Camping with Cats?

Old 06-28-2013, 04:11 PM
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Originally Posted by willis.debra View Post
The only thing I can think of is to ask the vet if there is a kitty Dramamine. Our dog had to have Dramamine to go on a car ride to the vet or he vomited everywhere. The vet said to give him half a Dramamine. It worked and he eventually got over it.

Good luck.
Our dog used to do that too. She actually got to the point where she would stick her head in the bag we offered for her to throw up in. Eventually she grew out of it, but from time to time, we still give her a gravol before we leave, per her old vet. Seems to help. I'm not sure what's out there for kitties. I will inquire. We took the one who's not used to car rides out last night and she started yowling and shaking all the way to the post office and back, only if the truck was running. This will be a challenge.

Originally Posted by coopah View Post
Oh, you are going through a rough spot. We had to decide whether to put our two 18 year old cats to sleep or move them 3200 miles with us. Both had health issues/ We just couldn't euthanize our companions. It was a rough trip even with the "relaxing drops" the vet gave us. I wish you well and hope you find a good solution for you and your fur babies.
Thanks We will try to ease them into it, even if it means that we're here this weekend dealing with the neighbors. Maybe by next long weekend they can be ready. We don't have AC in the house so we may be moving into the trailer for next week anyway, so it will be good conditioning for them.

Originally Posted by sparkys_mom View Post
That is a tough situation. I can sympathize as I had a 'difficult' dog that kept me at home for ten years. I boarded him at the vet a few times b/c I didn't have a choice when I had surgery and follow on chemo, etc. But it was hard on both of us.

I didn't read all of the posts here but I did notice 1) the difficult neighbors and 2) you plan to stay within an hour of home. Have you considered leaving the cats overnight and staying at home during the day? Since you don't plan to be that far away, maybe you could do that. I think I'd opt for finding a place with a nice restaurant and good cable tv and just 'camp out' there for a couple of nights, going home in the morning.

I hope your neighbors are renters and will eventually move on . I went through that for two years (I'm in a condo) and it was horrible.
DH thought this seemed like a really good idea. It would be tough on me to some degree, I'm used to kitty comforters at night, and I get terribly home sick for my kitties but it may be a viable option.

Yeah, these guys bought unfortunately. The woman works at a bar (older than me), and it looks like she brings her work home with her. Last year when we went to ask them to turn it down she said "When I get a night off from the bar, I just wanna relax and have fun!!"... uh... Ok, but it's been 13 hours....

Originally Posted by w1613s View Post
The rule around here is if we go, the cats go. We have had cats since 1964.

The first one was while we were in college and our only transportation was a motorcycle. He liked to sit in the big pocket of my windbreaker or the right saddlebag. He would sit on the seat of the motorcycle waiting for someone to go somewhere so he could tag along.

All subsequent going places close and not so close have been in combinations of cars and rvs. All of the cats had their quirks. Some loved being in the over the cab spaces so they could oversee things inside and out. One seemed to object to the first night out. If you are traveling for time in an rv, each night until you arrive at your destination is the first night out. That cat was an 18 pound male ragdoll (breed) and a sweetheart but he had a voice that would curl your hair and he would spend that first night yowling and stamping all over my husband. The following morning was not fun at the breakfast table. We discovered that if Rich slept over the cab that first night and the cat and I slept in the bed, all was right with the world from then on - even at the breakfast table.

All but one of our cats lived to very old ages. A couple of them were diabetic, complete with meters, blood tests and insulin. They went with us also. One other cat had a special diet I needed to make for him and he and his diet and his equipment went from Florida all over the Midwest and the northern Midwest for four months one year.

I guess that means that if you want to do it, it is doable? Your idea of a 'warm up/test' trip is a good one. Away from home, I would think. Every year we have the rv gone over for problems and then pack up and spend a week about 30 miles away from home so we can be sure everything and everybody are on track and everything and everybody can be towed back home in case of problems that did not get taken care of.

Oh! Before you head out for somewhere for real, make sure everyone, including the people, has had the doctor's/the vet's once over gently, all meds are covered, there is a list of what meds for whom, why, and phone numbers for doctors and vets. Not to mention critter shot records. People shot records would probably help too. We have been in emergency situations with both cats and human and the above is really important.

Enjoy your get away. Sorry for the length but I was a project manager and one of my quirks is that I despise unnecessary and nasty surprises. "Plan for the Worst" is my motto because, if you do, everything else is a piece of cake.
Ha! Awesome!! Motorcycle kitty! I always joked about putting our old kitty on the bike to go to the vet, aviator glasses, and helmet, and little cheeks flapping in the wind. DH thought it wasn't a good idea.

Thanks for the reminder on the medical records and such. We usually have their most recent labs and such if we travel, but that's about it. I'm a former technical business analyst, so I appreciate the planning (and a PM that does planning as well, a lot of the ones I worked for shoved it all on us)

Originally Posted by scarlet14 View Post
The 18 # avitar cat goes with us most of the time---may leave him home for a weekender with a continuous feeder but take him in our motor home---he really doesn't like the driving part but when we arrive he is fine---when we go north or south he rides fine [sorta] but when we go east ot west he get sick---slobers for a while---then barfs and is ok---asked the vet and he just said 'Oh well, that's Toby' it seems to be nerves rather than motiong sickness---I put baby bibs on him for the slober-----I do take his food away the night before we leave---when we get to the campground all our friends come to visit him
That's really weird that he would care about the direction! I think our one kitty has a pretty big case of the nerves, so we've slowed down our timetable for her. I made sure when we got home that she had all she could eat of her favorite (usually forbidden) food, so hopefully she'll start to equate the truck rides with her favorite food and let us do this.

Originally Posted by Cheshirecatquilter View Post
I have read all of Lillian Jackson's cozy mystery series, "The Cat Who...", and pooh poohed each time I read that main character Jim Qwilleran's cats, Yum-Yum and Koko would happily jump into a travel bag. Now I've read some of your adventures with cats, and I guess I can buy into it. However, my avatar cat Franky, who passed on my birthday, May 7th, this year, would complain loudly and constantly every time he had to ride in a vehicle. No vacations with him, for sure.
At first, even my oldest kitty would put her back feet on the console, her front paws on my shoulder and yowl in my ear. Eventually, she wanted to go for car rides. You never can tell how the kitties will or if they will adapt. Sorry to hear you lost your furbaby. That's one of the toughest things I've ever gone through.

Originally Posted by Snooze2978 View Post
I've never camped with my kitties but I did with my dogs years ago. They took off as soon as we let them out of the car. We found our male scottie getting friendly with a bull in a field. That was a close call. Now I've traveled with a cat from Florida to Iowa so a long trip. I jambed her carrier on the back seat between the two front seats and was able to set her water and food bowls wedged between the carrier and front seats. She was able to lay on top of her carrier to see out the window and/or come up to the front passenger seat to get petted. It was my first time with this cat and she was no problem. Her litter box was way in the back of the SUV but where she could get to it and I didn't have to smell it. I drove straight thru so about 27-29 hrs in the car with her. I let her out at a rest stop to stretch her legs and that was a mistake as there was a stray cat on the other side of the fence. I had to coached the stray to come thru for some food to get mine to come back over to me. Didn't try that again.
I have a fear of the kitties getting lost, so I would definitely make sure that they were well corralled even at stops. Did kitty willingly use the litter box in the suv? I have one harness, I could easily find or fabricate another. I used to make all of the dogs' harnesses, including a sled dog pulling harness for our Mal.
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Old 06-28-2013, 07:41 PM
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I've had both - a dropped off kitten/cat that loved to go for rides & a rescue cat that was, at his one and only vet visit, described by the workers as "the cat from Hell". So you really can't predict, trial & error. Good luck - I know of no greater comfort than the love of a cat.
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Old 06-28-2013, 08:28 PM
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I am one of the ladies who walks her cat in the campground.

We also used to take the cats to the cottage before we started RVing.

We did not plan to take Sophia with us. We have a class c motor home and she popped out an hour from home. We stopped at a pet store and bought a leash and harness for her, plus a litter box. We did not have a crate with us, but she did just fine. She had the harness on all the time and the leash every time we opened the door.

I walked her on the leash, she did most her business outside (it was challenging to scoop before she buried her poop.) She had her own chair by the campfire and was content to sit in it (leash tied) for hours.

We have taken her several times since. Sophia is 8 now.

Last year we had a kitten too. Lizzie wore a harness all the time too, but we did not let her out. We did bring the crate, but she was happy to wander around. We only crated her when we stopped.

Now we have Charlie too. I am not sure if we will bring him when we go camping next week. He may stay home with Lizzie.

We are lucky that the cats are healthy and we have a good arrangement with my Mum for her to feed them when we are away. We look after her old dog on a regular basis, so the system is fair.

We also have a 20# mutt that travels with us.
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Old 06-29-2013, 04:18 AM
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I once saw a cat camping couple. They lived in an RV permanently. There was a fairly large, 4 x 5 cage mounted on the side of the camper with a pet door. When they got to where they were going, they installed the outdoor cage and then opened the the little pet entrance door and the cat could actually go outside, be it high up in the air, and enjoy fresh air and sunshine. The cat they had loved it.
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Old 06-29-2013, 04:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Battle Axe View Post
I once saw a cat camping couple. They lived in an RV permanently. There was a fairly large, 4 x 5 cage mounted on the side of the camper with a pet door. When they got to where they were going, they installed the outdoor cage and then opened the the little pet entrance door and the cat could actually go outside, be it high up in the air, and enjoy fresh air and sunshine. The cat they had loved it.
We camped for a few years with our cats, and saw a rig once something like that - They had also opened up a way for them to get into the basement storage area for a cat box, I think, and the folks could "service it" from the outdoors. I thought that was great, because I was sick of the box in our hallway.

Our cats did quite well traveling with us. We had a great time with them. We had two exceptions in our travels - once, early on before his "travel adjustment," when Beethoven jumped out the window at a turnpike toll booth. We had to get him quick!! Fortunately, it was not rush hour there! and secondly, we hit some heat in S. Cal and AZ one year, that our air conditioner would not handle, so had to move along to cooler country before we had intended to.
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Old 06-29-2013, 06:25 AM
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My daughters vet kenniles pets, that way they are cared for medical needs also.
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Old 06-29-2013, 06:29 AM
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"we hit some heat in S. Cal and AZ one year, that our air conditioner would not handle, so had to move along to cooler country before we had intended to."

When I was a child we never had air conditioning in the car. Travelling with Mutzie to the cottage, Mum would wrap her in a damp towel, almost swaddle her. The cat loved it, she was not hot and felt very secure. She was never crated, leashed or otherwise secured.

Of course the heat was never in the leagues of Arizona in the summer.
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Old 06-29-2013, 08:36 AM
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We travel with an 18 pound cat we have a 5th wheel. We got him when he was 9, his previous owner never took him in an RV. We decided he was going to have to get used to the RV lifestyle. We took off on a trip a week after we adopted him. We went for a weekend just 70 miles away. He is micro-chipped but I put a harness on him with a name tag on it. He goes into his crate and we carry it to the truck. He stays in the crate until we stop, that is the safest way to travel with him. I do keep my kitty accident bag in the truck in case he gets sick or has a potty accident. If we stop at a rest area he gets carried into the RV in his crate, once inside we let him out to feed, water and use the litter box. Then back into the crate and into the truck, he only gets out of the crate when he is in the RV, never for a walk or to just hang out in the truck. The crate is his safety net in case of a crash, plus the cat has learned that is where he goes for the trip and has come to find security in his crate. We used to spray Feliway in the truck before we left but he doesn't even make a sound anymore nor does he try to claw his way out of the crate. Our vet told us to keep the same routine, keep him safe in the crate in the backseat. She said if he can not see out the windows he will probably not get car sick and so far no sickness or potty accidents. If for some reason we have to take him out of the crate I keep the leash handy and he has the harness on, so far no need for that either. We do not uncrate him until we have all three slides out, he freaked out once when I let him out before the slides were out. He is an indoor cat only, but that's not to say if the door is open and another cat or bird walks by he won't go after it. He is an animal and no matter what we think all animals have unpredictable behavior. So we try to be mindful not to leave the doors open. I did try the leash out and I learned my lesson, I thought I'd try walking him on the leash, it was fine until he heard a car drive by. He freaked big time, not being used to the harness may have made it worse. He went into flight or fight mode, of course I had the leash so that only left him to fight to protect himself from what he thought was going to harm him. I of course then became scratched, bitten and observed how frightened and stressed he became. My vet told me sometimes just even putting a collar or harness on a cat that isn't used to it the cat will freak out and jump all over, hiss, bite, claw and try to get away from it. So, he wears the harness and stays in the crate until he is moved to an inside secure location. The vet also said that campgrounds are the worse places for pets because many pets have been there before us. She said many pets as well as raccoons, skunks, etc, have urinated, pooped and probably vomited in the same spots that we would walk our pets in. Not to mention fleas, ticks and other creatures, then she threw in our animals paws have all that on them when they go back into the RV and hop up on our bed. Lovely thought! So, I say give the camping a try, just be careful and I advise keeping them in the crates until you get the RV parked and slides open. We have made 9 trips in a year with no problems and it has worked out well. The cat realizes he gets more lap time when we RV than when we're home and boy does he take advantage of it.
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Old 06-29-2013, 12:05 PM
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We have two 19 year old cats, one has medication twice a day -- so they go with us rather than pay for someone to come in that often. They ride in the back seat of the truck when we're traveling and get moved to the trailer when we arrive. After three years with a small trailer, we just got a new unit that's 36' with 3 slides, so there is plenty of room. The first two times we went out there was some discussion from the back seat, but now they seem to like it -- took a while for them to get used to the new trailer, but it's working and I'm glad. So much less worry.

Things that may help:
1. I put them in the truck about 5 minutes before we leave (if it isn't too hot). They get all the "talk" out of the way before we start.
2. There is catnip growing in the yard -- a few nibbles about an hour before we leave each time, seems to enervate them a bit, then they get sleepy quicker.
3. I put a litter box and water in the truck, but no food for 2 or 3 hours before we hit the road.
4. Take a copy of their vaccinations with you -- some campgrounds require them.
5. Use a product to fight fleas and ticks on them too. Can't be too careful.

Have fun!

PS -- the reason we have such a big unit --- I have the bedroom in back as my sewing/quilting room. It has a double bunk on one side, and an upper bunk on the other (above an outside kitchen that really should be fabric storage). The double bunk area is now cleared out, replaced with a table and chair. The storage under the other bunk and along the back is perfect for "my" stuff. A flannel sheet gets tucked under that mattress and serves as a design wall. The third slide is in this room, so have plenty of room for a litter box too. I just love it!

Last edited by katykwilt; 06-29-2013 at 12:11 PM. Reason: post script
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Old 06-29-2013, 03:36 PM
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We go camping with our 4 dogs and a cat in a travel trailer. Our cat loves it! When he sees his crate he runs in because he know he gets to go camping. He spends most of his time in the trailer looking out the windows, when he isn't sleeping that is.
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