Traveling in 23 ft trailer with cat

[1ed]

Just got a new cat from a recent campground. His guy adopted us and he is box trained and really a great traveler. Then campground owners gave us a carrier and he just went in and went to sleep and slept the whole trip home which was 3 hours. Took him to the vet and had him checked out and had his shots and fixed.and implanted with the microchip. We would like to know what your experience has been if any with the posted subject. Thanks Ed

[toedtoes]

For litter, I can recommend the Petsafe Scoopfree. I get it on Amazon. For my two large cats, I use one bag a week. Just fill the box with the bag and over the course of the week, I just scoop out the poop (I use a doggie poop bag to dispose it). At the end of the week, I dump it all and refill with a new bag. It absorbs the pee and eliminates the ammonia smell. And since each bag is good for a box fill, there is no open bag lying around to spill while moving around.

I also feed canned both morning and night. That gets them accustomed to the sound of the can opening and knowing it's feeding time. That can help entice a cat back home or out of hiding.

[1ed]

Thanks for all the great info. Now I am wondering what you do with cat once you arrive at campground. I have been looking at those portable cages etc. also I like the leash idea. I would not want to walk the cat around the church but would like to have him outside during the day.

[1ed]

Donut Dave,
That is exactly what I. Was looking for. And thanks for all the other replies.

[donut_dave]

Allie Cat goes camping whenever we go since she was 8 weeks old. She seems to sort of forget over the winter. So we take her out to the trailer for an hour or so at least twice before our first excursion in the spring. We will also drive her around in the truck for maybe half an hour a couple of times as well.
Our camping procedure is: put her in her carrier and take out to the truck. After we are on the road 10 minutes or so we will open up her carrier which is on the seat in the quad cab. She usually comes out right away and sits between us on the console on one of her blankets. The litter box, food, water are available on the floor but i can't remember her doing any of that while driving. If we stop for more than 10 or 15 minutes the whole set-up is transferred to the trailer. It is kind of a hassle but we want her with us rather than at home like we did with our previous cats, Kitty and Puddy Tat.
Oh, one other thing for traveling. When she senses that we are stopping for gas etc. she will go into her carrier on her own. Once and a while she will get fooled at a traffic light and go in and it we always laugh about that.

[dturm]

We travel in a MH so not sure our experience is applicable. We stopped frequently enough for the dogs (and me) that it was easy to pull out the litter box that we kept in the shower and allowed Henry the opportunity to use it.

If you have a large enough carrier to include a litter box, that would work. Another option is to stop and allow your cat out of the carrier to use a litter box during the stop.

A couple of times we have seen a cat escape from a car at a rest stop. The precautions you need to take depend a lot on the behavior of the cat.

[1ed]

I have a Chevy Extended Cab and I am wondering what to do with a litter box. Not sure if I need one or not but otherwise he would make a mess in his carrier. I have seen those carriers that have the litter box on the bottom but looking for input on suggestions. Thanks Ed

[moebedick]

We traveled three times cross country (9000 miles each trip) and numerous trips to Florida, Smoky Mountains, Maritime Provinces,and many,many local trips of only a few hundred miles with our Siamese cat Pogo. The first trip was in a B+ motor home while most of the others were in a truck camper. He always had access to food, water and his litter box. He spent the majority of his time sleeping. Occasionally I would see him sitting and looking out the back door or a side window. He never caused any damage nor was he ever any trouble. He would scream like mad when being carried to or from the camper,before and after trips, but never showed any interest in being outside. He was very mellow.
His replacement, after eighteen years, is a Siamese named Tonto. We haven’t attempted traveling yet, due to Covid, but it should be interesting. Where Pogo was mellow,Tonto is anything but mellow. Pogo was a floor or lap cat. Tonto is a lap, off the wall, highest accessible point cat. He is very calm all night while we are sleeping but makes up for it the other sixteen hours. Perhaps his youth and my old age are not quite the ideal match, but I’m sure that we will both get older and more mellow together.

[1ed]

What do you do when traveling from Point A to Point B. This guy that adopted us traveled well like I said before from the Campground to home for 3 hours and just slept in the carrier. So, I am concerned about the traveling part and him needing to use the box.

[2oldman]

dturm wrote:

One of the winter injuries we would see is a fan belt/fan laceration when car was started with cat sitting on engine.

I drove 20 miles, pulled into a McD's, got out and saw her cute little head poking out from between the cab and bed. OMG! At least she had the smarts to stay put through all that. That was the day I learned never go anywhere without knowing where she was.

[dturm]

2oldman wrote:

bgum wrote:
Just be sure the cat is in someone's arms or in a closed crate before extending or retracting slides.

Be sure the cat isn't up in your truck's frame before driving. Yeah, that happened.

One of the winter injuries we would see is a fan belt/fan laceration when car was started with cat sitting on engine.

We camped with our cat Henry for several years. He'd ride on the bed in the back of the MH and loved sitting on the dash watching everything when we were camped. The warning about slides is a good one.

I know some people let their cats and dogs ride in the trailer or 5er, but I'd be uncomfortable with that myself. A lot depends on the animal and their behavior.

[2oldman]

bgum wrote:
Just be sure the cat is in someone's arms or in a closed crate before extending or retracting slides.

Be sure the cat isn't up in your truck's frame before driving. Yeah, that happened.

[bgum]

Just be sure the cat is in someone's arms or in a closed crate before extending or retracting slides.

[rk911]

soon2bexpat wrote:
I've been full-timing with my cat for over 6 years now. I use a harness from Crazy K Farms- the yellow reflective one. Coupled with a retractable style leash, it allows the cat to spend lots of time outside with me. You won't be able to walk a cat like a dog, but cats like to explore. Just be prepared for those periods when he'll just sit and look around. I bring my Paperwhite.

lol. our cat used to walk with us around the cakpground on a leash. then one day 'Samantha' refused the leash. my wife claims that the feral cats running loose in the CG told our cat to 'cut it out!'.

[qtla9111]

Both our cats (RIP)were rescues and one traveled with us for 20 years in our 24ft travel trailer. They slept a lot in the SUV and romp around in the trailer but not at night. They were great travel companions and went everywhere with us.