My son is taking his two cats back to Iowa with him today…about a ten-hour drive, broken into two days. With all the wedding stuff I had going on, I did not get a chance to get them to the vet for tranquilizers, and he is not looking forward to them meowing for the whole trip. I saw This collar in the pet department, but it was kind of pricey for two cats, not knowing if it was going to work or not.
So have any Dopers used one of these collars , especially for car trips, and what was the result?
And as an aside…I haven’t done a long trip with cats for over twenty years…any tips I may be forgetting? They will be in separate carriers, he will have a disposable litter box along for them to use, and water and food breaks every couple hours.
Both tranquilizing your kitty or purchasing a good behavior collar seem a bit drastic to me.
(Full disclosure: I’ve never taken the cats on a lengthy car trip.)
My suggestion is to keep the kitties in the carrier for the duration of the trip and after a while, they’ll probably do what cats do best and sleep the time away.
I’d be especially careful about letting the cats out of the carrier lest they make a run for it.
You probably don’t need much in the way of litter or food breaks as they’ll probably be too weirded out inre the whole experience.
Any collar will have a calming effect, if it’s pulled tight enough. As for this particular one, my gut reaction is that the positive testimonials are just confirmation bias.
Ha! This reminds me of one of those, “I don’t have kids but I would NEVER…” posts that people generally live to regret. When your cats scream without ceasing at full volume for 10 straight hours, I promise you, you will be drugging the shit out of them the next time. Word to the wise OP – take them on a test drive to see if a)they will cry in the car b)how loudly they will cry c)if there is anything short of drugs that will make them STFU.
But minlokwat is right - they don’t need a pee break more than every 4-5 hours. Shifting them too much will only be disconcerting. They will probably refuse food, water and litter during the trip anyway.
We went to two stores that SHOULD have had the collars, and they were sold out, but we did find a bottle of calming spray (you spray the carrier and the towel, not the cat!) and time was running out so we got that. Then, after we got home…we read the box more carefully, and it is for dogs. Sigh. We used it anyways. We did not expect immediate results, since just the act of placing a cat in the carrier results in screaming, yowling, fur-shedding and bloodshed. They were crying bloody murder when placed in the car. Then we walked away, back into the house to get the cooler, and when we came out…quiet. A few meows when the kids got in the car, but quite reduced in level. They just left 30 minutes ago, and are supposed to give me an update in a hour. These two usually keep it up constantly to and from the vet, or when being in the car at all, so it’ll be interesting!
The three remaining cats (my daughter couldn’t her two) take her two this trip are just beginning to notice that the evil one and the dumb one are missing. Can’t wait to see how the whole dominance thing rearranges itself now that the evil one is gone…the other four all got along fine. Evil one only got along with Dumb and Old one. And now that company is gone, and I can sleep in my own bed again…which cats will be sleeping with me? Two of my three space-stealers are gone!
Leave it to me to create the only cat post that attracts the anti-cat crowd!
Latest report from the car is that the catnip treats I sent along are working, and one cat has changed to purring. that was the cat that fought the cage hardest…my son feared she was flashing back to her early trauma of being kept in a rabbit cage for two years before he rescued her.
All cats of different, of course, but my cat has never meowed for more than 15-20 minutes of a trip before curling up in a ball somewhere in the car.
This spot is usually completely hidden from us humans. I swear they create a rift in the universe and hop in, eventually coming out when they require noms.
My last cat would cry the entire trip, no matter how long it was. Every three seconds, meow … meow … meow … It was clear she hated the trip and at that point, so did I. I asked the vet what he recommended and he said a few drops of Benadryl from a syringe. I did that, as he told me. Within 30 seconds, my cat had worked herself up so badly that she vomited up the Benadryl so by the time I was in the car for my 2.5 hour trip, meow … meow … meow … meow …
Humph. We drove from Maine to San Diego in an un-air conditioned car with two cats that hated being in the car, which we found out about when we drove from Virginia to Maine a year before. They meowed pitiously for five hours before they passed out. It was at that point we knew we had to drug them for future trips. On the fifth day we ran out of their valium and went into a pharmacy in Arizona begging them for a refill. Thank Og the pharmacist was a former vet pharmacist and took pity on us and filled it. Looking back, it might’ve been easier for us to take the valium and not let six days of noise bother us.
My kitty, Ralph, hates the car and even the 5 minute ride to the vet for kitty claw trimmings’ is agony.
When I moved a few years ago, I used kitty valium as directed and he still meowed for 3 hours straight. One of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever been through. As soon as I arrived at the new place and opened the carrier, kitty drunkenly wobbled out and slept. Grrr.
I also once tried to take a kitten from a male friend who swore I did not need a box/carrier that he cat would surely sit peacefully and ride home with me…he still laughs about me making it to the end of his drive and then opening my car door so furball with claws could exit. He still has that kitty.
I am eternally jealous of people with cats that tolerate car rides.
I’ve had several long distance moves with my cats and am getting prepared for yet another - Iowa to California with 5 cats in the cab of the truck. Best luck I had was putting them in small dog harnesses attached to leashed carefully knotted to a particular length. The leashes were all atttached to a large carabiner and the carabiner was attached to the handle over the passenger side window. Leashes were measured so no cat could run under the driver’s feet. I taped large plastic trashbags over the seat and floor and put old towels on top of the plastic. A litter tray, some dry food and water went in behind the seats.
After about 15 minutes of wandering around and making noise, they each pickes a spot (four of them at the time) and settled down. Hardly heard a peep out of them for the three day trip. The harness & leash arrangements kept them comfortable and safe whenever I had to get out to get gas and they couldn’t escape from the motel room either - if they made a run for it I could just step on the leash.
I put the harnesses on them a few days before the trip so they could get used to them. It sounds like a lot of work, but they were much happier than on trips in the carriers and it really didn’t take that long to put it all together. Being able to grab the cats by a harness meant a good deal less trauma for everyone invoved.
When your cats scream without ceasing at full volume for 10 straight hours, I promise you, you will be drugging the shit out of them the next time. Word to the wise OP – take them on a test drive to see if a)they will cry in the car b)how loudly they will cry c)if there is anything short of drugs that will make them STFU.