Travelling with cats

[User no longer member.]

Hello, We move to Limousin mid January and I'll be travelling with 2 cats from North Yorkshire. I'll be going through the Tunnel and will 'house them separately in crates.  I'd love to hear from anyone else who has done the long journey and just wonder how they got over the problem of litter trays?  Do I put a tray in each crate?

There seems to be many different pet carriers on the market - which one would be best?

Incidentally, they won't travel in the same crate - they like each other...but not that much!!  Look forward to your replies.

[cooperlola]

I travelled my 3 cats down here in crates. I didn't bother with litter trays but lined the cages with TENA incontinence mats and changed them as necessary (one, in one cat's crate only).  Much easier than trying to fit a litter tray in a cage.

I prefer the wire mesh cages to plastic ones with only  a metal front as the cats can see more and they are a lot more robust - you can always cover them with a blanket if your cats travel better in darkness.  Wicker ones are useless (except as something to keep the cat occupied as it rips it to shreds!)

[lynda777]

Hi there

When we came over 2 months ago, we made a small run for the crate with chicken wire.  It was on a square wire crate so easy to tie four poles out from the corners and wrap the wire round the poles.  We then put the litter tray and feed + water in the run.  She was in there for about 30 hours and seemed happy.  She was able to use her toilet without getting smelly herself - which of course cats hate.

We were lucky that we had room to do this.  Obviously if you have two cats, it might not be practicable. 

All the best

Lynda

[andyh4]

With (currently) 5 cats regularly being shipped between their summer and winter quarters (800km apart),my recommendations:

Find out how well your cats travel - we have 2 who travel fairly badly and evacuate and vomit on long journeys.  These two are kept together in a rabbit cage with a cat tray.  The other three are kept in large shipping crates - bigger than most travelling crates on the shops, and do not usually have a problem with the 8 hour journey.

 

Get the biggest crates you can find - probably worth going for small dog rather than a cat one given the distance you are travelling.  We got airfeight crates when we moved to Germany which we still use.  They are about 50% longer and taller and 30% wider than the biggest cat crate in the shops.  The cats at least have the cahnce to sit up and trun around in these.  (Image you were being transported in a box not much bigger than a coffin - that's what a cat is like in a carrying crate)

 

Make sure the animals have access to water and dried food at all times.  They will probably not take any, but you never can tell.....

[User no longer member.]

Thanks for all the comments.  I will be looking for dog sized crates to give them more room.  I intend to drive through the night and arrive at the new house in the morning to allow everyone to check the place out in daylight - hopefully the animals will sleep during the journey!

[Lesley1952]

we have our 2 on halter collars so that they can stretch their legs they seem to enjoy the saunter and it usually coincides with our need for coffee!!!

[vervialle]

I travel regularly to the Limousin with my cat,I have a dog cage which takes her basket a small litter tray, I use a kitten one, her food and we stop to give her water twice, but she never takes any.She moans for the first hour and then settles down.She prefers to sit on my lap, which I do allow but only with a collar and lead on , with the lead on my foot,but you really have to be vigilant at tolls and naturally keep all windows shut, so the cage is a safer option.I reccomend a collar and lead anyway for when you have to open the cage .I would keep them in the house when you arrive for at least five days, let them get used to the new surroundings before they are let outside.Good Luck,incidently Lily much prefers being in France and gets the miseries for a week when we return to the U.K.

[Catalpa]

Deleted. Duplicate post. Again.

[Catalpa]

I composed this for a similar discussion about 18 months ago so I've cut

and pasted it here rather than adapt and re-type the whole thing so

bits of it aren't relevant this time. Sorry! In spite of that, I hope

it is helpful. If the cats generally rub along adequately, even if they are not great pals, you may find that they'll find proximity to each other comforting rather than threatening so don't discount one cage.

I think key to our uneventful move was the dark sleeping

area. If you have the carrier prior to your trip, you could put it out

for the cats to play in. You might find they like to sleep in it which

means they'll be used to it when you travel. One thing I forgot to say

below is we got a Feliway spray from the vet. Feliway mimics feel-good cat

pheremones. We sprayed that around the sleeping part of the cage about

half-an-hour before we put them in it - because that allowed the strength of the product to diminish in the air. However, someone else said that their vet didn't recommend it. We would use it again.

------------

We found moving the cats was considerably easier than moving the dogs.

We bought two 4-month old kittens over last November. We got them a big

carrier with doors that could be slid open from either end. There was

space for a good sized dirt tray and a cardboard box with polartec

bedding which they'd already been sleeping on. The box had high-ish (6 inches) sides to prevent litter being

thrown into the bed. We cut the box to exactly fit into the space not

occupied by the litter tray. This stopped anything moving about. Except

the cats.

No sedatives were used.

We didn't give them much breakfast before we left as we wanted to reduce any likelihood of car sickness.

They weren't car sick.

We used Eurotunnel.

Total journey time was 10 hours. But I think we could have happily done a lot more.

We covered most of the cage with dark fabric so the sleeping end was dark and cave-like.

We added a bit of previously used litter to the tray to ensure they got that particular message.

We had small amounts of food and water in those containers which hook securely onto wire.

Cats slept most of the time, drank and ate very little, there were a couple of pees, no poops and very little of the "are we nearly there yet" type of vocalising.

They (and we!) were totally unstressed by the whole event.

We

had fresh litter, water, rolls of kitchen towel and fresh bedding (in case of

soiling) with us and apart from the water, needed none of it.

[robkat]

I was so interested to read all your comments & ideas on travelling with cats. We are hoping to make the move to Charente Maritime sometime next year & I have been dreading the journey with our three gorgeous cats. However, on reading your comments it appears that it is not such a trial (for the cats, that is), but will be for me!!! By the way, our vet also recommended Feliway.

Kathy