Regularly transporting cats

[Ava77]

Just a speculative enquiry. I'll be moving down to London in a few months for work, and obviously will be taking my cats with me. However, I will be visiting friends and family in the Midlands on a regular basis at weekends.

I'll most likely have to bring my cats with me on my trips back. But how will they fare with being moved around twice a month? Would it be worse or better than putting them in a cattery? Do you think they'd just get used to it as part of their routine eventually?

[tiggerblue10]

Personally I don't think its a good idea for them to travel about here and there. They need a stable environment. It will be hard enough for them to get used to a new home without the added stress of being carted about every month. There is also the likelihood that they may run way due to the stress. Cats need the freedom to roam around and they could get lost.

How many days will you be gone during each trip?

[smudge]

No, I don't think your cats would get used to travelling about Ava.

As tigger & IAP have said, cats like to have a permanent base, even if they do go off & eat at neighbouring houses!

When ever I've taken any of our cats to the vet in the past(only have one now), they've cowered inside the basket whilst in the car, dying to get out & back home again.

I've never liked the idea of cats being placed in a cattery & prefer my neighbour to come in & feed our Milly (a reciprocal arrangement with her cat). However, for your cats, I think this would be a much better idea.

Happy travelling.

[burnhal]

I will answer in the opposite vein to everyone else. Like in the previous answer our cat hates being in the travel basket. We were visiting family some while ago and it didn't seem worth putting the cat in kennels for three days. So we experimented with a harness and lead. Took her out on a couple of short journeys to test it out then went on the family visit.- 100 mile journey. The cat simply curled up on my knee- safely harnessed and leaded!- and slept most of the way.
But then thats my cat- I am sure she thinks she's a dog anyway!!- and of course it wont work for all cats.... and certainly not for four at a time!!

[lankeela]

We visited friends in Finland who have a 'summer house' near a lake in the country. They go there most weekends and for longer in the summer and take their several dogs and three cats each time. The cats sleep for most of the journey which is about two hours from their town house, and they have more freedom in the country. They go out as soon as they get there and explore and have no problem with going back in their baskets to return to the town house.
I realise that yours will probably not be allowed to be free when you visit friends but I am sure they would not mind the travelling.

[smudge]

Ha, ha, Burnal - does your cat bark?!

After reading burnal & lankeel's posts, p'raps I shouldn't have written that "your cats may not get used to travelling about" Ava. I'm only going on what my cats have preferred, but yours may be absolutely fine.. ;o}

[Ava77]

Thanks for all the responses, it's good to have a balanced view from both sides. I think it's worth adding that I wouldn't be planning on taking them anywhere until they had been in their new home for a few months, and therefore had time to settle.

Also worth noting, is that the place they would be visiting would be my mother's new home (as she is also moving, but to a different part of the country to me). Myself and my cats live with my mum at present - and so the new place would be filled with familiar furniture, smells and people. I somehow suspect this must be less stressful than being put in a cattery.

I would be unlikely to let them out in her new place, but I think they would quickly settle in the inside of her new home on an occasional basis. One of my cats is so attached to my mum that I think she'd put up with almost anything if it meant seeing her!

With regards to the traveling itself, I think that burnhal may have hit the nail on the head. Obviously my cats loathe the cat basket as much as the next, mostly because they associate it with a trip to the vet I suspect! I was hoping to create a more comfortable traveling arrangement for them so that they can safely stretch out and sleep through the journey.

If I had a neighbour who I could rely on to feed them and check on them, then obviously that would be preferable - but obviously one cannot guarantee that scenario. Hence this being a speculative enquiry.

[Whoever]

I think your cats will hate it, especially if they are older animals and not used to cars. Our first cat was traumatised by car journeys. When he died and we got a new kitten, I regularly took him for short car journeys when he was a baby so he became accustomed to it and for many years he was fine, usually sleeping on the back seat throughout the journey.. Then one week-end for the first time we had to board him in a cattery as our neighbour who normally looked after him was in hospital. Thereafter he always associated a car journey with his awful time in a cattery and yowled, vomited and wet himself every time he was put into a car. Even taking him to the vet then became a traumatic experience for all of us. I think it's far better, if your cats are not used to cars, to try and find a neighbour or nearby teenager who wants some occasional pocket money to care for them in their own home, or if this isn't an option, settle for a cattery, especially if they can be boarded together for some extra reassurance. Housesitting?petsitting agencies are also a possible option, but normally quite expensive.

[shazza149]

Hi,

I believe that cats do not like changing their 'homes'. they are very territorial so like staying put. You would be much better off employing a professional cat sitter.

I don't know where you are based but try this cat sitter.

I used them and they were brilliant.

http://www.catnips.co.uk