Taking a Siberian on holiday...

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

We have an 18month old Siberian CatBaby and she comes with us when we visit the ILs which is a 2.5hour drive. She's perfectly content on the journey (her travel box is one of her safe spaces in the house), has her own litter tray at the ILs and has never shown the slightest sign of stress at the journey or at the change in surroundings. Next summer we're considering a week in a self catering holiday home which allows pets. It's at least a 4 hour drive and because we also have a HumanBaby we will need to stop at least once. Has anyone any experience of long journeys and taking their cat on holiday? I'd be grateful for hints and tips. For the journey I'm thinking we just put her into her litter box whenever we stop..? We won't send her to kennels and our usual pet sitters will be on holiday with us!

We've taken dcat twice to self catering. It's about a three and a half hour journey.
We let him loose in the car. I know a lot of people don't agree with this in case he escapes in a collision but hopefully the chances of that are pretty remote and after a bit of miaowing he settles town and sleeps. But if yours is happy to go in the carrier, stick with that. We put litter tray on floor of back seat but he's never used it. We have a quick toilet stop and leg stretch but one of us stays with him and swop over.
We tend to set off from home late morning so we can go right in to the place when we arrive, and head off right away on the day we leave after cleaning and packing up.
He did escape out of the front door once while we packing up but after a few minutes of wandering around ran back in through the front door.
The first year we had a balcony and he liked sitting on there with me reading a book watching dogs being walked past. The second year we had a small enclosed patio where I took him for ten mins or so every day to get a bit of fresh air but after a few minutes of wandering around he would go back in. That place had high windows so he used to jump up and look out and he was at the same level as passing dogs!
We don't go far the first day or two to give him time to settle but after that he is fine to be left for three or four hours. But then we go to the same town every year so no need to go out all day sightseeing.
His attachment is to the family rather than home, plus he has been used to going to my mom's, although it's only a few minutes away, since he was a kitten, so he takes it in his stride. More people should holiday with their cats IMO.
Now I'm off to google Siberian cats!

Thank you, that's very reassuring! Here she is, demonstrating all the fluffles!

Ahh, she's gorgeous! A fluffier version of my tabby!

She is utterly gorgeous! We have an 18 month old Siberian CatDelinquentTeenager who is just lovely. He thinks he is a dog really so I can see he might cope with coming on holiday. That said, my reservations would be that 4 hours plus stops is an awful long time and I suspect HumanBaby will make it a lot more stressful. Also I would be constantly on the twitch about him getting out accidentally.

If you want to consider other options, I felt awful about sending Bogbastard to a very upmarket cattery last summer, but with his friendly temperament he was the toast of the place, spoilt rotten for the duration, and suffered absolutely no ill effects.

I've taken my cat on a 6 hour drive to Cornwall on holiday before. We just waited until he'd weed before setting off, he travelled in his carrier and we set up a litter tray as soon as we arrived. My biggest concern is that he'd escape while we were there and get lost so I used child gates to confine him, but the actual journey was easy.

Kennels aren't an option, MrP won't countenance the idea.

Our car is pretty big so I'm considering putting up a mesh between the boot and the back seats so she can have some movement when we stop.
HumanBaby has also been on most of the journeys that CatBaby has been on and neither of them tend to get upset. HumanBaby will be 18months when we go on this trip so I'm hoping she will still like her car seat!
CatBaby is quite used to her harness so MrP has decided that he will carry on training her to the leash and then 'she can have a little walk when we stop at service stations'...