Traveling with a cat?

[Dmmetler]

We're considering taking Neo with us to Atlanta. DH is definitely her person and while she spends most of the day sleeping and playing, she defintely likes being near him. She also occasionally decides that she can't resist Mamba's tail, and Mamba takes offense (our other two tolerate her more, but Mamba clearly would prefer to be in a kitten free household). We have a pet-friendly suite booked for the week. 

 

She handles wearing a harness pretty well-we've been taking her places for awhile and have a large soft sided carrier (basically a kitten pack and play) that's big enough for a litter box, her bed, and a little  room besides. 

 

It's about a 6 hour drive, without stops. 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Dmmetler
Added cute kitten pics :)

[Kassia]

Aw,what a cute kitty!  How nice that she travels well. 

Our cat is absolutely traumatized by being in a car.  It's awful.  We want to move eventually and I don't know what we'll do with her since she can't even handle a quick drive to the vet.  

[stephanier.1765]

Our cats hate the car with a very loud hate. However, if I had a cat that enjoyed the car like my son and his gf's cat who wanders freely and happily in their car, then I absolutely would. For a short trip, probably not, but definitely for a week long one.

[Dmmetler]

She doesn't yowl or complain. She doesn't move around much if at all when the car is moving, but seems to do well. 

[Bambam]

My dd's cat hates driving fast in the car but seems fine at low speeds. Since she lives about an hour away, cat makes loud unhappy noises for a good part of the trip. Vet prescribed gabapentin to help with calming him down. It helps some, but it is not a total solution. When she moves after graduation to a town 4 hours away, we are dreading driving him there. 

[Terabith]

I think if she doesn’t hate the car that I would take her, both because she likes being with her people and also to eliminate the risk of cat drama between her and Mamba in your absence. 

[Dmmetler]

30 minutes ago, Bambam said:

My dd's cat hates driving fast in the car but seems fine at low speeds. Since she lives about an hour away, cat makes loud unhappy noises for a good part of the trip. Vet prescribed gabapentin to help with calming him down. It helps some, but it is not a total solution. When she moves after graduation to a town 4 hours away, we are dreading driving him there. 

We took her on a trial run at interstate speeds and she did OK. In some ways, I think it might be easier than in town because it was constant-she seemed to relax once we got on the interstate. 

 

She tends to spend drives curled into a ball and occasionally popping her head up to look around. We'll likely take a seat out of the middle section of the van and set her up there, and then whoever isn't driving can ride beside her on the trip out, and on the trip back there will be 3 of us. 

 

She's the first cat we've ever had who even accepted wearing a harness, let alone being in the car without throwing a fit. She also uses her carrier as a hang out spot, and has had a litter box in there from the beginning, and doesn't seem to mind it the way the older cats do. 

[livetoread]

I still remember an ill fated trip when I drove my sister's kitten for five hours (for a reason I can't remember now). The car sick kitten got out of its box in the back seat, perched on the headrest behind my head while I was driving, and drooled on my head while crying. We were both pathetic when we finally arrived.

[fraidycat]

I've traveled cross-country with cats before on moves. As long as she tolerates the car, she'll probably be fine on the trip.

My concern would be housekeeping letting her out of the room if they come by while you're away from the room and/or running into a situation where kitty isn't welcomed while out and about if you plan to do any touristy things.