Grayson & Lu
Member Since 2012
Hello friends -
Grayson had his first "business trip" this week. We left late Thursday afternoon for Wilmington, NC where I was to speak at a workshop Friday morning. The trip normally takes a little over 2 hours, so it was the perfect opportunity for Grayson to acclimate to riding in his carrier and in a car (further than 1.5 miles to the vet). Afraid to say, he wasn't so excited about it... in fact, he seemed terrified :shock: at first. I probably should've taken the hard carrier, but instead bought him a Sherpa soft-sided one, so he could get used to it. He would've been more comfortable in the hard carrier! He panted, tongue out for the first hour or so. I thought maybe if I reached in, he'd be more relaxed... he wanted OUT!!! After trying to juggle driving, cat trying to ride on my lap (dogs are NOT allowed to do this!), then cat trying to explore the floor by the pedals... and a phone call... :shock: I exited stage left and re-crated him, before getting back onto the road. BIG mistake letting him out!
So, fortunately we were staying w/ a friend in Wilmington, so I took him in and put him in the bathroom initially, where he found safe haven UNDER the clawfoot tub! He did manage to come out for some FD shrimpies, the explored the house, so apparently this wasn't TOO scary of a place! He liked the bedroom - especially the table in front of the windows ;-) (the antique lamp moved to the floor!). He slept through the night, or at least didn't wake me, until the sunshine brightened the room just before our regular pokies time. Following lunch, we packed up the car and he got into his carrier again, this time much more relaxed, knowing that his mama wasn't gonna leave him! By the time we hit the first rest stop, I let him out of his carrier. He used the box, explored the car, then let me do a test and had a little bit of food, before he stretched out on the back seat! So all in all, I think everything went pretty well. Don't know that he'd be so good w/ a 20 hour drive to Grandma's house :shock: ... we'll cross that bridge when we get there!
So here's his numbers from Thurs/Friday - not too frightening from the trip:
Thurs June 21
AMPS 424 Shot 7.0u
+6 272
+7 374
+8.5 312
DRIVE TIME 2:15
PMPS 485 Shot 7.0u
+3 393
Fri June 22
AMPS 377 Shot 7.0u
+1.5 412
DRIVE
(stop at rest stop) +10.6 255
(home) PMPS 333 Shot 7.0u
+7.3 243
+9 428
Sat June 23
AMPS 430 Shot 7.5u
+6 291
+9 357
We may need to do some additional "visits" so he gets comfortable going to other places... but for the time being, he's HAPPY to be home w/ all his brothers & sisters, normals smells and normal sounds! ;-)
Grayson had his first "business trip" this week. We left late Thursday afternoon for Wilmington, NC where I was to speak at a workshop Friday morning. The trip normally takes a little over 2 hours, so it was the perfect opportunity for Grayson to acclimate to riding in his carrier and in a car (further than 1.5 miles to the vet). Afraid to say, he wasn't so excited about it... in fact, he seemed terrified :shock: at first. I probably should've taken the hard carrier, but instead bought him a Sherpa soft-sided one, so he could get used to it. He would've been more comfortable in the hard carrier! He panted, tongue out for the first hour or so. I thought maybe if I reached in, he'd be more relaxed... he wanted OUT!!! After trying to juggle driving, cat trying to ride on my lap (dogs are NOT allowed to do this!), then cat trying to explore the floor by the pedals... and a phone call... :shock: I exited stage left and re-crated him, before getting back onto the road. BIG mistake letting him out!
So, fortunately we were staying w/ a friend in Wilmington, so I took him in and put him in the bathroom initially, where he found safe haven UNDER the clawfoot tub! He did manage to come out for some FD shrimpies, the explored the house, so apparently this wasn't TOO scary of a place! He liked the bedroom - especially the table in front of the windows ;-) (the antique lamp moved to the floor!). He slept through the night, or at least didn't wake me, until the sunshine brightened the room just before our regular pokies time. Following lunch, we packed up the car and he got into his carrier again, this time much more relaxed, knowing that his mama wasn't gonna leave him! By the time we hit the first rest stop, I let him out of his carrier. He used the box, explored the car, then let me do a test and had a little bit of food, before he stretched out on the back seat! So all in all, I think everything went pretty well. Don't know that he'd be so good w/ a 20 hour drive to Grandma's house :shock: ... we'll cross that bridge when we get there!
So here's his numbers from Thurs/Friday - not too frightening from the trip:
Thurs June 21
AMPS 424 Shot 7.0u
+6 272
+7 374
+8.5 312
DRIVE TIME 2:15
PMPS 485 Shot 7.0u
+3 393
Fri June 22
AMPS 377 Shot 7.0u
+1.5 412
DRIVE
(stop at rest stop) +10.6 255
(home) PMPS 333 Shot 7.0u
+7.3 243
+9 428
Sat June 23
AMPS 430 Shot 7.5u
+6 291
+9 357
We may need to do some additional "visits" so he gets comfortable going to other places... but for the time being, he's HAPPY to be home w/ all his brothers & sisters, normals smells and normal sounds! ;-)
Glad the traveling went well. When we moved to Colorado and drove from CT, we had to keep the airconditioner on full blast for Klinger. If we turned it down a notch he would start meowing like crazy. I finally had to stop at a Walmart and buy a sweatshirt (in August). When we let him out of his carrier, he wanted to hang out on the little ledge of the rear window which made me nervous. 
