cat's first trip

[Stefrobrts]

We just got back from the Halloween Rally, and survived our first trip with both dogs and the new kitten. Lucy, our 7mth old persian who just came home form the pound less than two weeks ago, handled it perfectly. She had to ride in a crate in the van, mostly for her own safety with two dogs bounding around in the car.

On the way to the beach we stopped for lunch and let her loose in the trailer while we ate. At first I thought this was a mistake, because she went right into a closet and hid, and I wasn't sure I could get her back out without a fight. But by the time we were done eating she'd settled down and come back out to see what was going on. We put her back in the crate in the van for the rest of the trip.

When we got to our campsite we let her into the trailer again. We had gotten the smallest litterbox we could find, and it fit perfectly on the bottom shelf of the bathroom closet. I cleared the shelf above it and put her food bowl in the back where the dogs couldn't easily reach it. Within the hour she was using her litterbox and eating her food. No problem.

The rest of the weekend she hung out, either napping on the soft bathmat in the shower, or sitting in the window watching whatever was going by outside. At night she got active and raced around exploring (how much exploring do you need to do in a 17 ft trailer?!) and pouncing on our feet on the bed. She never tried to sneak out of the trailer when the door was open, in fact she'd go back into the closet and hide when people came in to look at the trailer.

Nothing seemed to bother her. I was worried about taking her on a trip so soon after adding her to the family, but now I think it was a great idea. She's had so many new things thrown at her the past couple weeks, she's just taking it all in. She's really laid back, and seems to have enjoyed the whole trip.

When we got home, and put her back in the house she was so happy to be back! She raced around the whole evening, playing with her toys, climbing on her scratching post, attacking the curtains. Now she's sacked out sleeping. I think it was all a big success. She's definitly going travelling with us again!

[Pahaska]

for young cats. They seem to adapt to their environment very quickly so long as their "people" are nearby.

It's a lot harder for an older cat to adapt. Since our 15+ year-old has become diabetic, he must travel with us to get his twice-daily insulin shots. He hates the truck and cries softly for most of the trip; fortunately, it is softly and not terribly disturbing to our ears. OTOH, he loves the trailer and settles in very happily when we arrive. He finds a cozy corner to curl up in and is quite happy.

Two cats in our 22' trailer sometimes made it hard to find a place to put a foot down. The new 25' Classic gets tested this weekend., but it probably has 5 times the open floor space and the litterbox will go in the shower.

[InsideOut]

I'm glad Lucy fell into the routine pretty effortlessly!

We had to take our trailer to a photo shoot (separate story) on Friday and Lily saw us scurrying around washing it, getting it hooked up to the truck and everything. When we got ready to leave without her, she just sat at the window crying...she thought we were going camping without her!

Be careful, you may be creating a monster with Lucy too!

Shari