Cat Gets Stressed

[Tizzi24]

When I take my cat out in the car, she gets very stressed and poops and wees - this is even for a 10 minute journey.

I am moving shortly and this will involve a 4.1/2 hour journey and I am dreading it. My cat is stressing me out more than the actual move! I am going to take her to the vet to see if he will give me a tablet to calm her down. Have tried Feliway, but it doesn't really work. Don't laugh, but someone told me you can get cat nappies. Can anyone tell me if these actually work? Any advice would be gratefully received.

[Sam1960]

looks like you can indeed buy cat nappies
http://www.illuminasia.co.uk/#!blog/ce09

[Sam1960]

oops
http://www.dog-nappy.co.uk/Cats_Faecal_and_Urinary_Incontinence_payment_page.htm

[Sam1960]

Sorry about the mix up there Tizzi, don't know if the nappies work or not ? Think it might be best to see your vet and see what they say !! Hope it all goes ok for you ;-)

[Ouzel]

Tizzi - my cat used to get very stressed when travelling, but he wasn't incontinent. Like you, we were moving house - the vet gave us Feliway to try.

We sprayed the inside of the car with it, then took the cat out to sit in the car for a few minutes then brought him back indoors. This happened every day, increasing the length of time he spent in the car, then progressed to going for short drives which gradually got longer. It sounds like a lot of trouble but it worked for him - and we were moving 450 miles away.

The vet wouldn't give a sedative as there would be no-one qualified to supervise him whilst travelling.

Good luck.

[wolf63]

The really good thing about the cat nappies is that your cat will be so engrossed in trying to get the stupid thing off she will not notice the journey.

Most cats hate travelling and hate any changes to their routine and their environment. I use Feliway spray when I take Frankie to the vet and it has made an improvement in his behaviour.

Get some cheap puppy training pads to put in her carrier so that it is easy to clean out. Are you going to be able to clean out the carrier from inside the car?

This is an excellent site http://www.icatcare.org:8080/advice/keeping-your-cat-safe/travelling-your-cat

Good luck

[ganesh]

I have 2 cats and one is calm and the other is like yours. My vet is 10 minutes away and he always poos on the way there and on the way back. And he wails, and hates travelling so much! I just put up with it and take cleaning stuff with me. I did think of not feeding him but he will moan at me for hours if he is hungry! I'm sure there are some calming tablets or smelly stuff that you can get, ask the vet or in a pet store.

[racquel21]

Stress has been identified as a significant component of most common cat behavior problems and some common diseases. Make sure you cat is undisturbed.