[chuckinca]

You can order a truck bed mat made for your truck at most auto supply stores for around $99. They are black color and made of a heavy rubber type material - no smell or other issues. They weigh about 50 pounds for a full size PU bed.

I have a bed liner in my truck and put a bed mat over it because I don't like the slippery surface of the bed liners.

We haul our cats back and forth to Norcal in the truck bed with a camper shell cover that has a pass thru window into the truck cab. We also usually haul stuff back and forth (had to upsize from a 1/2 ton PU to a 1 ton diesel PU due to the weight of all the stuff crammed in the truck and travel trailer). The cats lay on top of the boxes of (crafts) stuff on a blanket or sleep on the floor of the cab or my wife's lap.

2WD PU's are fine just about everywhere. If it were me, I would buy a full size half ton PU with the small bench seat and half size access doors especially if you're driving back and forth to Seattle (those small PU's get very cramped on long trips).