traveling with cats

We travel with 2 cats (now 14+ y.o.) who were accustomed to living in an apartment, so they transitioned easily to our 26' Class C.

Whenever I started the ignition, Clyde would climb behind the sofa bed on a space behind the backrest, and stay there until either I shut off the motor or his bladder gave notice. Bonnie, on the other hand, would stand next to the "doghouse" (pardon the insult, kids) console and look up at us, asking permission for a lap -- usually mine, between me and the steering wheel, and later moving to my door's armrest, with my arm resting on her!

We use a litter box with a double-height barrier to prevent spillage, and kept it between the sofa bed and my seat back. With a food and a water dish secured on the sink counter during travel, they could do as they wished.

CUTE STORY: Because we use a wheelchair lift on the rear doors -- which, therefore, stay open until we enter and fold up the lift -- we had a double-wide bathroom door installed, that would block the entire hallway space between the cabinets on either side. We thought that this "airlock" would keep the little "monsters" inside.

But, the first time we went away for a few hours, when we opened the back doors, there were Bonnie & Clyde, each perched on one of the lift platform extensions, saying "We missed you, Mommy & Daddy"! This meant that I had to race in from the front door, open the hallway door, and bring them inside so that DW could open the lift.

Apparently, our 2 acrobats had gone from the sofa armrest to the sink, hopped onto the top of the door (3" wide and about 3" below the A/C vent shroud), and done a 1 1/2 gainer in the pike position to make their grand entrance!

We then had another portion added to the top of the door, so they didn't have space under the A/C any more.

Magicbus.. good meme. And so true!

ScottG wrote:
.. I haven't found a way to keep ours from barfing on any carpeted area he can find.

Lol. One thing that may help is a hairball control food or putting a smidgen of vet-quality lubricant in his food.

We travel with a Dog and Cat. Dog goes in a crate, but cat roams freely. Full access to litter and food. She sleeps on a ledge under the King Bed while moving.

We also travel with our two cats in separate carriers in our truck. For short stops, we just leave them in the truck in their carriers with the A/C running. For longer breaks when we fire up our generator & fifth wheel A/C, we let them loose in the fifth wheel's bathroom with shower door open (travel litter is in shower area). We don't dare give them full rein of the fifth wheel as one of the slides has an open end when pulled in and we could see them getting in there.

Our cat had become a house cat at about 15 years old. He had some health problems by then and when we were planning our 2.5 month AK trip, he and I would go play in the Bounder, took awhile but he acclimated. We had twin beds and I removed a cabinet door which gave him a safe place to hide while we traveled. We put my quilt which he graciously allowed me to let him sleep on at home in there for him to sleep on.

He didn't like the dash board until we landed, then after dark he liked to do his 8 hour shift as sentry up there. He did come out once or twice a day and sit on the floor between us just far enough away that we could barely scratch him. If we didn't see him come out and sit down, he would meow once, get his scratch and go do his business, eat and drink and go back his cave until we landed.

To keep the litter from being tracked around, we put the pan on a astro turf doormat in the tub/shower.

His food and water was in there too.

Now he sits on the top shelf of my office bookcase and guards me.

magicbus wrote:

ScottG wrote:
I've got everything (incl litter box) figured out but I haven't found a way to keep ours from barfing on any carpeted area he can find.
So he stays home.

Dave

Hey, you must know our cat!

ScottG wrote:
I've got everything (incl litter box) figured out but I haven't found a way to keep ours from barfing on any carpeted area he can find.
So he stays home.

Dave

We have a full time cat. The secret to traveling with a cat is to have their litter box accessible at all times as well as maybe their food and water.

Our cat usually sits between us in the front bench seat of the truck, sleeping by resting on either of us.

I have created a "cat tunnel" between the truck camper interior and the cab of the truck. Lucky cat doesn't even need to go outside to get up front like we have to. Lol

While traveling the cat mostly just sleeps between us on the front seat of the truck. Sometimes he needs a bathroom break. If he does, he just gets up and walks back to his litter box to use it while we're going full speed down the highway.

We travel with 2 dogs and 1 cat, no crate for any of them. When we stop, we walk the dogs and let the cat out in the coach to do its business, eat and drink. Then back to the truck they go and we are off again.

We travel with a dog and a cat. The cat gets put into a carrier for the trip. We do not give the cat any meds. limit food before leaving etc. She has been in the carrier for 6 plus hours, without any problem. After setting up camp we take the cat out of the carrier and show her the litter box and food after that shes on her own until we leave for home.