Soon I will be making a great trek to the midwest from Oregon and I have to take two kitties. What is the best way to do this? Are there hotels that allow pets?
there are indeed and easily researched online.
you don’t say what kind of vehicle you’re going to be traveling in, but i have a friend with a very well traveled cat named Cage. they often trek between indianapolis, indiana and cody, wyoming.
in addition to food and water, she also brings a moderately-sized cat litter box for him along with toys and other distractions. Cage spends the trip in the covered back of her pick up truck. he can see and talk to her through the rear window, but he isn’t allowed up where the driver is.
it’s best not to allow animals to roam freely in the cabin. they can get down into the foot well where the brake and gas pedals are and that could spell disaster.
in addition, any sudden stops you might make will turn them into flying projectiles which is also a really bad idea.
get a large pet taxi, if nothing else - provided the two cats can get along in a relatively small space. at the moment, if i were in your shoes, my turk and speck would be riding in separate taxis. they’re too new to one another to be confined like that.
talk to your vet about the trip, make sure they’re both healthy enough for the undertaking. if they aren’t used to riding in cars, if possible, take them on short trips around town to get them accustomed to the motion of a car. cats can get motion sickness just like people do. you may have to stop more often then you normally would for kitty potty breaks and drinks, etc., so allow time for that.
i’m sure other cat lovers will post with additionial suggestions. good luck!
I once tried a pet booster seat–it’s meant for dogs–where the seat buckles around the car seat and then the pet is restrained in the seat by a clip. For dogs, it would generally be the leash point of a collar, but for a cat, the leash point of a harness is safer (the cats should be harnessed at all times and leashed whenever the door is going to be opened.) Shadow absolutely hated it. He complained all the way from Las Cruces to TorC (that’s about an hour’s worth of driving), where I finally relented and unhooked him. To be fair, I think it simply restrained him too much, as it looked like he was having a problem trying to lie down. The carrier is just as bad, so these days I only put him in it for short trips around town.
What I generally wind up doing is putting him in his harness and then tying the leash around the passenger seat. I give him about two or three feet of slack, and that’s enough for him to be able to stand up, look out the windows, get into the back seat, sit on my lap, or (as he’s started doing lately) dive under the passenger seat until we finally get wherever we’re going. However, it’s not enough for him to get under my feet and the one time he tried it I purposefully stepped on him–not very hard, just enough for him to get the idea that the driver’s footwell is not a place to go.
I often get funny looks from passing cars (especially kids) and sometimes a funny reaction from the border patrol.
In any case, be prepared for a lot of complaining. Even when Shadow dives under the passenger seat, it’s often still a good half-hour or more before he stops constantly meowing.
I took three cats from Kansas City to Portland last year. Make sure their carrier is open at all times for them to hide away when they’re scared. I did let them out, because they tend to FREAK if left locked up and never had a problem with them getting into the foot well. The kitten did want to be held, and that makes driving a little difficult.
Get some feliway spray and spray it into the AC once in a while. Smells bad, but helps the furry ones.
La Quinta takes pets.
A tiny bit of litter in a shallow cardboard box (we used the flats 12 packs of beer come in because they were free from my husband’s liquor store) should do you.
Kept them in their harnesses the whole time. They loved the hotel, though I think it was just “not the car”. Be prepared for some minor behaviorial problems when you get to where you’re going. Our cats wouldn’t use the litterbox for the first day.
Catapult.
Stop it. You knew it was only a matter of time.
I am driving a small SUV. I will buy a large kennel for them. Sadly, the little one has been known to wiggle out of harnesses so, with the exception of hotels, she will spend the trip in a cage. I suspect I will have to buy a plastic tarp and something absorbent in case of an accident. I don’t want my new car to smell like cat pee.
It looks like the first leg will be the longest since I have to make it to Boise before pet freindly hotels start showing up.
Does anyone else have cats that howl like they are miserable in a carrier in the car? Not to hijack…but mine seems to dispise car rides. I have friends whose kitties dont mnd much at all to take a ride?
I think I would need meds to tolerate my kitty on a long trek.
Yes, my cats howl like the damned in the car (Bandit also gets carsick poor thing). When I moved the from Michigan to VA (10 hr drive), and then from VA to NY (7 hr drive), I drugged them to the gills because no way could I listen to that without pause for 10 hours. I got something from the vet for this purpose.
The cats seemed most upset during breaks or heavy traffic (even drugged, they would begin to cry when the car slowed down). They were seeminly soothed by an 8 hour audiobook I had, because everytime I had to change a disc, they cried, then quieted down when the reading began again. (FYI, it was The Kite Runner). They didn’t not eat or drink the entire trip, even though I offered them something every 3 hours or so.
speck didn’t eat or drink during her six-hour trip home to indianapolis, but she did use the litter box, which surprised me. once she got where she was going, she behaved perfectly, which was another surprise. it’s probably due to her very young age.
i think the plastic tarp for the SUV is an excellent idea. so is the book on tape. i’d suggest white noise, but it might put you to sleep and that would also be bad. 
It may be wise to try the cats out on a smaller trip to see if they travel well in general. If they do not travel well, a veterinarian can dispense a sedative.
When I moved to where I am now I brought kitty along. The trip was only about 75 miles in nice weather, so I packed my pickup full of my stuff and found room for kittycat (in her cage, of course) at the very back of the truck, where she would get lots of air and could see what was going on.
When I arrived at the new place kitty went up on a shelf, to keep her out of the way of the movers. I would come over from time to time to scratch her nose, etc.,promising her a big tuna dinner when the movers left.
Of course, when the movers did leave, and I let kittycat our in the new place, she was noplace to be found! Always the worry of her getting out and making a dash for wherever cats go when they panic. Not to worry, about four o’clock am I felt the cat jump up on the bed, curl up and go to sleep. Just like nothing was different at all.
Yep, I love cats!
They’re pretty frequently sprinkled across the country. Per their website, they have 25 locations in Oregon.
I don’t know where you’re starting off in Oregon, but the trip to Boise shouldn’t be horrid - looks like most of Oregon is within 10 hours of Boise.
Do they give them back?
Get a horse and a chuckwagon and have a good old-fashioned Kitty Drive.
Herding Cats
Brand them though, at your own risk.
Better yet is the complete EDS Super Bowl ad.