For those of you that travel w/your kitties

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Amanda

Amanda

Member Since 2010
Have you found that your cats do okay w/their BG? I have a weekend trip planned this month; I had originally planned to have my roomate watch Kazi & give her insulin. Last night roomate's dog went after Kazi over food and roomate's boyfriend (who also lives w/us) seemed to think that it was MY cat's fault. I was cooking dinner and it started behind me. Had the dog (who is 80lbs btw) by her scruff in a nano second, Kazi is fine.

Needless to say I am not sure I am comfortable leaving her there anymore. My options are: leave her at my parents where she will be safe but NOT receive insulin or take her with me and stress her a bit but she'll get insulin and her BG checked. She doesn't ride well in the car - usually meows the entire time but we have only ever taken short trips to the vet before. Destination is 3hrs away.
 
Hi, Amanda!

I have taken Willie with me on 5 hour trips to my parents house. He too is one who will cry the whole trip, but I find he does well once we're there, as he loves all the attention he gets. LOL

I skip his shot for the cycle we are traveling. You don't necessarily want to be in the middle of nowhere dealing with low numbers. Know that Kazi will likely go high that cycle as his liver will most likely dump glucose into his blood stream in response to the stress of the car ride. Check out 12/23 and 12/27 on Willie's SS and you can see how he recovered from there... which was quite well on the way out there... and there were other reasons for the high numbers after our return home.

I would consider getting either feliway spray for the car, or even an adapter for your charger outlet into which you can plug a feliway diffuser. Alternatively, you can get pet carriers with pheremone cartridges in them. This will help calm Kazi some.

We have also had success recently on vet trips with Bach's Rescue Remedy. Willie's BG#s didn't spike at all. I don't give it orally as indicated on the bottle, but rather rub two drops on each ear, then a drop in the base of his whiskers on each side of his nose and then a drop under his nose. Though, the one time I did give it orally, he was REAAALLLLYYYY mellow. It was too mellow for a vet trip (she assumed he must be sick and the poor guy ended up with a thermometer in his bum!), but might actually do the trick for a longer car ride. On our next trip, I will DEFINITELY be doing the feliway diffuser in the car.

It is definitely doable, and while the car ride will be stressful, it will probably ultimately save you the stress of worrying about Kazi with the dog and the roomate giving his medication.

Good luck!
 
You might compromise with a half dose of insulin if you travel with her.

Alternatively, a large wire dog crate may make a safe spot for her to hang out, have her food, and not be bugged by the dog.
 
i'm headed out later this week for a few days at a beach house and am going to take punkin with me. he usually howls the entire way to and from the vet's so i'm expecting that, but then at least i can take car of him while i'm there.

i like the suggestion for the feliway, Christie, and will go look for that!
 
I've had to take Tess with us when I teach a class over an hour away. Sometimes her BGs spike and sometimes the drop, you can't assume one or the other. I like the Rescue remedy too, if you have time to order online it's much cheaper, $8 - 11 instead of $24 at a health food store. Get the one for pets as it has no alcohol.

I found a screen/nylon pop open kennel at Target. It gives her room to move around but still be confined. It's about 20" x 20" x 36", even room for a LB. I also folds up to about 12" x 1.5" for storage.
 
When I moved w/her 2 months ago her BG stayed nice and level - just a bit higher than normal. Only problem was that she didn't particularly want to eat for me for a couple of days. Hoping that since friend doesn't have giant barking dogs (no pets) she might settle quickly. Rescue remedy is a good idea, so is Feliway. I will look into those!
 
I take my cats with me just about every where I go.
DC loves to travel, but Frisky isn't to keen on the car although he's fine once we get where we're going.
In the summer we take them to the lake every weekend which is about 1 1/2 hour drive.
The vet is about 20 min from home. They both howl and cry the first 20 min and then they must realize we aren't going to the vet and calm right down.
I take their kennel with some of their favorite things and put it in the back seat with the door open.
They go in and out of it and sleep in it while we travel.
I also take a litter box.
 
I use Rescue Remedy on J.D. and Ginger when traveling.
I use a few drops orally, a drop on the top of each front paw, and a few drops around the carrier.

J.D. goes from NJ to CA with me each year for vacation. I open the door on his carrier for the plane ride so he can stretch out (I keep a harness and leash on him at all times). The car trips to the airports, he cries, but he's fine on the plane.

Last year we made our first 6 1/2 hour car trip to Pittsburgh with both cats. They do pretty good. After about 3 1/2 hours of screaming (each way) :shock: they settled right down and went to sleep. And they ate just fine once we got to Deb and Spot's house :razz: :YMHUG:

I recommend Rescue Remedy, but have never tried Feliway.
 
All of our cats have been good travelers because we expect them to be! We always take the carrier, but leave its door open. Alice, then Stu, and now Rusty prefer riding free. We always take a litterbox in the back of the car (a small SUV), and we stop at rest stops and put out a little food and water while we eat our sandwiches. Rusty (and Stu before him) enjoys sitting on a blanket on the armrest between DH and me. He will go into the back seat to nap, or sit on DH's lap and look out the window. Our drive to NY City is about 6 hours. Phoebe (Rusty's previous mamabean), when she knew that we wanted him to be able to travel with us, bought a harness and leash for him and tried it out around town. On our trips we put it on him when we stop just to make sure that he doesn't bolt if something startles him. But he's really good. It helps to have a station-wagon or to be able to put the back seats down to make more room. Poor Alice had to do all of her trips in the back of a VW bug in the early 1970s. Not much room with all the stuff, but she managed!

Good luck,
Ella

p.s. I give a little less insulin than usual the morning of a trip because Rusty doesn't eat as much in the car.
 
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