Travelling with Cats

[gaylejoe]

Since my previous post on 6-24-15 our 16 year old cat left us. Never a complaint from her going to 39 States, including Canada and Alaska. She logged close to 100,000 miles with us. She was approximately 6 years old when introduced to traveling.

Since her passing we adopted 4 month old male and female siblings. What a blast they are and both have logged over 3000 traveling. When traveling in the TV Brother mostly sleeps in his carrier with the door open. Sister sleeps in my wife's lap or mine depending on whose driving.

At night they sleep on the bed and will play several times during the night. They are a blast.

We still have 12 year old Wanda. She is down to a 3rd of her weight. She has lived past what she was expected to live. We know the end may not be to far own the road but she still gets around ok. She still travels with us.

[Ultradog]

Cats.
Yikes!
Traveling with cats?
Double yikes.
I just hope you will make a clear, honest disclosure statement if/when you decide to sell your AS.

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by Ultradog

Cats.
Yikes!
Traveling with cats?
Double yikes.
I just hope you will make a clear, honest disclosure statement if/when you decide to sell your AS.

That goes double for people with dogs. Nasty annoying barking creatures.

[skitique]

What about those of us traveling with cats & dogs? 😊

Ridiculous to assume cats make the trailer nasty or uninhabitable. My house & trailer are clean regardless of of whether I have cats. I had a cat for 19 years that told me when he needed to go outside to take care of business. He was cleaner than most teen agers.

[rec]

Our cats are fine as long as they're in the tow vehicle with us (they sleep in two little beds on the front seat, between driver and passenger). OCCASIONALLY, we will leave them in the trailer for short periods when we're moving the rig (like from one space to another within a park, or to dump and then return home again) -- and it freaks them the heck out. (We usually find them hiding in the litter box area until we get settled back down again!)

[shepherd57]

We just acquired a 7 year old cat that we are going to take with us in the coach.Traveling in a vehicle he is okay with that, I am just concerned when we are in a campground or boon docking. Cats are great escape artists he is an Ocicat and we would hate to loose him. Any advice as far as screens and screen door latches to keep him safe.

[Pahaska]

I have a year-old Pixie-Bob female that looks just like your cat. We just returned from a trip with her and our Munchkin.

I made an over-the-center latch for the slide on the screen door to prevent a cat from sliding it open. That happened to me once in Cheyenne when our Munchkin was on the table, pushed open the slide, and jumped out. I chased him down barefoot in my undershorts.

We just take care entering and exiting the trailer. She is interested in the outdoors, but is timid enough to hesitate to try to escape. The trailer is a refuge for all of our cats.

[kb0zke]

Okay, now that we've made the decision to switch to an Airstream, how do we go about cat-proofing it? We're talking about a late 90's/early 2000's 34' coach. I understand that there are things under/behind the couch that probably shouldn't be visited by curious cats, but what other problems should we be aware of?

Also, where do you keep the litter box? Our bath is called a walk-through bath, meaning that pocket doors need to be closed to make the space private, but otherwise it is one large walk-through space. The litter box is next to the shower, where it just fits.

[Pahaska]

We have the walk through bath, also, and our litter box is in front of the shower. It isn't in the way. This is just about the only floor plan that easily accommodates a litter box. Our Airstream is a 2005 and the litter box has traveled with us since we bought it new.

Here is our Pixie-bob at 45 weeks old. See how much she resembles your cat. She is now 13 months old.

[shepherd57]

Yes she dose look a lot like our Ocicat. We just got him he is from a rescue he is 7 years.
We have the side shower in our coach so I think the litter box will fit in the tub part just fine. That way it is not under foot and when the shower is in use it can be put in the bathroom. Do you have your cat out side on a leash when you are around the trailer

[Pahaska]

Last December, I lost a 12-year old cat to cancer that was a real champ on a leash. She attended every happy hour with us, loved people, and stood up to every dog, even big ones. She traveled all over the country with us.

I wanted a cat with similar traits, so I bought the Pixie-bob as a 6-week old kitten. She is learning to walk on a leash and we strolled around my house just an hour ago. I had her on a leash at the pet show at the Region 9 rally two weeks ago and she did fine, even with a lot of people and dogs. She won a blue ribbon, but she was the only cat and that was no real feat. Pixie-bobs are supposed to have some west coast bobcat in their early lineage. She certainly has the bobcat looks and the bob tail.

[Tyvekcat]

Originally Posted by gaylejoe

Since my previous post on 6-24-15 our 16 year old cat left us. Never a complaint from her going to 39 States, including Canada and Alaska. She logged close to 100,000 miles with us. She was approximately 6 years old when introduced to traveling.

Since her passing we adopted 4 month old male and female siblings. What a blast they are and both have logged over 3000 traveling. When traveling in the TV Brother mostly sleeps in his carrier with the door open. Sister sleeps in my wife's lap or mine depending on whose driving.

At night they sleep on the bed and will play several times during the night. They are a blast.

We still have 12 year old Wanda. She is down to a 3rd of her weight. She has lived past what she was expected to live. We know the end may not be to far own the road but she still gets around ok. She still travels with us.

Prayers for Gaylejoe and especially Wanda. Sure hope she is doing well.

Couldn't ever see us traveling without Natasha.
Best regards

[KathrynB]

Originally Posted by Silver Otter

This is a nice thread. Thanks, Paula, for the Ice Cream idea. Now, do any of you use a litter box inside the AS for during the night?

We have a 25' Intl. Serenity RB Twin and I'm looking into the possibility of cutting a pet door in the center nightstand to create a pass-through into the rear storage bay and putting the cats' litter box there. Has anyone done that? I saw something similar done on a Class A MH and it looked like the perfect thing.

[Pahaska]

Years ago, I was unexpectedly traveling with a 10-week kitten. I stopped at wally Mart and bought a pack of 2 aluminum roaster pans and a roll of duct tape. I taped the pans together top to top and cut out the bottom of the top pan, and folded the edges back. That kept her from kicking litter out. I used that box until she grew quite large.

[KathrynB]

Be sure to get him microchipped. Keeping a harness on him and getting him used to a leash might help.

[KathrynB]

How did you get your cats to use a top entry litter box? I got one for my two cats, but they're baffled as to how to get in.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by KathrynB

We have a 25' Intl. Serenity RB Twin and I'm looking into the possibility of cutting a pet door in the center nightstand to create a pass-through into the rear storage bay and putting the cats' litter box there. Has anyone done that? I saw something similar done on a Class A MH and it looked like the perfect thing.

I put a cat door in one of the sliding doors in my Classic 25 because our one cat, whichever side she was on, it was the wrong side according to her and she complained loudly. Our short tailed cats liked the pet door, but our long-tailed munchkin didn't like it catching his tail every time.

I had to look all over to find a cat door thin enough to slide into the pockets.

[wareaglewalt]

We'll be full timing with 3 older cats and curious what others have done to discourage marking. In July we're picking up a 2017 Flying Cloud 25' so they'll be helping us break it in.

Does anyone have experience with sprays or other solutions to keep them from marking and making the Airstream "their own"?

We've found items like this online so maybe someone in the Forums has used this or something like it:

https://www.amazon.com/Comfort-Zone-...ords=cat+spray

Thanks!

[Tyvekcat]

Are you sure these are traveling cats ?
There was never any 'marking' with Natasha. She had her cardboard 'scratcher' in the floor, a few play mice, her bag of catnip and her grey 'rat' from petsmart. She loved that 'rat' . It rode in the truck with her.

No Marking.
Our non-traveling cat likes the 'Feliway' for trips to the vet, but our nieces calm her the most on those short trips.
Yeah, you have to make sure the cat likes to travel. I don't know about forcing the issue, if they don't want to.
Best regards

[Pahaska]

None of our current 3 cats "like" to travel, but they all seem to really enjoy the Airstream. The pecking order seems to change away from home and all three get along famously.

Now that the Classic 28 is gone and I have an Interstate, we will leave two cats at home and travel with just my Pixie-Bob. Too tight quarters for more than one cat.