Stinkerbelle goes this Friday to get spayed. I don't know why, but I feel so apprehensive about this. I hate the thought of leaving her there overnight. The thought of her having to sleep in some cage makes me want to cry. What is she going to feel when/if she wakes up around 5:00 in the morning and wants someone to pet her? (That's about the time she wakes me up each morning for attention.) I will probably be at the vet's office at the earliest time I can pick her up Saturday morning.
Have any of you ever traveled with your cat? DS wants to go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. I asked my mom if I came, could I bring the cat? She said yes, which really surprised me because she hates having animals in the house. I'm not so sure how a five hour car trip is going to be with the kitty. Plus, the packing I'm going to have to do! Cat food, food dish, water dish, kitty litter & box (& scoop). Should I ask the vet for a sedative for her? Or should I look into boarding her for a few days? (But then I go back to having her sleeping in a cage and being lonely at night. Of course, she might prefer being away from us and around other animals.)
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11 comments:
I travelled with my cats when needed. We referred to Tofu as our "mobile blind spot". One cat loved the car, one was indifferent and one hated it with the yowling passion that only a cat can have.
Ack. Boarding my babies is unpossible for me. I'll never go on vacation again because I don't know anybody that can stay at our house anymore. I mean, I still know Mike but he's all married and his wife probably won't like him living somewhere else for days at a time.
But the great thing about cats is you can go away and they won't even notice. Fill a big bowl with cat food and leave the toilet seat up (I'm kidding there, of course). Good to go for a few weeks. Maybe have a neighbor check to see if she has food and water and clean the litter box every few days. She'll be happy to see you when you get home but you won't know that. Or you can try to deal with a cat yowling (perfect word, bob) in the car for five hours.
Obviously, I'm more of a dog person. I LOVE my cats. I just don't worry about them being alone as much.
*grin*
*smooch*
If it is just a couple of days I would leave a grown cat at home. But yours is still a kitten so I would bring her if I could. Being alone is spooky for a kitten.
I dislike sedating cats. I would put the cat carrier on the seat where she can see you and you stick a finger into the crate from time to time as you drive.
We drove from Montreal to Atlanta with our kitty. She did awesome. We put the back seat down so she could roam into the trunk (where we put a disposable litter box). she slept at my feet in the front much of the time. We did break the trip up and stayed with a friend overnight and kitty was terrific.
I will say that it was unbearable when she decided to poop in the litter box. We had to pull over so we could air the car out LOL.
I wouldn't sedate her either.
Whenever I bring any of my cats to the vets, they howl in the car, but that's because they are in their crates.
Whenever we go out of town, we get a petsitter to come visit the cats. We unfortunately board the dog. We may use the petsitter for him this year though. And, one of our cats has to be boarded also because of medical issues. We don't like to do that but we do feel better knowing that someone is around to take care of him if necessary.
Good luck Arkie!
Oh, and your kitty will be drugged up at the vet so I don't think she'll be sad if she wakes up in the middle of the night. It's always harder on us.
LOL! You are such a cute cat mom.
I've never traveled with ours because they generally don't like to hang out in their carriers that long. I think you'd be fine to take Stinkerbelle, though. Just make sure your mom has all the little chewable stuff picked up. And how about things like plants, etc? Every cat is different, so maybe that's not an issue.
Nookie had a GREAT idea about leaving the back seat down, if you can, and having the trunk area to roam!
When we travel, if it's more than 4 days, we have someone check in on them. If it was a neighbor, we'd probably have them do it more, but it's our friend that works down the road and lives 45 minutes away, so we don't like to burden him. Every 3-4 days seems to be ok with our cats.
I've heard catnip helps cats travel more calmly...though now that I think about it, I don't think catnip works on kittens. I would do a test drive around town and see how she acts to get a better idea of how she'll handle it.
We brought our cats home that night after being fixed.
We have travelled with one of our cats. We put her on a harness. It took about 2 days and we had her harness trained.
Just remember though, wherever you rbing her, they are not cat people. So you have to make sure that they always close the doors so that cat can't get out.
One cat travels well, one could care less and one tries to remove all of our body parts when we put him in the car. the one that likes to travel just roams around the car. we don't even have to cage her for the ride.
LOL at all the advice and experiences! Me? I'd leave her at home. She'd probably freak out more in the car and at a strange house, than if she just stayed at home in her normal surroundings. Not to say you're normal, though...
I agree with Glowie. I have cats because they are independent. I leave a bowl of food and one of water. My boys check on the cat, but basically you can leave cats for quite a few days and they are ok.
A negative about taking cats is that adult cats, in strange houses, might want to mark them. I don't think kittens mark, however.
Leaving a kitten at home alone though could be dicey.
We usually leave the cats at home and have a neighbor come feed them, but I have traveled to Florida with my old cat, who is no longer with us. He was great in the car, even with no A/C. Since it was such a long drive (24 hours), we brought a small portable litter box along, just in case. I don't remember if he used it. We did stop overnight at a hotel, where he slept on the A/C unit all night.
My current cats meow a lot in the car. A.LOT.
I would test it out with Stinkerbelle and take her for a drive around the country sometime before Thanksgiving.
Oh, and good luck with her today/tomorrow. *special kitty smooches*
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