Moving cat down the motorway!

[passionberry]

We are moving to the other end of the country next week with 4 month old baby and cat. I am dreading the car journey!

I reckon it could take 5 hours - is there anything I can do to make the journey ok for him? How will he go to the loo on the way!!??

I travelled from Moscow to Syria with cats on plane.

My advice would be to put down giant nappies at bottom of the cta basket - in case accident happens - but one of my cats hel it in the WHOLE time.

I'd advise, keep baby wipes and fresh nappies handy in case of accident - and if you stop - check up on cat, and maybe give a bit of water or cat treat.

And lastly, make sure you have litter tray ready so as soon as you arrive, put litter tray out and put cat into quiet room, with food, water and litter tray, and leave in there.

Took my cats a few days to settle in, but you cat will be fine.

Do you have a hooded litter tray? It might be a good idea to keep that in the car, stop a few times at service stations and put him in it.

I did a similar move with 3 cats and 2 dogs and no problems so it is possible. We just put the cats in their baskets almost last of all and drove through, stopping only for a 15 minute tea/wee break for us and the dogs. If you have any concerns I suggest that you ring the vet and ask what he/she thinks to the idea of a mild sedative for a journey of that length.

Unless advised otherwise by your vet (eg if a sedative is recommended and needs to be take with food), ensure that your cat is last fed in the early evening prior to your move, just as you would if he were going in for an op.

Another bit of advice... make sure you get him indoors early too and lock him in one room with water, a bed and a litter tray. Trying to find a cat which has escaped out of the garden door on the morning of your move is NOT fun!

Thanks very much everyone - some good ideas.

Maybe I will ring vet re. sedative as he's not a great traveller.

I am thinking though just put something absorbent underneath him and put my foot down! (Maybe a very quick wee and BF stop for baby)

We just saw someone at the services with a cat in their hatchback boot - with a litter tray and food and water bowls. They'd stopped to have a wee and "air" her - she was very cute! Safely sort of shut in the hatch back boot whilst travelling

Get a cage/crate so there will be room for a litter tray and bed. My 2 somalis did 6 hours sharing a crate and not a noise between them, but them in a basket and it sounds like chewbacca from stars wars after 30 seconds!