleep. Put a disposable litter pan with clean, not used litter in it, he'll know to use it when the urge hits him and he (and you) will not want to put up with the smell of used litter. Once he uses the pan get rid of the used litter asap (like at the next rest stop). I would suggest you put the carrier on the front seat where he can see you. When it comes to clean the litter pan, take the carrier out of the car and put it on the hood of the car. Open the door slowly and grab the cat with one hand firmly by the scruff of the neck, this will immobilize him (that's what mama cats do) and you can take the litter pan out with your other hand. Put the pan on the hood of the car, then let go of the cat while you close the door. Empty the pan into the trash, put clean litter in and then do as before but this time you put the litter pan IN. The reason I say put the carrier on the hood of the car is because you will be close to the carrier with your body at a comfortable height and thus lessen the chance of your cat escaping. You could put the carrier on the ground but it is less effective as you would have to kneel down and bend over and thus your body would be farther away from the carrier making escape easier. At a rest stop there also would be tables and you could put the carrier on a table when you open the door.

On the other hand it may be quite possible that he does not even want to come out of the carrier in which case it will be a whole lot easier to clean out his litter pan. Good luck.

 

[mani]

@segelkatt this thread is really old so it's unlikely that the original poster will see your advice...  But that doesn't mean it won't be helpful to others.

 

[jennyr]

As said, this is a very old thread. But seeing the last few posts, as it is a constant topic, I feel I would like to add something. I have travelled all over Europe with my cats, and any journey over 6 hours I have put them in a cage., not a carrier, and just somehow made room around them for my things. Then you really have room for a small litter pan - something almost impossible in a carrier unless you want your cat to have dirty feet and wet fur. I line the cage with puppy pads and a folded blanket. Certainly they should never be loose in the car.

And I would NEVER open the carrier or cage with a cat in it unless I was in an enclosed space or still in the car. Cats will freak out at passing traffic, unfamiliar noise or just general panic. You cannot hold a terrified cat by the scruff while it is in the cage and you are outside. You will get injured and the cat will will escape. Again, to minimise risk, all my cats travel in a harness and lead, and whenever it is time to get them out or open the cage for any reason I get hold of the lead through the bars first.

Only one of my cats ever panted during travel, and I made sure there was always water available in a nonspill dish attached to the bars. I think it is basically fear that made her do it, but I did find that opening the window a little to improve the flow of air helped.

Just some points from a seasoned cat traveller for those contemplating a journey!

 

[segelkatt]

My carriers are really large meant for air travel

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• segelkatt
• Mar 7, 2015

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• segelkatt
• Mar 7, 2015

this 20 lb cat likes to sit in it so you can see it is plenty big for a regular size cat and a small litterpan, the throwaways are the smallest but a cat will use it in the confined space. I put the pan in the back and it always worked, no messes. On the trip my largest cat was 12 lbs.

 

[detmut]

DryFur Pet Carrier Insert Pads are another option

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• detmut
• Mar 7, 2015

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• detmut
• Mar 7, 2015