Traveling - dosing differences and any other tips?

[Jan D & Squeaky]

Hi Friends,

When cats need to go to the airport, who do they call? A tabby.

However, we'll be in the car for this full day trip. @THH

I appreciate all the tips folks are giving me and Paula really surprised me by saying I need to change the dose during the travel. So I'm asking for others to chime in.

Squeaky and I are planning, if all goes well, on leaving Tuesday morning at 7 am. It's about 6-1/2 hours driving to Albuquerque straight shot with no stops except one gas fill up. I expect that I will need to stop several times and just give Squeaky a rest, probably will have to stop and attend to things, etc. so the trip will likely take 8 hours or so. Then a week in a pet-friendly hotel with a kitchen. Then return.

Questions: 1) changes in insulin dose? 2) different feeding? (no food or water after midnight? Feed during trip?) 3) Other meds stay the same? 4) checking BG while en route? 5) thoughts about sedating during the drive? I have gabapentin and/or buprenorphine

Paula said:

1. If transporting for vacations, adoptions and trip is long. Most people say not to give insulin. Because of stress, not eating, don't want low numbers while traveling especially if driving alone. Ollie didn't get any when driven from Canada to me in PA. She was also in normal plastic carrier entire day.

2. Give 1/2 dose night before and 1/2 dose morning of.

3. If you can monitor and be able to park for some time in case of low numbers, keep routine (not recommended).

Wow I was surprised to read this. @Wendy&Neko gave a link to travel tips but it did not mention insulin dosing. So I want to make sure we act correctly!

Thanks everyone! Y'all are Squeaky's best friends in the world!!!!

 

[tiffmaxee]

Prayers for your mom and safe travels ahead. Yes I have never traveled with mine and when Max would go to the vet the stress eased his bg every time. Vacation doses are usually a lot lower and given your situation you don’t want to be worrying about Squeaky while with your mom. Those with experience will help you figure this out.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Just to clarify. Once you arrive you would give normal dose. You can skip shot (think of it as furshot) and go back to normal when you get there.

Main factor is keeping safe through out the drive and least amount of stress.

Do forget fridge thermometer. You don't want insulin to freeze.

 

[THH & Snowcrash (GA)]

I would do 100mg gabapentin for the trip if he's tolerated the lower doses okay.

I personally have never traveled with my cats, but I would probably want to be sure he was eating fairly normally before giving insulin.

 

[carfurby (GA)]

I don't have any advice. Just sending prayers for a safe trip and for your mom.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Feeding I think depends on cat. My civvies Tux and Tripper get car sick, mostly from stress I think. Tux will vomit, poo and pee in carrier 10 minutes after leaving house.

Smokey got sick once at the end of his drive coming here. It was a 3 hr drive in a carrier way to small for him. He was literally last minute choice to bring home so had no time to get bigger carrier or prepare for him. He had been pretty neglected and sometimes not fed. Eventually learned he needed to eat every 2 hrs or he threw up

Ollie travelled great. Farthest she's been since getting here was 45 minutes for her dental. She wasn't allowed to eat.I

Tripper howls in the beginning. Then settles down. Every so often she cried to let you know she is there. If you stop to long, like stuck in traffic and not moving, the howls start. But husband is louder and more annoying telling her to be quiet the whole time. So I do not have husband come on any car ride if cats are involved.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I didn't reduce Neko's dose the first time we travelled. First time we headed out, she had just earned a reduction and was safely bouncing away. I did plan pit stops for lunch for us, LB breaks for Neko, and a quick blood test. If she was heading in a direction I didn't like, I gave her HC. My road trips were much longer than yours. On the trip on the way back, Neko had just had treatment for SRT, plus I think her IAA was breaking, so I dropped her dose a notch for safety. Turned out to be a good thing. All the pullovers through Wyoming were blocked off for some reason, and we had no place to pull over and test. Then another day through Washington State, my scheduled pullover stop was delayed an hour due to some idiot tossing a cigarette in the median and a fire broke out, stopping traffic and delayed my BG test. She got some gravy. She was in greens, but safe high ones when we finally pulled over for a test.

I did another trip with Neko that involved airplane, train, car ride for a total of 8 hours? I only ever gave her Rescue Remedy and sprayed the carrier inside with Feliway. I did have harness on her (Kitty Holster) that is sort of like a Thundershirt. I think that also helped her, and made her safe when I had to take her out of the carrier for customs. I didn't change her dose. By that time she was on Levemir and more predictable. Plus she was due an increase (seeing no greens), so I just delayed the increase. I was also using R at that point, to help get her over any higher numbers - I had to reduce her dose before anaesthesia. And her last trip with us (car and ferry ride) I did take the dose down a bit, not so much for the travel, but because we were going to a regatta and would be away from the hotel a good part of the day. And she needed encouragement to eat at that point so I couldn't rely on her to stay safe with food out.

As for food, she normally got several small meals during the first part of the cycle. Since I didn't know how well she'd keep food down, or if she'd eat on the road, I gave her a larger portion at preshot, and tried to give an hour between that and departure to make sure her food was staying down. At lunch I'd give her the rest of her food. Meds I didn't change at all.

Tagging @Sue and Luci who travels twice a year with Luci.

I have also travelled several times with a couple civvies, before and after Neko's trips. Only a couple of hours long drive each way. Neither of them were barfers, one slept through it all, the other likes to sing the song of her people. The entire trip.

Good luck.

 

[Sue and Luci]

Questions: 1) changes in insulin dose? 2) different feeding? (no food or water after midnight? Feed during trip?) 3) Other meds stay the same? 4) checking BG while en route? 5) thoughts about sedating during the drive? I have gabapentin and/or buprenorphine

Yes, we travel from Michigan to Florida twice a year - two long days on the road - usually about 12 hours each - it's 1250 miles.

So the first thing that popped into my mind is how does Squeaky handle being in the car in his carrier for more than a trip to the vet - Luci realizes after a little bit that we're not going to the vet and she relaxes in her carrier, often with feet up and snoozing the day away...she will eat something when we stop to eat around mid-day but has never wanted to use the LB - I've offered it...but she seems not comfortable or maybe she has shy bladder? I dunno...

I usually watch her insulin carefully for the last few days prior to the trip and IF she seems to be catching some really low numbers while on that dose I'll reduce by .25 on the days of the trip only - however when I have tested her on the road her numbers are always high - unusually high for a cat that seems so relaxed - so obviously the whole thing is a bit stressful to her. So there's not so much testing, etc. on the road. I have never needed to sedate Luci for a car trip.

So the first thing to do this week or as soon as you can is load Squeaky up in the carrier and go for a drive - hopefully of longer duration than the drive to the vet - around here the drive to the vet is like 10 minutes and Luci doens't like the vet so she associates the car/carrier and riding with that..and of course vocalizes about that problem all the way over. Once she's on her way home though, not a peep! Sometimes when we begin one of our long long journeys she vocalizes but I swear she's more concerned about being left behind because we're packing and loading the car and there's a lot of in and out and she 'knows' something is going on...

I keep water and treats, food and the 'kit' nearby so that it's in easy reach in the car. I keep the insulin in a small cooler so it's separate from our larger cooler and easier for me to grab when we hit the hotel for the evening...that way Luci and I are first out of the car with her stuff and up to the room so she can access her LB (I buy those disposable one's for our trips) and take along a garbage bag, small dustpan and broom so I can sweep up all the litter and put everything into the garbage bag and leave in the room - so the housekeeper isn't dealing with that.

Let me know how the 'practice' trip goes...sounds like that has to happen today - otherwise best of luck on your trip tomorrow!

 

[thebigfuzz]

We have travelled with our kitties, and take them on vacation regularly. We don’t have experience while they were actively diabetic - Elie (GA)was in remission and Cosmo wasn’t diabetic yet. Marlin (GA) would talk most of the trip, Cosmo occasionally, and Elie was the sort of cat so confident, that he napped the entire way. Jasper, our 2 year old, hasn’t made a journey yet.

We try to limit the travel time each day to about 6 -7 hrs, lightly cover their carriers with a blanket. When we stop for gas or a snack, we feed small portions by putting a plate in their carriers. We have tried a LB break in the car, but they never go until we get to the hotel. Like Sue, we use disposable LBs. On day 2, they would understand the program, and use the LB before the next leg. I’ve always wanted to try RVing with the cats to see if they like it.

We tried sedating our first trip (a move across the country), and it was horrible. They hated feeling ‘altered’, but some cats do well with it.

Hope it goes well!!!

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

First I must say thanks to everyone and later I will address each person's comments.

@Sue and Luci Thanks for your very helpful post. We have only had one longer trip and it was about 40 minutes each way. But in traffic with stops and starts and turns. It has occurred to me that once we are on the highway without a bunch of stops and turns that he really might relax. Actually I don't think the vet bothers him as much as just the noise of it all.

However for what it's worth we had an animal communication session and talked about this; she said something about the car vibration (my car is an all wheel drive old subaru and it does vibrate a bit more and it is a bit louder than many cars) that is hard on Squeaky. She was the one who suggested the sedatives. Said he could do all right with an hour but more than that was hard on him. Do I believe her or not? Anyway it was good for her to give us an option.

Today I was going to take Squeaky out for a couple of errands but again there would be stops and starts, turns, etc. Different from a highway trip. Usually when I get on the trip to Albuquerque we have about 40 minutes of city driving until we get on the freeway. Then it's freeway the whole way. By myself I usually only make one stop for gas. However I've read with a cat it's good to stop the car and just give the cat a break for the motion and the vibration and the noise for a while. I thought I'd do that twice for about 20 minutes or so.

There isn't really a way to try an hour highway trip today because it takes 30 minutes to reach any highways. I was going to take Squeaky with me on some errands again today though (we did one errand yesterday and he was vocal about it). We might have to just do our highway experiment tomorrow when we travel. However the vet said it takes 2 hours for the sedative to take effect so after an hour experiment it'd be another 2 hours to help him relax.

Judging from everyone's comments anything could happen from vomiting to messes to hours of yeowling to relaxation. Therefore I have no clue how to manage this and may just have to make it up as I go along.

@THH The vet said it takes 2 hours for the gabapentin. Do you think the buprenorphine does the same thing? And do you know if it takes the same amount of time to take effect?

My take on this is to give him a chance to do this naturally without drugs and see how it goes. Wish there was something that could relax him instantaneously if I see that he just won't relax in the car.

I think I'm pretty good with all his other stuff (cooler, meds, foods, toys, etc.).

It'll be interesting! Also to see how he does in the hotel. He's only ever been away from home 2 nights and it was camping.

Thanks again everybody for your replies and I'll get back to everyone else.

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

Prayers for your mom and safe travels ahead. Yes I have never traveled with mine and when Max would go to the vet the stress eased his bg every time. Vacation doses are usually a lot lower and given your situation you don’t want to be worrying about Squeaky while with your mom. Those with experience will help you figure this out.

I don't have any advice. Just sending prayers for a safe trip and for your mom.

Thanks Elise and Carla for your prayers and good wishes! Mom sounded better on the phone yesterday but I know the timing of this trip is right. Hopefully Squeaky will be all right with it! We're going to learn a lot together I am sure!

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

Just to clarify. Once you arrive you would give normal dose. You can skip shot (think of it as furshot) and go back to normal when you get there. Main factor is keeping safe through out the drive and least amount of stress. Do forget fridge thermometer. You don't want insulin to freeze.

I would do 100mg gabapentin for the trip if he's tolerated the lower doses okay.
I personally have never traveled with my cats, but I would probably want to be sure he was eating fairly normally before giving insulin.

Feeding I think depends on cat. My civvies Tux and Tripper get car sick, mostly from stress I think. Tux will vomit, poo and pee in carrier 10 minutes after leaving house. Smokey got sick once at the end of his drive coming here. It was a 3 hr drive in a carrier way to small for him. He was literally last minute choice to bring home so had no time to get bigger carrier or prepare for him. He had been pretty neglected and sometimes not fed. Eventually learned he needed to eat every 2 hrs or he threw up Ollie travelled great. Farthest she's been since getting here was 45 minutes for her dental. She wasn't allowed to eat.I
Tripper howls in the beginning. Then settles down. Every so often she cried to let you know she is there. If you stop to long, like stuck in traffic and not moving, the howls start. .

I didn't reduce Neko's dose the first time we travelled. First time we headed out, she had just earned a reduction and was safely bouncing away. I did plan pit stops for lunch for us, LB breaks for Neko, and a quick blood test. If she was heading in a direction I didn't like, I gave her HC. My road trips were much longer than yours. On the trip on the way back, Neko had just had treatment for SRT, plus I think her IAA was breaking, so I dropped her dose a notch for safety. Turned out to be a good thing. All the pullovers through Wyoming were blocked off for some reason, and we had no place to pull over and test. Then another day through Washington State, my scheduled pullover stop was delayed an hour due to some idiot tossing a cigarette in the median and a fire broke out, stopping traffic and delayed my BG test. She got some gravy. She was in greens, but safe high ones when we finally pulled over for a test. I did another trip with Neko that involved airplane, train, car ride for a total of 8 hours? I only ever gave her Rescue Remedy and sprayed the carrier inside with Feliway. I did have harness on her (Kitty Holster) that is sort of like a Thundershirt. I think that also helped her, and made her safe when I had to take her out of the carrier for customs. I didn't change her dose. By that time she was on Levemir and more predictable. Plus she was due an increase (seeing no greens), so I just delayed the increase. I was also using R at that point, to help get her over any higher numbers - I had to reduce her dose before anaesthesia. And her last trip with us (car and ferry ride) I did take the dose down a bit, not so much for the travel, but because we were going to a regatta and would be away from the hotel a good part of the day. And she needed encouragement to eat at that point so I couldn't rely on her to stay safe with food out. As for food, she normally got several small meals during the first part of the cycle. Since I didn't know how well she'd keep food down, or if she'd eat on the road, I gave her a larger portion at preshot, and tried to give an hour between that and departure to make sure her food was staying down. At lunch I'd give her the rest of her food. Meds I didn't change at all.
I have also travelled several times with a couple civvies, before and after Neko's trips. Only a couple of hours long drive each way. Neither of them were barfers, one slept through it all, the other likes to sing the song of her people. The entire trip.
Good luck.

Thanks Wendy, Paula, and THH for your comments. All your experience and advice is helpful. I will be trying to leave at 7 am and we usually shoot at 9. It would be really hard to test and shoot on the road so perhaps the suggestion of skipping a shot is best.

I have his playpen set up in the back of the car. Do y'all think I can let him roam in that (it has bed and small LB), or should I make him be totally still sitting (only option) in his small hard carrier? If I were a cat I think I'd like to be able to move around and stretch my legs. However maybe the real cats need to have a feeling of being contained (except when we take driving breaks). Any thoughts on that?

Hmmm, the food. Well he always has food out at home so if he's roaming in the playpen throughout the drive, I think he can have access to food. He will know if he wants to eat or not. If I do the other option and make him ride in the small, hard carrier, he usually likes me to give him treats and pieces of meat through the door LOL. He could have other food when we take driving breaks and I let him roam the playpen.

You have all had really quite a wide range of experiences!!! ECID, I know. Thanks everyone so much for taking the time to write.

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

We have travelled with our kitties, and take them on vacation regularly. We don’t have experience while they were actively diabetic - Elie (GA)was in remission and Cosmo wasn’t diabetic yet. Marlin (GA) would talk most of the trip, Cosmo occasionally, and Elie was the sort of cat so confident, that he napped the entire way. Jasper, our 2 year old, hasn’t made a journey yet. We try to limit the travel time each day to about 6 -7 hrs, lightly cover their carriers with a blanket. When we stop for gas or a snack, we feed small portions by putting a plate in their carriers. We have tried a LB break in the car, but they never go until we get to the hotel. Like Sue, we use disposable LBs. On day 2, they would understand the program, and use the LB before the next leg. I’ve always wanted to try RVing with the cats to see if they like it.We tried sedating our first trip (a move across the country), and it was horrible. They hated feeling ‘altered’, but some cats do well with it. Hope it goes well!!!

Wow you had a total range of experiences right there! Makes me know that I'm clueless about how this will go. Thanks much! LOL.

 

[THH & Snowcrash (GA)]

Can the hard carrier fit in the cage/playpen? That way he can "hide" if he wants to.

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

Can the hard carrier fit in the cage/playpen? That way he can "hide" if he wants to.

Yes it can! Good idea!

Here's another question for consideration. I have a purple (medium light) sheet draped over the blue/black playpen. It occurs to me the color might make a difference in how he feels. Maybe purple isn't the best color.

White like light?

Soft blue like the sky?

Green like trees?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Neko hated being confined to the carrier, so after a while we had to let her out. After that, she spent most of her time actually in the carrier, but the door was open. I think you could leave him in the playpen, if it'll keep him contained if the car stops suddenly. I didn't use a sheet to drape things, Neko occasionally liked to look outside.

Giving insulin on the road can be done, I've done it, as well as at the ferry terminal, on the ferry. Maybe make the decision based on his numbers that morning. Your other option is to maybe give him a reduced dose so he has at least some insulin in him.

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

Neko hated being confined to the carrier, so after a while we had to let her out. After that, she spent most of her time actually in the carrier, but the door was open. I think you could leave him in the playpen, if it'll keep him contained if the car stops suddenly. I didn't use a sheet to drape things, Neko occasionally liked to look outside.

Giving insulin on the road can be done, I've done it, as well as at the ferry terminal, on the ferry. Maybe make the decision based on his numbers that morning. Your other option is to maybe give him a reduced dose so he has at least some insulin in him.

Yes he will be contained in the playpen, I've put the carrier in there as THH suggested. So it's Squeaky's call!

Yes I was thinking, his numbers will probably go up from stress, so I was thinking a half dose. But if we leave at seven..... it would be best to do it before leaving the house and that would be about 2 hours before his usual time. Would that be terrible?

When I shoot him, I have to put him on the floor and straddle him so he stays still. He is used to that now. It would be impossible to do it that way in the car. Do you think giving him 1/2 dose 2 hours ahead would work okay?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I wouldn't shoot 2 hours early.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Safe travels tomorrow. You & Squeaky will be fine

 

[Jan D & Squeaky]

I wouldn't shoot 2 hours early.

Safe travels tomorrow. You & Squeaky will be fine

Thanks Wendy and Paula! Thanks so much!

UPDATE: We had another test drive today and he was a bit vocal at times, other times settled down. Ate some treats. Tried to paw his way out. However so interesting. After we got home, he seemed so pleased with himself and his accomplishment. Of course I praised him to the sky.

I think we'll do fine tomorrow and I'll try without sedating. I'll test before we leave and then see what happens on the road..... skip or shoot?

What an adventure! Actually there is something amazingly special about what is going on here. It's really really good that Squeaky is along, because I can't stay with my mom (no pets allowed) and I can't stay with my sister (she has a dog). This is good. Yet, I can tell my visit is really making my mom happy, and while I wouldn't call my sister's response happiness, it is good for her spirits too. The big surprise is Squeaky. Like I said, he seems very pleased with himself and I have a feeling that this adventure is going to do him a lot of good. Maybe it will help improve his health to do something exciting like this. And hopefully, it will prepare him for us to take some trips this summer.

Thanks everyone for helping me think through this. Again, I couldn't be doing any of this without you. I appreciate so much.

 

[IanLittle]

Planning a road trip with Squeaky sounds like a fun adventure! When it comes to managing his health during the journey, here are some tips based on my experience: 1) Consult your vet about insulin dose adjustments for travel days. 2) Consider feeding Squeaky a light meal before departure and avoiding heavy meals during the trip to prevent motion sickness.