Moving across country with 3 cats, suggestions?

GeorgeR wrote:
Thanks Annie, but I'll have to fly. IN-CA is only a 6 hour trip.

Maybe you should consider driving, given the issues with flying the cats.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
GeorgeR wrote:
Thanks Annie, but I'll have to fly. IN-CA is only a 6 hour trip.

Maybe you should consider driving, given the issues with flying the cats.


I think that the cats would too stressed by a 3-day drive. I'll have to
find a way to fly with them.

GeorgeR wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
GeorgeR wrote:
Thanks Annie, but I'll have to fly. IN-CA is only a 6 hour trip.

Maybe you should consider driving, given the issues with flying the
cats.


I think that the cats would too stressed by a 3-day drive. I'll have
to find a way to fly with them.

You've obviously never met Harri Roadcat Seriously, his human was a
trucker for a while and that cat went everywhere with him! There are a lot
of people here who have travelled long distances with cats in the car.
Annie even had hers on a boat for a while.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
GeorgeR wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
GeorgeR wrote:
Thanks Annie, but I'll have to fly. IN-CA is only a 6 hour trip.
Maybe you should consider driving, given the issues with flying the
cats.

I think that the cats would too stressed by a 3-day drive. I'll have
to find a way to fly with them.

You've obviously never met Harri Roadcat Seriously, his human was a
trucker for a while and that cat went everywhere with him! There are a lot
of people here who have travelled long distances with cats in the car.
Annie even had hers on a boat for a while.

But they'd have to be caged when in the car, right? That's 10-12
hours/day on a cross country trip. And then when you get to a hotel
there are more headaches, the clerk will surely not like to see you walk
in with 3 big cages.

"GeorgeR" wrote

| But they'd have to be caged when in the car, right? That's 10-12
| hours/day on a cross country trip. And then when you get to a hotel
| there are more headaches, the clerk will surely not like to see you walk
| in with 3 big cages.

When I traveled cross-country with cats (up to 4 at a time, and once with
six tiny babies in a box as well) I never kept them in cages. We were in a
minivan. They would take turns sharing laps and hiding under the bed in the
back, or snoozing on top of the bed, or laying in the breeze coming from the
vent on the floor.

We rarely stopped at motels but if we did, the cats would just stay in the
van overnight. At any other stops we'd look for a shady parking spot and
leave the windows down about 3" and the screened windows in the back wide
open. We tried to spend nights in spots where the cats could go out for a
while at dusk and dawn each day.

After the first few hours of a trip, the kitties settle down and enjoy the
adventure.

"GeorgeR" wrote in message
m...
.... But they'd have to be caged when in the car, right? That's 10-12
hours/day on a cross country trip. And then when you get to a hotel there
are more headaches, the clerk will surely not like to see you walk in with
3 big cages.

Hi George,
First, I want to say that you don't owe me any explanations of how you
choose to travel. It's easy to see that your first concern is the comfort
of your cats and nobody knows them better than you. Also, you may have time
constraints on you or maybe you just don't want to drive such long
distances.
But, you might want to ask yourself some questions before you make your
final decision. Such as:

How many hours a day do your cats normally do nothing but sleep? Maybe
close to 10-12?

Do you have enough time so that you could drive shorter distances and one
more day?

As long as you let the reservation desk know that you are traveling with
three cats, you will not have any problems walking in with 3 big cages. As
I said before, we collected directories and used our cell phone to call a
couple of hours ahead to reserve a room. We always told them we were
bringing cats in. Believe it or not, some of the motel clerks are cat
lovers, too. It is important, though, to leave the room clean. A small
hand-held vac, a whisk broom and a dustpan are handy for getting that
tracked litter.

Not only have we traveled with our current cats, we moved from Washington
state to Texas with three cats.

We were amazed how adaptable and what good travelers cats can be.

Anyway, however you choose to go, I wish you a safe and uneventful trip.

Annie

Pat wrote:
"GeorgeR" wrote

| But they'd have to be caged when in the car, right? That's 10-12
| hours/day on a cross country trip. And then when you get to a hotel
| there are more headaches, the clerk will surely not like to see you walk
| in with 3 big cages.

When I traveled cross-country with cats (up to 4 at a time, and once with
six tiny babies in a box as well) I never kept them in cages. We were in a
minivan. They would take turns sharing laps and hiding under the bed in the
back, or snoozing on top of the bed, or laying in the breeze coming from the
vent on the floor.

I was told that it is dangerous to have freely moving animals (or
humans) in the vehicle. A sudden brake or a collision will send them
trough the windshield. I am nervous at the thought that one of the cats
may decide to crawl under my feet and block access to the brake pedal or
something.

"GeorgeR" wrote

| I was told that it is dangerous to have freely moving animals (or
| humans) in the vehicle. A sudden brake or a collision will send them
| trough the windshield. I am nervous at the thought that one of the cats
| may decide to crawl under my feet and block access to the brake pedal or
| something.

Mine all tried that. It's pretty easy to teach them not to do it. I would
just reach down and push them off to the right side with a very firm "NO!!"

A bowling ball might go "through" a windshield, but a cat sure wouldn't.
I've had to brake suddenly many times while riding with loose cats. Usually
they dig into whatever they can and don't get moved at all. They're pretty
smart, for the most part.

But if it really makes you nervous, just put them in carriers when the car
is moving!

But they'd have to be caged when in the car, right? That's 10-12
hours/day on a cross country trip. And then when you get to a hotel
there are more headaches, the clerk will surely not like to see you walk
in with 3 big cages.

No, actually they don't. We just finished moving from California to Iowa
with 6 cats.

5 of them rode in the van with my wife, and 1 of them (usually Harri
Roadcat) rode in the big rental truck with me. We had carriers available
for all of them, but didn't have to use them often. We stayed mostly at
Super 8 motels, and almost all of them allow pets in the room.

We had a litter box, food dish, and water dish in the back of the van, and
the cats were free to wander the back of the van. They weren't thrilled
about spending 4 days traveling (we had some issues that slowed us down a
bit), but they handled it ok.

Dan

Daniel Mahoney wrote:
But they'd have to be caged when in the car, right? That's 10-12
hours/day on a cross country trip. And then when you get to a hotel
there are more headaches, the clerk will surely not like to see you
walk in with 3 big cages.

No, actually they don't. We just finished moving from California to
Iowa with 6 cats.

5 of them rode in the van with my wife, and 1 of them (usually Harri
Roadcat) rode in the big rental truck with me. We had carriers
available for all of them, but didn't have to use them often. We
stayed mostly at Super 8 motels, and almost all of them allow pets in
the room.

We had a litter box, food dish, and water dish in the back of the
van, and the cats were free to wander the back of the van. They
weren't thrilled about spending 4 days traveling (we had some issues
that slowed us down a bit), but they handled it ok.

Dan

And there are a LOT of pet friendly low-cost motels, by the way. I've been
doing some searches for a friend and Motel 8, Hotel 6 and most of the
Econo-lodges and some Days Inns allow a couple of pets at no extra cost.
Get on towards 4-5 pets, then you're talking a nightly rate for the pet.
They have no idea if your cat/dog is going to spray inside the room, etc. so
that's only fair.

Jill