Allegany River In The Allegany State Park, New York
After our sleep deprived night we decided to only travel about 2 hours down the road. We wanted to take traveling with the kitties nice and slow so we don’t stress them out too much. Ha! I think we’re the ones that are more stressed. I don’t know of any kitty that likes to be on a carrier. Unless it’s to go home after they’ve seen the vet. Then they are more than willing to go in the carrier.
We didn’t want to have to scrounge up the kitties and pack them up again. They seemed to be doing ok in the motorhome. They’ve gotten accustomed to it, I think. So we decided to see what would happen if we drove down the road with the kitties running free in the motorhome.
Well…BK, Whisper and Tory all ran under the love seat. Nothing seems to phase Angel. She stayed on the love seat sleeping. She only opened her eyes when we hit a bump. Once we were on the expressway, all three other kitties came out from under the love seat. They explored and even relaxed. No one freaked out. No one died from a panic attack (that would have been Tory by the way). Whisper even got to the point that he played with his ball a little bit. He loves his ball.
So from now on, we’re going to travel with kitties loose in the motorcoach. So far so good. We’ll see how tonight goes.
Allegany State Park, NY
Angel (If You Can See Her) Sleeping On The Love Seat As We’re Traveling Down The Road
BK Hanging Out Under David’s Desk Area While We’re Traveling Down The Road
Tory Under EuroChair While We’re Traveling Down The Road
Whisper Laying In Middle Of Hallway, With His Ball, While We’re Traveling Down The Road. BK’s Nose Is Right In Front Of Whisper.
I’ve really enjoyed this series of posts about traveling with your kitties. ESPECIALLY the saga of the sleepless night. How well we know that routine! When we first started traveling with our two cats, they were still lively enough that they had “playtime” around 4 am, running around the rig, sliding on the tile, jumping on the bed and attacking our feet. Sheesh.
Our cats never traveled in a carrier. They acclimated to our MH during the 6 weeks it was parked in the driveway while we moved into it. Tucker rode on the passenger’s lap, Luna on the cat condo that we put between the two front seats. They both enjoyed the travel days, since they were right beside (or on) us most of the time.
Tucker died 5 years ago (I can’t believe it has been that long), and Luna succumbed to a tumor this year. Travel isn’t the same without them – better in some ways, worse in others. We cherish the memories, but enjoy the freedom. They are still missed, though. I hope your four will settle into a travel mode that works for all of you, because it is so much more fun to have them with you than to worry about them in someone else’s care.
Safe travels, Laurie
Forgive me if you’ve covered some of this in later posts… I’m catching up. ;)
The cats will adjust. Just pay a little extra attention to them as you get them used to travelling. Some may get motion sickness, just be prepared to grab any that start looking green and make sure you can get them on something that’ll be easy to clean up. Some get over it, some never do. Also be aware of any odd behaviors and be prepared to counter them… my old cat used to lick me constantly whenever we had to go for a ride. It wasn’t a big deal for me, but I realized that she did it so much that she would get dehydrated. An open water bowl in a pickup truck doesn’t work so well, so I eventually got her used to drinking out of a gerbil water bottle. She still licked, but no longer got sick or lethargic. One thing that might also help calm them is to give them somewhere to hang out where they have some grip. Sliding around on tile or laminate does not make a happy kitty. Having them “anchor” themselves into your leather sofa does not make happy owners. ;) A few small throw rugs or door mats makes a huge difference for them if you don’t have a carpeted area.
Thanks for the info Jonathan. Yup, the kitties are doing well. No accidents and no car sickness, thank goodness. We do have blankets and kitty beds everywhere. They seem to be adjusting well. The hardest part right now is trying not to make the rv look like a tornado hit it with all the stuff.
Say Hi to Dasy for us and safe travels where ever the road takes you.
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