How did you transport cats to TV from out of state?
 

We are moving down from Virginia Sept 1, we have 2 cats 13 years old and are in a quandry on how to get them down. Went out to Dulles yesterday to inquire about flying them down in the cargo hold, but if it is 85 degrees they cant fly. I just cant see driving them down in cages in the back seat, which would be about a 13-14 hour trip(miserable for them and us)
I checked on ground transportation Companies, they would charge
approx $1000 total.
Anyone have any ideas?

My son and his wife always brought their cats with them in cat cages when they moved around the country. Both kitties were checked out by the vet and received health certificates...as well as sedatives if they were needed...for the kitties, not for son or his wife... ;)

The cats did well....and had small litter boxes in the car to use if needed, along with plastic bags to hold wastes and soiled litter.

Since your cats are older, ask the vet. With the current heat engulfing many parts of the country, I'd be very concerned about the well being of your pets in cargo. Just recently read of pups that died in cargo because of the heat....was okay when loaded, but then there were delays and then the heat increased.

You might also ask if you will need a health certificate for traveling with them. Always had to have one for the dog and my kids have always had one for their cats.

***

Cat transporting
 

Thanks for the info, they were recently just updated on all their shots, wonder if I could get a sedative from the vet to make the trip down more tolerable for them. Just taking them to the vet in cages, they make the most eerie sounds back there, hope they would eventually settle down.

We drove 22 hours non-stop from Mass. to TV with three cats. We put them in a large dog crate with a small bowl of water and a small litter box. Our Vet gave us tranquilizers for the cats, did not need it for them, I certainly could have used them. One of the cats chatted 20 of the 22 hours, he drove us crazy. The trip went very well....no problems. We did not want to have them uncaged for the trip because we were concerned about their safety when we made pit stops. Once we arrived in our new home, all was well, everyone ran around and checked things out. Good luck with your trip.

When our friends moved from CA to NC, they had two cats and a large dog that suffered from car sickness, as well as two autos to move. My friend drove with the dog as her passenger and her husband took the cats. Those cats also "sang" most of the way cross country and each day decided that they should "poop" in the litterbox about a half hour after they hit the road. Poor Ron, he'd have to sniff that mess till they could stop.

Cats can be pretty quiet most of the time, but get them into a car and suddenly, they're opera singers!

Glad you all survived!.... :)

I highly recommend the sedative :). We travel with an 80 lb dog and two cats twice a year between TV and MA. When I take the the kitties to the vet occasionally they do make a racket, I cannot imagine that chorus for 12 hours.

Before we start the journey to TV, my wife gives them the sedative from the vet. The ride sounds like this: MEOW, MEOW, meow, meow, meeeeoooooow, meeeee, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

We do not let them loose, years ago we took a wire dog crate for medium sized dogs, removed one side and replaced that side with a piece of peg board. I cut out two holes in the peg board the size of the opening in their cat carriers. I attach the carriers to the peg board, put a litter box in the dog crate and the cats have a small two bedroom one bath condo for the trip.

One thing we did when bringing down ONE cat, was to put a light sheet over the carrier. It was like putting a bird to bed. At least for our cat, it seemed to help the fear of all the objects wizzing by.

I had a "small dog" crate which we'd purchased to keep one of two (then) cats from wandering around after leg surgery - she was in a cast and not supposed to jump up or do much of anything for almost ten days.

Put my one cat (by then) in this crate, squeezed between the front seats in my mini-van. After the first hour or so, during which he was obviously most terrified by the monster 18-wheelers roaring by on the Interstate, he settled down and rode well over two days. Every now and then, I would reach down and skritch his ears.

The crate was small enough that I could carry the whole thing, complete with The Cat, into my overnight motel (I used Red Roof Inns). Once I was also settled for the night, I let him out; he spent the night next to me on the bed, and I had little trouble getting him back into the crate next morning.

Once in our new house (the first three nights with only a bed and one chair), he spent several hours exploring every nook and cranny, then decided that the lanai was a Good Thing!

My vet gave me some sedatives for The Cat, but hoped I wouldn't use them. And, I didn't.

IMVHO do NOT repeat NOT "ship" your pet by cargo.

SWR
:beer3:

We have brought our five year old kitties down and back many a time now. It is a 15 hour trip. The first time was utter hell with them yelling in their cage.

Then we put them in halter and lead and tried to get to the tightness of them not being able to slip out and not strangling them either. Our cat cage is heavy nylon and it unzips. Once we were up and running and they were yelling like crazy we let them out...in their harness with their lead. They climbed on daughters and my laps and stayed their until we came to a stop for food or potty and then we shoved them back in the cage and zipped them up. We have a Chrysler van so we put the usual size kitty litter pan in the back and usually they find it and use it. On each trip one of them throws up, so we have rags and cleaning material ready. We learned to not feed them the night before just so we could catch them to put them in the car and put food out so they would come to us BUT they know that something is up because we have them in halters walking around dragging their lead for a couple of days before the trip. Of course they hide and the halter is tested by dragging them out from under the bed etc. If it holds than we know if someone tries to get out in Atlanta we have half a chance at catching them.

They haven't tried to get out of the car and they are pretty good about being pushed back into the cage and they are pretty quiet on our laps now.

Every cat is different. Good luck.

I drove with an obnoxious teen and 3 cats from California to here. One of the cats was absolutely terrified of riding. The other two weren't thrilled but could tolerate it. For the first day, I gave my big baby a sedative; one of the cats 1/2 a tab and the other nothing. I didn't need to give any of the girls a pill after the first day (we took a leisurely trip, stopping whenever something interested us).

My fraidy cat howled for 15 minutes and then curled up and went to sleep. The black brat settled down with her pill in about 10 minutes. The third enjoyed looking out the window. I did not cage them (no room) but always had harnasses on them and no car door nor window was opened unless all three girls were on their leads.

I did have a litter box on the floor and the girls happily used it -- usually when I was at a point where I couldn't stop to clean it for at least 3 hours. I also had a food and water dish in a dish pan so they could eat and drink when they wanted.

The worst part of the trip was listening to my child whine when she couldn't find a decent radio station (she'd packed up all of her CDs).

Cat transport
 

Wow, putting a leash on them, they have never had that, will try that and
see
what happens, thanks for the info, moving to calumet grove.

Get them used to the harness at least 2 weeks before you leave. That was my biggest mistake -- one of my girls fought it like crazy. BTW -- there was no way any of them would walk on the leash -- it was simply to prevent them from running away while we put them in their carriers to take to the rooms for the night.

I would not fly them. Too much of a risk. I would drive them. You can find pet friendly motels if you want to spend the night. Depending on how they travel you can put them in a cage or the back seat. If they are not use to riding in the car start to break them in. I would not ship them as no one will take better care of them than you and however you ship them no one will be taking care of them for hours.

When we moved full time to TV from NY last year, we arranged with a very reliable pet transporter in NY to have our two 13 year old cats brought to Florida. After they had a thorough checkup by our vet and we got the appropriate paper work required by the transporter and the airlines, our "girls" were picked up at our vet's and transported to Newark Airport in regulation pet carriers (plenty of room) which we were required to purchase, flown drug free on Continnental Airlines where they breathed the same atmosphere as the other passengers, and picked up at Tampa Airport by a local vet here in the neighborhood where they were boarded until we arrived. Their whole trip from our vet to Tampa was eight hours. We drove down and arrived in TV several days later and were reunited with our "girls". Everyone arrived safe, sound, and healthy and doing fine today.

:pepper2: