Road Trip With Pets
Intro
Many people love a good road trip. Especially if the distance is not that far and giving you the chance to see someplace new, fun, and/or interesting. But then there are road trips where you might need to or want to take your pet. Knowing your specific pet, the breed of animal, and your road trip route are all important things to look into before setting out.
Trial and Error
I have now taken three road trips (2 across country and 1 up the east coast) with cat(s). The first road trip I took with my one cat, Mia in 2014 was definitely a learning experience. I had Mia for three years at this point, but had never taken her in a car longer than a few minutes to the vet. So I bought a big metal dog crate, a water dispenser (like for a hamster), and a leash and a harness. Boy, was I naïve. Have you ever heard of the phrase: you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. This quote summarizes cats. I cutely thought that I would stop at a rest stop, put a harness on my cat that never used a harness before, walk her to the litter box, and make her poop when I needed her to… after 24 hours of driving straight, and the last hour with Mia meowing constantly, and me yelling back, I needed to figure out a better way to travel with cats.
I am not that person who thinks pets and children are the same thing. With that said, I do believe adopting a pet is a responsibility to be taken seriously. Something to think about before executing and not an item to get rid of just because it isn’t easy. You need to plan and accommodate having and traveling with a pet.
The second road trip I took with my cat Mia was when I was moving from New Jersey to Los Angeles in 2015. We were both older and wiser at this point. I kept the same dog crate to make sure she had enough room and padded it with blankets, an article of my clothing, and some of her toys for familiarity. I was not dence enough this time to believe she would drink out of a hamster water bottle.
Listen
When it came to using the litter box, I listened to my cat. She usually meowed a few minutes when we first started driving, but would settle down shortly there after. If she started continuely meowing excessively after that, I knew she probably needed to go to the bathroom.
Emergency Pitstops Setup
When needed I would stop at the nearest place I could, set up the litter box in the backseat with towels lined around it and let her roam in the car to use a litter box without fear of her running away if I set up in a parking lot. Also, I accepted the fact that it could happen that the cat would poop in her caring case out of fear or necessity. The situation is not ideal, but it happens. I just make sure to stop as soon as I can to clean the cat and the carrier. I always keep Lysol wipes for the carrying case and baby wipes for the cat.
Hotel Setup
If staying in hotels with the cat while traveling, the first thing I do is set up their food and litter box immediately and then let them out of the carrier. I make sure that their stuff is in a logical place and they can see it immediately.
New Orleans, LA
Each Pet Reacts Differently
I recently drove from California to Florida, now with two cats. I am glad I did this in my third road trip and not my first or second. Like I said earlier about knowing your pet, realizing that no two pets are alike, and will handle the scenario the differently. My one cat would occasionally need us to stop during the drive to use the litter box. My other cat pretty much physically shut down no matter how long we were driving and would not want me to take her out of the carrier to go in the litter box until we were in the hotel. While my one cat was a bit worse while driving. She pooped once in the carrier and meowed a bit more. My other cat never went to the bathroom in the carrier or meowed once, but this cat once in the hotel room would hide anywhere she could find. And that usually entailed somewhere that I didn’t realize and/or couldn’t reach. Which was super inconvenient when trying to get out the door at 6 AM. By day three of the road trip, I knew exactly where this cats would hide and would kitty proof the room as soon as we got in. I would stick objects like pillows in the holes of bed frames, close closets, and make sure to ask the front desk for a stick like objects, such as a Swiffer or a broom to nudge the cat out of hiding spaces.
New Orleans, LA
Locate Your Pet
I also made sure to know where the cats were when I was leaving and coming into the hotel room. They can’t tell the difference between a hotel room and the hotel hallway. So if you have a runner like my one cat, they can easily bolt into the hallway.
New Orleans, LA
Empathy
Be empathetic. You cannot rationalize with a pet just like you cannot rationalize with a baby. They do not know what is going on and especially cats do not handle change well. I tried to be extra patient, give extra love, and give extra treats. Not saying that I did not lose my cool sometimes, especially by day seven when I was cranky and tired.
Road Trip Snacks
Road trip snacks are essential for the people in the car but also your pet friends. Now keep in mind, many dogs acclimate to cars pretty well, as long as they are with their owners. Cats on the other hand usually are not a fan of cars, being confined to a carrier, or change. With that said, they will most likely not be hungry until you have them setup in their destination. However, it is always a good idea to have some of your pets favorite treats and water on hand depending on how long your trip is and how packed your car is. At the very least, the food should be readily available for when you set up in the hotel.
Some highlights from this road trip were:
Grabbing yummy Mexican food outside of Phoenix and meeting up with a family friend we haven’t seen in awhile.
Seeing a friend from my years in Miami when stopping outside of Houston, Texas. Bonus from this stop, my friend picked an Italian restaurant that was yummy and my dad loved.
Seeing New Orleans for the first time. We had an abridged three hour tour as we were only spending a night in each city, but we were able to walk by many on the highlights, had beignets, and a traditional New Orleans dinner. This also brought me up to having visited 46 US states.
For more tips on traveling with your pets internationally and on mass transit, check out Janice’s Lifestyle Blog on Traveling with Your Pets in Korea. With the stress of travel and being stuck in a car, sometimes our pets can have accidents, check out the Pet Zone’s How to Get Cat Pee Out of Your Car Seat. For other U.S. road-trip routes and tips, check out my posts on the West Coast Road Trip Guide and the U.S. Road Trip Guide.