Talk of The Villages Florida - Transporting Cats

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Thanks all for replying.

Two cats are twice the joy but also twice the trouble. Moving in the middle of the winter and having to find a pet friendly hotel/motel on what will probably be a three day trip seemed a little daunting so I was just exploring alternatives. Our two cats were born outside and we took them in when they were a few months old. So they had ferile tendencies which have for the most part disappeared over the years. But they're still not as docile and are a little wary even though they're house cats. I found several services on the internet but I was just looking to see if anyone had used a service and might recommend it. We're keeping all of our options open. I feel that, if we're not moving in the middle of a snow storm, we probably will keep them with us.

-Dave-

And please don't forget to put harnesses on your cats when you're travelling, with current information on how to reach you.

Of course no-one ever plans to lose a pet. But if that horrible thing were to happen, putting current ID on your pet is easy to do and could save you a lot of hearbreak.

We transported 4 cats from Chicago to TV and I guess we were really lucky.
We have a van, so two huge dog crates in back, two cats in each, fully equipped with disposable litter boxes, food and water. All of our cats were chipped before we left and numbers sent to database. Then mild tranquilizer the first day and didn't need any the second day. They must have liked the
hum of the engine. Very calm, never cried. I would talk to them on and off.

Ate only at drive-thru places, because I wouldn't leave them alone outside. And stayed in a pet friendly Comfort Inn.

I was terrified of the move, but all went extremely well. Thank goodness! :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by uujudy (Post 173159)

Traveling 2400 miles across the country with two kitties was really an adventure for us! On the first day Baby Monroe finally stopped yowling around Little America. That's in Wyoming, and about 4 hours into the trip. Every time we stopped the car for a rest and started again he would yowl for an hour or so.

We bought 2 small soft-side cat carriers for the trip instead of the big hard-side airline carriers we usually use. They have mesh sides and close with a zipper. They saved a lot of space in the car, HOWEVER the mesh sides are pretty much shredded by now, and getting the cats back into them in the morning was harder than if we had used carriers that they couldn't sink their claws into. The carriers close with a zipper. It was a 2- person job to get each cat into his own carrier each morning. Tommy Boy "snags" on things with his paw. It's part of his OCD personality. He will lie on the floor next to the dishwasher and "snag" on it for hours. If he can get something to make a sound when he snags, he's happy. He'll lie next to the window and snag on it at the bottom so it makes a clicking sound. He did this with his carrier when he discovered he could make the zipper pull make a dinging sound. For 2400 miles we listened to Baby Monroe yowling and Tommy dinging. YOWWLLL, ding ding ding, YOWWLL, ding ding ding ding....

We had figured out by Kansas that if we bought them each a hamburger (plain, no ketchup, no pickle) they would fall into a drugged-up stupor, and actually sleep for a while. Think about THAT next time you get a hamburger! We could drive almost 200 miles in silence after a hamburger stop... except for the first time in Kansas when we didn't wait long enough after the hamburger stop and Baby Monroe spewed all over his cat carrier. We pulled off the freeway and Mr. Judy (bless his heart) battled the wind to clean out the carrier by the on-ramp. Wish I had pictures of that. lol

We tried letting them each out of the carrier for a while, but Tommy Boy just hid under my feet, and Baby Monroe tried to hide under the brake pedal. They seemed to feel safer inside their carriers. We felt safer without a cat under the brake pedal.

We also had to factor in the time it took to unload and load the car every day. We had the 2 cats and their carriers, the litter box, the bag with the cat food, fresh litter, Tommy's eye medicine, cat treats, and their favorite blankets. It was like traveling with a baby. If we drove too long and waited too late, by the time we were all unloaded and the kitties were fed and pottied and settled in at the new motel, all the restaurants would be closed. After seeing the effects of hamburgers on them I sure didn't want us to eat fast food all the way across country. We had to stay sharp!

We made it to The Villages. We're still married, and both kitties are doing fine. Just get yourself some of those foam earplugs. You can do this!

Had to read your post in 2 sessions, laughed so hard I had to take a break.
Homeball is actually my other half. He's better at the computer than I am, he already has an avatar.
With all the things we have to deal with now that we have a contract to sell our house it seems that the kitties are at the top of the list.
Thanks to all of your for your advice and encouragement.
Looking forward to our preview visit in December and if all goes according to plan, next year we'll be in The Villages, kitties in tow.
Woo Hoo!:a040:
Gail

Quote:

Originally Posted by fizzbyn (Post 173121)

Exactly 1 month from today, Dec 12th, the movers are coming and we're starting on our 5-day trip from Arizona to The Villages. With us will be our 86-year-old mother and a 15-year-old grouchy cat, so I'm very interested in this thread. We had two cats when we made the 9-hour drive from California to Arizona. We settled in AZ three weeks before we went to pick up the mother and cats, so we decided to rent a van where there'd be lots of room for the cats to roam about and for their dirt box, food and water. They howled for about an hour and then spent the rest of the 8 hours under the seat. Then never ate, drank or used the cat box. Now we have only one cat, but we kind of know what he'll be like. We will provide food, drink and liter box, but we don't know if he'll use them until we get to the motel. We just hope he will then. We'll put him in back with our mother so she can entertain him, if that is even possible. Keep this thread up... the more we learn the better.

Make sure your mom gets up and walks around every two hours of so to keep her blood circulation in order. My 82 YO mom flew from LA to MCO a few years ago and ended up in ICU for a week because she didn't walk around on the plane to keep the blood flowing.

And, good luck with the grouchy cat too.

.

homeball:

:agree:

I will just re-inforce other folks' admonishment: DO NOT SHIP YOUR CATS!

My now-gone cat hated trips to the vet, so I was concerned as to how he'd travel coming here - a two-day drive. I had a small cage (not a carrier) which had been used a couple of times when he or his sister had to be "confined" after surgery or illness. This fit nicely beside me in my "mini-van," and The Cat settled in comfortably. The first hour, he howled, but the rest of thr trip he was fine. When big 18-wheelers roared by, he was seriously upset for the first two-three hours, then I think he became mesmerized by the motion of the car.

He even ate - a very little - at the motel the one night we had to stop. And, he slept very close to me over night! Once we got here, he settled in in two or three days, and really loved the lanai and its outside-but-not atmosphere!

Again, do not ship your cats!

SWR

I have shiped Dogs by Plane 3 time with no problems
but one time we drove from DC area to Colorado with our Bull dog and it gave him really bad GAS then the air condition when out he started making a loud
huffing and drooling after 3 days we arrived at the Hotel the lobby was full and he coughed up a golf ball that hit the wall over top of the desk after a good swim in the pool he was back to his old self chasing room service.

Now we will be bring down our Boxer and Parrot the bird will make the trip with
no problem but the dog aka Pussy cat I think I will give him a few good drinks for the road :icon_wink:
Good Luck it will be fine
Da Sgt

chuckinca...
Thanks for warning us about having our mother walk every two hours. Probably be good for us, too. I hadn't thought of that.

uujudy...
I laughed so hard at your adventure and just had to share it with hubby. But with our trip coming up fast, it gets less funny and more scary. Otis is neurotic, but not as neurotic as Tommy Boy, so we can hope at least for quieter trip. Maybe just yowl yowl yowl, no ding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fizzbyn (Post 173757)

Your welcome.

Early in the Iraq war a news reporter died after he got blood clots in his legs due to riding around in tight confinement in a tank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fizzbyn (Post 173757)

I laughed so hard at your adventure and just had to share it with hubby. But with our trip coming up fast, it gets less funny and more scary. Otis is neurotic, but not as neurotic as Tommy Boy, so we can hope at least for quieter trip. Maybe just yowl yowl yowl, no ding.

Fizzbyn,

Just remember the hamburgers and the earplugs. It will be the adventure of a lifetime, and you'll have stories to tell at all the holiday parties! LOL
All I know is that I bought 2 books on CD for the trip, and in 2400 miles we were only able to listen to the first chapter of one book -- and it was a good book! :read:

We brought our 10 year old/indoor/outdoor male cat to the Villages last Jan. for a month, and he moaned and cried in the car a little at first, then settled in with the motion of the car and was fine. No need for a cat liter box or food or water during the 2-day trip. What we did before the trip was to get a motion sickness pill into him that the vet prescribed (he didn't believe in giving cats tranquilizers). Next we sprayed his cabin carrier (very soft carrier and big enough for him to sit in) with Comfort Zone which contains cat pheromones which calms cats. When we stayed in the Villages rental property we plugged in a liquid form of Comfort Zone into an elec. outlet which also contained cat pheromones. He never had an accident at the rental home!! Goggle the internet for Comfort Zone, it's a lot cheaper there than buying it at pet stores. Your pets will be good at the motel and use their box and will then eat/drink. Just make sure you plug up any holes around the bed box so that your cats don't "disappear" under the bed!!! Hope this helps!!!

I agree with not shipping pets. Its inhumane and not safe. Cats adjust very well and if you let them get used to the carriers and the car travel with a few short trips they will settle down quickly on the long trip. Food and water and a litter box in the motel will keep them happy and the sound of your voices talking to them gently if they begin to cry will also help. I travelled for a number of years between NYC and SC with my cat and she withstood the trip beautifully, she stopped travelling when she was 15 when I stopped going back and forth, and she lived to the ripe old age of 18.

We made it... the trip went well with the cat and mother-in-law, who basically entertained and took care of the cat in the back seat. We found that south Texas isn't nearly as boring as the pan handle and we enjoyed all the different trees once we got to Louisiana. I took a zillion pictures crossing the Mississippi for the first time on the ground. We did get out of the car every few hours, mostly at McDonald's. I can't believe how many McD's there are on I10. Thanks everyone for all the helpful info. We're so happy to be here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fizzbyn (Post 181561)

Yay! You did it! Congratulations and welcome! :pepper2:

Quote:

Originally Posted by fizzbyn (Post 181561)

:welcome: Glad to hear you made it safely.

Your cat doesn't look very happy .. but after he chases a few gecko's he'll cheer up.