I am moving across the country with a Kitten, how can I keep her happy and healthy in a car for 3 days?
l_nehs
I am moving from California to Florida and we just adopted a kitten. She will be 8 months old when we move, and I am worried that the drive will be traumatizing to her! Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping her happy and occupied? The move will be stressful enough for her, but my big worries are health, safety, and happiness! Any suggestions would be helpful!
I am moving from California to Florida and we just adopted a kitten. She will be 8 months old when we move, and I am worried that the drive will be traumatizing to her! Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping her happy and occupied? The move will be stressful enough for her, but my big worries are health, safety, and happiness! Any suggestions would be helpful!
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Keep taking in a soothing way to your cat.
try to make sure she is comfortable and can see you and has fresh air. When you take rest stops maybe you could get a little harness for her and let her stretch her little legs outside- away from the traffic and noise- maybe she could ride up front next to you, that might keep her calm.
Food, water, treats, toys, leash and check with your vet for something to keep her calm. Pets mart has a liquid calming stuff you can buy for cats. I use the stuff for dogs that’s natural.
Don’t forget cat carrier.
I suggest that you bring a little cat/dog shuttle and keep it in the car, they aren’t that expensive , around 30$ , but you can keep your kitten in it for e long time. I also suggest that you bring some of his toys and treats and teach it how to do tricks.
My cat learned how to roll over, and hi five in two days in a car. 
Well hope I helped! ;]
my best friend just moved from arizona to tennessee with two dogs and a cat (as well as hubby and two small boys). she had her vet give her a mild sedative to use for the cat. the dogs weren’t that big a deal…one’s a mastiff and the other is a boston terrier…they’re both pretty laid back. she just stopped to walk them pretty much at every rest stop between there and here. when the cat started getting crazy, she would give her the medicine and put her back in her crate with a toy she likes.
good luck
Depending on your vehicle and how much room you are going to have on the drive, you could fold down your back seat so that the trunk is exposed so she has room to roam and lay down. Make sure to have a litter box, and keep some poop/pee in it from a previous use, so she knows to use it. Make sure to have water as well, and possibly food. Put a bunch of blankets on a seat for her to snuggle up in.
Or if you think she would be more comfortable, put her in a crate and make sure she has water and a litter box as well.
Worst case scenario, you could ask the vet for a sedative shot before your drive so shes calm and will most likely just sleep the whole way. You might be able to also find herbal remedies to make her sleepy in pet stores.
Good luck!
Buy her a small cat carrier and drive her around in your car now while she is young. Do this a couple times a week! Very very important to get her used to riding in a moving vessel. If you don’t condition her now it will be a, vomit, diarrhea, meowing filled, long three days!
My cat rides just fine in his carrier and it has a lot to do with him once being a show cat and doing a lot of traveling.
Most cats hate car rides so teach her now that its what cats do….she wont know that most cats never go anywhere.
You could ask your vet for something to knock her out, although I’m not sure that knocking her out for 3 straight days is such a good idea (but I would talk to your vet about it anyway as you might want to knock her out part of the time as a back-up if she freaks out or gets car sick or whatever).
If you don’t want to knock her out put her in a travel case or crate that is big enough for her to move around in and play a little bit, but not so big that she can hurt herself if she goes nuts.
Make sure you have lots of toys with you for her, don’t give them all at once, give 1 or 2 at a time and rotate them every so often (that way you’ll keep her from getting bored). Bring some fav trusted toys but also get some new ones so that it’s a bit of a challenge for her.
Make sure she’s comfortable, nice comfy bed (her own normal bed if it fits), food and treats and enough water. Don’t give her too much treats though, you don’t want to get her sick or hyped up.
And, as you’re traveling for 3 days I’m assuming that you’ll be stopping off at hotels/motels along the way, make sure that she gets plenty of exercise when you stop for the night, play with her and give her lots of cuddles.
There is also this herbal remedy, called rescue remedy, it’s for humans, but it’s safe for pets too. It’ll calm her down, I’d especially give it to her right before you leave as if she’s calm in those first few hours she’ll realise from then on out that it’s not scary and should be fine for the rest of the trip.
I moved from FL to WA with 2 cats, then I got another one and moved from WA to AK (and back) with all 3 so here are my “lessons learned.”
1. Get the cat a good animal carrier–like the ones used for air travel. Not to big, just sturdy.
2. Take the cat to the vet prior to the trip to request sedatives. You do not have to use them, but it is good to have them on hand. Two of my cats needed them, but my boy cat just gets in his kennel on his own and makes no fuss at all, so he does not get them. Also be sure to get all shots updated and ask about any special concerns with going to a new area of the country.
3. Cats can stay in their kennels up to about 8 hours a day without needing to get out and “stretch.” I never went more than 9 hours on the road in any one day, usually tried to keep it at 8. Then 1st thing out of the car is the animals and their litter box (even if I had to pee the cats got to go in the hotel first and settle in). So I would take them in their crates into the hotel room, open the door to their crate and let them come out on their own. Set up the litter box in an obvious place and give them plenty of space. Set up food and water also.
CAUTION: Some hotels do not have blockers under the bed (epsecially when I was on the Alcan from AK to WA) so be sure to check try to block access to the under side of the bed or else you may be tearing the room apart in the morning to retrieve fluffy.
Also, a good chain is Motel 6. I think almost all of them accept pets.
4. Never leave the cat in the car alone for an extended period of time (more than about 10 minutes). All of my meals during the day were drive through. Then after I stopped at night, I would have a “real” meal, while the cats were settling into the hotel room.
5. Take some of her toys for at night in the hotel room, but they really do not need entertainment duirng the day–they will usually just sleep while you drive. Mine would wake up when I stopped for gas/food, so I would just talk sweet to them and then as soon as I got moving again, they would go back to sleep.
6. I tried to keep the car somewhat quiet…i.e. I was not rocking out to loud music and kept the windows up and AC on when needed.
7. Once you get settled, give her lots of space, she will let you know when she is comfortable in her new house.
I am happy to say that we came back to WA this last August and everyone is happy and healthy.
Good luck.
8. I forgot, be sure to get an emergency phone number for your vet and let them know that you are travelling, just in case anything does happen along the way.
I saw something called a pet tent online the other day and thought it would be good for traveling. I like that it has Velcro on the bottom to keep it from sliding and you can bring it in to your hotel room at night to have a safe space for kitty. (These are larger than normal cat carriers.)
I do know that when a cat starts to meow to you when traveling, she is looking to hear you talk back to her. Before I knew that, it used to drive me nuts! Now, I know the cats need to hear my soothing voice when they talk. Try to keep the atmosphere in the car as calm as possible. She should sleep most of the time! (18 hours a day!) Be sure to ply with her when you stop for the night and cuddle her.
Be sure not to leave her in the car with the windows up.
Be sure to give her plenty of water.
Make sure that your hotels accept cats (Or be prepared to sneak her in and out! )
You can put litter in a shoe box for her. I would line it with plastic first. A shoe box would fit into one of the pet tents nicely!
Good luck with your travels!