Can you travel comfortably in a moving vehicle with two cats?

[deegers]

Originally Posted by NewAgeRedneck

Fat Freddy wrote:

Thinking about how the cats will fare is the most stressful part of our impending move.

I'm with you. We gave ourselves alot of needless stress about the same thing. Our cats handled a 4 day cross country drive far better than we ever imagined. Just relax and trust your cats. See my post ( #2 ) above.

blessings....Franco

This is wise advice for sure. I believe you are right in just trusting what you know about the cats. Mine laidback and small so I've got more flexiblilty than large cats that are more fussy. I needed to hear that. It builds my confidence.

[Christalcali]

Yes, it's doable! My husband and I drove from the DC area to southern CA in about 5 days. We had ourselves, our two cats and lots of "stuff" in our Honda civic. Our cats were older at the time (10 and 11), so we just let them out of the carriers and they found a comfy place to sleep (although carriers would be safer for them of course). We did not medicate them, they eventually chilled out.

[mdtoaz]

In July we moved from Baltimore to Tucson with 3 cats. The all totally hate the carriers, so we modified our car to make it cat friendly.

We have a Subaru Baja, so I think that gave us a good advantage, as it has a small truck bed that is accessible with the back seat down. We put the litter pan in the bed and secured it so it wouldn't slide around. We also had a single story cat tree that we kept secured and they took turns sitting on top of that checking out the scenery. We had multiple blankets and beds for them to sleep on. And we also had a large rabbit water bottle rigged up so they could have access to water whenever they wanted.

We put a net up at the back of the front seats so they couldn't get up and distract the driver. It took a little planning to get a system down, but it worked out really well. We did the trip in 5 days and used a large crate to get them from the car to the hotel rooms and back.

Like I said, I think our vehicle made it easily doable, but if you have an SUV or station wagon, that would be easy as well. One important thing too was that we constantly checked on them (their breathing, etc.) to make sure no one was overheating (it was the summer). When we had to make stops we parked in the shade or left the AC blasting.

Good luck with the trip. It can be done with a little planning.

[deegers]

Thanks, mdtoaz and christalcali, very helpful. I would be traveling in a Chevy Malibu so I won't have the space like a Baja, but I have considered seeing if I can get some of the back seat to go down so they have acess to the trunk if they want. I plan on buying a single level cat tower so they have something familiar in the hotel rooms whereever we go. I am hoping i can invest in some sleepipods but i know it isn't that necessary. They are much more comfortable for them and easy to secure in a car. Plus, they look totally cool! But, that's beside the point .

Piper will be the pant-er in the car so I'll have to keep a sharp eye on her stress levels.

[95butterflies]

We moved from Indianapolis to Houston with two cats. Neither of our cats travel well. My hubby drove the U-Haul and towed his car, while I drove my car with the cats. I had a Buick at the time. It was a bit bigger than your Malibu, but not as roomy as an SUV. However, we put everything in the U-Haul and the car that was towed so that the cats would have a bunch of room in the Buick. We did it in two days because we really wanted to get the torture over with as quick as possible (for all four of us). The drive took us about 20 hours due to the U-Haul.

I moved the passenger seat way up, and put the litter box behind it. I also think we put some food and water out (can't remember it was about 6 years ago). Neither of the cats do well in carriers, so we let them roam free. Our cats do this "death cry" as I call it when they travel (e.g. when going to the vet). That only lasted the first 30 minutes or so. Also in the first 30 minutes, they threw up and one had that nervous diarrhea (oh...the smell). So, we had to stop to clean that up but after that it was smooth driving. We might be making another long move this summer, so I don't look forward to it...but I know we will survive. In the past 6 years, we lost one of our cats due to cancer. We ended up getting another cat because it seemed that Mowee missed her sister and needed a companion. Well...we guessed wrong. Mowee and Simon (new cat) hate each other. After 3 years, they are finally learning to "tolerate" each other's company. Simon actually does better in a carrier. So, I think for our move we will put Simon in his carrier and let Mowee roam free. Not sure if that will work, but he does better in one and she does worse. Anyway, I digress. Hope your move goes well!

[Tesaje]

I'm dreading moving with 2 cats that hate each other to the point of drawing blood. 2 cars is not an option for me. I think stopping at night will be the hardest. They can be separated while driving, but at night...

I wouldn't even think of flying them. Flying is horrible enough without dragging unhappy cats along.

[95butterflies]

Originally Posted by Tesaje

I'm dreading moving with 2 cats that hate each other to the point of drawing blood. 2 cars is not an option for me. I think stopping at night will be the hardest. They can be separated while driving, but at night...

I wouldn't even think of flying them. Flying is horrible enough without dragging unhappy cats along.

If you bring two litter pans and two sets of food/water dishes you can put one in the hotel bathroom and let the other one stay in the room if you stop for the night. Mowee and Simon use to draw blood from each other, so I can feel your pain. Good luck!

[pizzicato66]

My friend moved with her 5 cats from MN to TX a few years ago. She drives an SUV and put one of those pet dividers in the back so they had room to roam in the back of the vehicle, and they all did just fine.

Sadly, when she moved home, they all stayed with her ex-fiance and she's now without fur children (I would never have let him keep them, personally, but that's her call).

You can do it! Good luck!