Bwahaha. That sounds like my grampa. 
I was able to get a couple of my cats spayed for free through the local animal shelter. They gave out some sort of voucher that you take to a participating doctor and all I had to pay for were the shots that totaled about $25. Perhaps there’s a similar program in the area? (I realize the money is already covered by Muffin, but if it can save some cash…)
I had one that thought he liked to drive until he decided to try to wind through the steering wheel, right as I had to make a left. Last time I let him steer. 
As for kitten fetuses - my stupid ex-roommate had let my cat escape out the back door and it took a week to find her. We thought everything was fine as she didn’t exhibit any pregnancy symptoms. Then I found something squicky in the cat pan. 
I freaked out and my boyfriend at the time went in for a closer examination and came back reporting that he thought maybe it was just a bad case of the cat poops.
That was not cat poop.
Your Squeaks looks a lot like my Daisi (though the pic is a bit dark).
And Snookie thinks I dote on our kitty. wow.
Wouldn’t know if he would like to drive, he’s in the cat carrier, mewing non stop.
I did have one that I felt safe enough to not have in the carrier. He would sit happily on the passenger seat (or lap of person on that seat), and hold his face up towards the air vent. All the fun of hanging out of the window w/o the bugs.
Trouble didn’t mind the car. But the rest of 'em don’t like it much.
I know, I know - I was young and stupid and thought the cat would behave like he did in the house. I didn’t have a carrier at the time (was making $3.75/hour at McD’s and was lucky to be taking him to the vet at all, but it was time for the snip-snip and had to be done) and didn’t think it entirely through. :smack:
He did behave in the drive-thru afterwards while I got him a four pack of chicken nugs to make up for trauma. 
Daisi, on the other hand, was a dream in the car the couple of times we had to move. She’d climb into the back window and sunbathe until we arrived.
I realized how bad an idea having a loose cat in the car was when my cat dove under my feet and the pedals while I was driving. Okay, kitty’s going to have to come out of the nice, dark enclosed space now BEFORE I CRASH THE CAR AND KILL US BOTH!!!
The “loose cat in the car” stories always give me cold chills - for two reasons:
-
Nice lady had just adopted a very small adult cat from the Humane Society. Cat had already had her spay surgery, so she could immediately go home with her new mama. New mama doesn’t mention she has no carrier. New mama puts very small cat loose in the car. New mama has to pay someone to remove the dash from her car to retrieve small cat.
-
Nice lady brings large male cat to the vet for the “snip” without a carrier. Nice lady opens car door at vets office. Large male cat bolts from the car into the road where he is immediately killed.
Please restrain your cats when traveling with them. Carriers don’t cost all that much and you can sometimes get one free on Craigslist or FreeCycle.
Then–there was Claude. Who was able to unzip a soft-sided cat carrier from the inside!
We didn’t have the internets back then, but the vet suggested a pillow case is better than nothing if you’re desperate.
Hamish didn’t think much of the idea, though.
Cardboard boxes work, too.
Until your cat eats a feline-body-sized hole in it.
They are better than nothing, especially if they are reinforced with duct or strapping tape.
Someone had deposited a cardboard box containing a moma cat and her 8 kittens of the vet clinic where I was working. Moma had managed to chew a hole in the box - not large enough for her to escape, but large enough for all of the kittens to get out. I spent about an hour that morning in the bushes capturing kittens.
(bolding mine)
Moma cat?
I don’t have cats, but I was under the impression that most of them are too busy going ape-shit in cars to bother with such tasks as gnawing a hole in a cardboard box…I can see it if they were left in for a long time, though. I was thinking 30 min max drive to the vet.
Heh. The first time we took Buffy and Gypsy to the vet’s in a carrier (the same one, because they were still pretty small), both of them peed themselves on the way home, and stunk up the car. (It was a pretty hot day, too).
When I first adopted my cats, the shelter gave them to me in cardboard carriers. One of them sat quietly and contentedly in the carrier the entire ride home. The other one (who is more high strung in general) worked furiously at tearing a hole in the box from the moment he was put inside it and was loose within about 15 minutes. :eek: I definitely would not trust a cardboard box except as a last resort.
Major kudos to Muffin for helping out in this situation. I’m sure that it will be nice peace of mind once the cat is spayed and there won’t be any more horrible surprises to worry about.
Not applicable when you’re letting the cat drive. 
Ok. Forget the cat carrier kind of cardboard box.
Let’s say we start with your standard issue square cardboard box like most people have access to. The bottom has a single line of tape holding the two outer panels shut. The top has your standard four flaps wide open leaving a nice box to put your kitty in right?
Now, time to put the kitty in.
First find the kitty because by now kitty knows you’re up to something and wants no part of it. Don’t ask me how they know, they just do.
Once you detach kitty from whatever they were hiding behind/under/on top of/in, then comes the time to detach kitty from yourself.
Now go find kitty again and repeat that last step a couple of more times until you lose track of what blood belongs to who.
This time, grab the cat by the non-pointy end and shove it in the box.
Now how about those flaps? Riiiiiight. :smack: The cat was just waiting for that to dawn on you too.
Hold the cat down with one hand and fold the first 3 flaps over, closing off 3/4ths of the top. At this point you have to let go of kitty so you can keep the flaps down while grabbing the last flap to fold over and tuck in. Oops! There goes kitty again as s/he springs forth from that small opening like fake snakes in a can of peanut brittle.
Perhaps fold in some of the flaps first, and try squeezing kitty through the gap? Might work, but I want to get my camera ready first before you try. 
And that’s just from what I’ve seen an 8 week old kitten can do. :eek:
Natasha can not only unzip a soft cat carrier from the inside, but can squeeze through the opening left after it is zipped closed and double latched. Have you ever tried to drive with your left hand while holding a squirming kitty by the scruff with the other hand?
For those of you playing the home version, Squeaker’s currently at the vet getting her girly parts removed. (Man, did she sound pathetic in the cat carrier on the way to the vet.)