Kittens and camping?

[KittiesInsane]

I put this on the Camping topic as well for a view from the other side!

Has anyone tried camping with a kitten? We were just about to take the plunge with the local rescue centre (currently inundated with kittens). Then I did the sums and realised their current litters would all be under 6 months during the annual camping trip. I can't see the neighbours being keen on being responsible for keeping New Kitten in the house for two weeks.

We probably just have to resist until we get back, don't we? But if there is a way to make it work...

I have some vague recollection of someone camping, years back, with a kitten on a harness, so maybe it can be done.

Territory is very, very important for cats so travelling with you to different places can lead to very anxious cats. Anxiety in cats can manifest itself as medical conditions. So this would be the first reason I would not take them.
The second reason is flight risk it only takes a moments lapse in concentration and tent left slightly open and cat is gone and unlikely a dog a gone cat is a gone cat.

Fair enough -- thanks!

You could get a cat sitter to come to your house a couple of times a day, or put kitten in a cattery?

But a camping trip would be stressful on both you and the cat/kitten.

For many many years, I've taken my personal boys on UK holidays with me - hotels, rented cottages, other people's homes etc. Being Siamese and the cats that they were, they've been so bonded to me that they almost didn't notice the new territory as long as I was there with their bed and their litter tray.

Camping I wouldn't do, though. The thought of trying to keep a cat happy inside a tent would fill me with trepidation. I'd leave it until you got back.

Good god no! Any sort of holidays with cats is a terrible idea (unless they are very special cats like Cozie's of course). And the chances of losing a cat/kitten on holiday are very high indeed. The cat/kitten would also be stressed.

One of our rescue workers has just been camping/caravanning in fact and while he was there he managed to catch the cat of some people who had lost their cat two years previously when they decided to take it on holiday. (Chipped, and known about on the campsite, but no one had managed to catch it). The owners had to drive around six hours from their home to collect it.

It's just got recipe for disaster written all over it.

I'd look on cat interationals website for the cattery list, I found my cattery on there and they are excellent.

Nah, not going to do catteries with a young kitten either. We'll just put it on the back burner* for the moment.

*No, not literally. Though it might be a further hazard of camping...