Next week my husband and I are moving from Arizona to Oregon by car. It's 23 hours on the road and we are going to make it straight through as we have friends helping us and are taking turns driving/napping.
I'm concerned about moving our 2 cats- Anyone with experience?
I have an appt Monday to talk to our vet about possibly using sedatives. My primary concern with sedatives is one of our cats has asthma/respiratory issues and I'm worried how she'll react to them. She's been under anesthetic and sedative before at the vets when she was spayed and had no issues.
My other concern is what to transport them in. They will be in the back seat of one of our cars, and will absolutely be in a container the whole way to avoid any safety issues or lost cats at rest stops. My initial idea was to get a smaller dog kennel that the 2 of them can fit into and still fit a small litter box. This will be able to fit into our car fine since we can just fold the back seats down and secure the kennel so it doesn't slide around. I'm not sure how much room to give them however. I'm assuming less room is better as long as there is comfortable space for them to lay.
My last real issue is feeding. Our cats have no real food schedule, they have dry food available to them all day to munch on. Is it best to avoid feeding them for the hours prior to the trip? I can give them nutri-cal and such for nutrition, I'm just thinking it much be best to avoid needing the potty as much as possible. They will have plenty of water available as usual so they don't get dehydrated.
Thanks!
Wanda
Twisp~ F3 Bengal, 1 1/2 years old
Catsby~ Tabico, 2 years old
I'm concerned about moving our 2 cats- Anyone with experience?
I have an appt Monday to talk to our vet about possibly using sedatives. My primary concern with sedatives is one of our cats has asthma/respiratory issues and I'm worried how she'll react to them. She's been under anesthetic and sedative before at the vets when she was spayed and had no issues.
My other concern is what to transport them in. They will be in the back seat of one of our cars, and will absolutely be in a container the whole way to avoid any safety issues or lost cats at rest stops. My initial idea was to get a smaller dog kennel that the 2 of them can fit into and still fit a small litter box. This will be able to fit into our car fine since we can just fold the back seats down and secure the kennel so it doesn't slide around. I'm not sure how much room to give them however. I'm assuming less room is better as long as there is comfortable space for them to lay.
My last real issue is feeding. Our cats have no real food schedule, they have dry food available to them all day to munch on. Is it best to avoid feeding them for the hours prior to the trip? I can give them nutri-cal and such for nutrition, I'm just thinking it much be best to avoid needing the potty as much as possible. They will have plenty of water available as usual so they don't get dehydrated.
Thanks!
Wanda
