Taking a cat in a car?

ChilliNuts

Hi,

Would you take your cat in the car for a long (-ish) trip?

Am planning to drive from Dublin to Wexford (about an hour and a half) at the weekend, and hope to take the cat along.

My parents used to get a sleeping tablet from the vet to give their dogs for the car but that was for 5 hours trips. Wondering if we should do the same...

Thanks

Our man in Havana

A nice size cat carrier is all you ned - do not sedate! I brought 9 cats over from the UK with us & none were sedated.

Run_to_da_hills

Bond-007 wrote: »

I brought 9 cats over from the UK with us & none were sedated.

:eek:

MsFifers

I regularly take my 2 cats on a 4 hour journey to Mayo when I go to see my family. They have a spacious cat carrier each (with a blankie/cushion) and after about 10 mins they just settle down and sleep for the whole journey. I try to time the journey with their afternoon sleepy time anyway.

It isn't necessary to sedate your cat- especially for just a trip of an hour & half.

Let him get used to the carrier first though - leave it out a couple of days before so he'll get used to it.

galah

If absolutely required, you could try some herbal remedies for the cat (Bach flowers, or rescue remedy). Check with your vet though.

Apart from that, just make sure that the carrier is secure in the car, so that it doesn't fly about should you need to brake, etc.

Good luck ;-)

Ruu_Old

We bring ours with us quite often in a carrier, they normally sleep most of the journey. You shouldn't need to sedate.

poukai

I think it all depends on the cat, I have had several over the years and they all reacted differently. If it's the first time your cat is travelling, it's only a short-ish journey, it should be ok, cats that freak out enough to require sedation are quite rare, it's usually just laziness on the part of the owners. If possible, it's a good idea if the cat can see someone it knows from where it is, but if you have to choose, go for a secure position of the carrier, no balancing on knees or anything like that. Add a blanket or an old jumper or something with a familiar smell in the carrier. Try not to feed the cat too close to the journey. Stress signs like panting can be a bit alarming the first time, and your cat will probably squeak a bit but don't worry too much, it's a normal reaction to a new situation... Just talk softly to it, try to make the odd stop, but don't let it out in the car when driving, it may seem obvious, but it has been done, sometimes with dramatic consequences...

Stollaire

Last time I brought a cat in a car it had to be put down!
True story.
The other cats now know something is up when they go for a drive.

Gregor Samsa

Stollaire wrote: »

Last time I brought a cat in a car it had to be put down!
True story.

Were you bringing it to a vet to be put to sleep, or did something happen during the car journey that necessitated the demise of the cat?

stovelid

Bond-007 wrote: »

A nice size cat carrier is all you ned - do not sedate! .

Agreed.

I've done similar journeys with same.

Stollaire wrote: »

Last time I brought a cat in a car it had to be put down!
.

??

Madame Razz

My cat has always been obsessed with the car.

He hates being in a carrier box, but loves to be loose.

We regularly go on a three hour journey; he will curl up on the passenger seat and keep his claws slightly out so that they're a bit gripped onto the seat so he's secure. He'll sleep for the three hours and when we get to my parents house happily hop out and its in the front door for whiskas!!

I did have leather seats for a while... i think he found them too slippy, so i used to bring the cat carrier along but take the door off, so it was like a little kennel!

Dear lord I sound like a crazy cat lady:eek:

ChilliNuts

Thanks all for the replies.

For the record, we didn't sedate the cat and he was fine. Cried a bit at first but settled down after a while. In fact he handled the rotten N11 traffic coming back from Wexford a lot better than I did!

echosound

Glad to hear your cat was fine.

One tip I would also give is to make sure that the first time you bring a cat on a car journey in a carrier, it might be an idea to line the box with layers of newspaper - one cat we had did not take well to travelling at all (luckily we didn't have to make the poor fella suffer too often), and would puke for Ireland.

Layered newspaper meant we could just remove the upper layer with the puke on it and dispose of it in a bin (with enough clean newspaper left in the bottom of the carrier in case he puked again) and carry on without the smell of catvomit in the car, and the cat wasn't stuck in a carrier box with the vomit either. Also - on that note, not a good idea to feed your cat just before travelling either. Feed them a good hour at the least before travelling.

If your cat does puke, best chance to calm it down is to make sure they can't see "out" of the car as the movement really disorientates them. Make sure they can only see you, not the outside world flashing past!

LegacyUser

It also depends on if your cat likes travel and how "vocal" the cat is.
One of our cats meeeeeeeoooooooooowwws all the way to the vet and back when she gets her innoculations each year. Its comical for th efirst few minutes -she'll get really loud all of a sudden like "Hey, you're ignoring me" type of a waaaaaaahhhh and then its like a constant drone of meeows the rest of the time. Depends on if you could handle it for the journey. Test your cat on a trip to a friends house before the big day. I know I couldn't drive to Wexford with that racket in the back - even if I turn on the radio she does "WAAAAHHH" and it gets louder.