Driving from CA to FL with cats in the car :)

canucknyc · Post by **canucknyc** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 10:37 am

We moved last summer with our cat who is terrified of the car. (He couldn't even handle the 4 minute drive to the vet.) We got him some kitty drugs and he was good for the entire 16 hour drive. We stopped at my in-laws for the night and had a 4 hour drive the next day. We didn't give him anything for day 2, and after a half hour or so he calmed down (gave in?) and went to sleep.

I tell you, the kitty drugs saved our sanity!!! Can you imagine 16 hours in a small car with a meowing/panting/shaking cat? Yipes.

Nancie-Pa · Post by **Nancie-Pa** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:14 pm

Hey CG, here's what I would do. Get some tranquilizers for the cats and some for you! The whole trip will "fly" by! LOL
Seriously, I think some drugs to calm them and alot of scratching,petting,loving from whomever is not driving will help.
I have a friend who has a condo in Cape Coral. She
loves it! Just think how much closer you'll be to STJ!
Good Luck!

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 4:13 pm

Hope you enjoy your new digs. I love the Punta Gorda area.

Chet · Post by **Chet** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:27 am

Drugs for the cats. Drugs for you.

Our cats live outside. The cat carriers are on the back deck and double as sleeping quarters.

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:22 am

I researched cages online last night & I found some that I think will work. Rick said, "What will we do with that thing after we get there?" and I said, "Take it & donate it to the ACC the next time we go to St. John!"

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:59 am

For three years, we travelled 45 min each way with two, elderly Siamese cats, at 55 howls an hour. Sometimes they screamed the entire trip.

Some thoughts:

Are they used to being together? Can you put them in seperate cages? Ours would get all spun up and have a shit-fest in their joint cage. Then the puking would start. NOT GOOD TIMES. Our were so bounded, we couldn't seperate them. It would have been much easier to clean up one cat/one cage at a time.

I agree with the vallium suggestion. Ours were too old (16-18 yo) to drug them every weekend. Our vet did prescribe some sort of motion sickness drug (off-label as it is approved for dogs only) that did sort of work. Might be worth asking about.

We keep a dedicated bag for accidents that contains rubber gloves, a large container of baby wipes, a container of anti-bacterial wipes, paper towels, trash bags and blue pads. By blue pads, I mean those cotton pads backed with water-proof plastic that are typically used in hospitals or to paper train puppies, the pads aren't always blue.

We are down to one cat now and he does well in the car as long as he can lay on my hsuband's lap. If he needs to go to the bathrooms, he goes back into his box, which I keep lined with the above mentioned pads.

I found that keeping the vehicle as cool as possible with air movement around their cage made a big difference in delaying the motion sickness.

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:20 pm

Our cats, Jack & Toby, are about as bonded as two brothers can get! There would be no way we could separate them for the trip...being together will be their "security." Hopefully the cage will be right behind the front seats so I can get to them if there are accidents or whatever.

I'm definitely going to ask our vet about tranquilizers & motion sickness meds, if only to have them on-hand if we need them mid-trip. I think they'll be good in the car, but it's a long trip.

greyhoundmom · Post by **greyhoundmom** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:54 am

Margo, sounds like you have gotten a lot of good advice for your boys. Congrats on the move! Cape Coral looks like a pretty community. When are you taking the plunge? What made you decide to move? Do you have family in FL? Sounds like a great adventure and a new start, you'll be closer to that turquoise H20!

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:29 am

GHM, we'll be taking the plunge shortly after the first of the year. We have a lot to do before then! We decided to move because Rick just retired and if we stay in California, we'll both have to work (at least part time) for the rest of our lives, even with Social Security and Rick's pension. We have friends in Fort Myers and fell in love with the place when we went down to visit a few years ago.

We did some research and found out that we can live on our retirement income in Cape Coral (or Ft. Myers) and never have to work again! That's pretty darned attractive! We will live better, have a nicer house, and a new area to explore! (not to mention, as you said, being closer to that turquoise H2O!

We're very excited!

GidgetPicklebrain · Post by **GidgetPicklebrain** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:22 pm

You might want to rethink positioning the cage so they can see out. My cats get really freaked out by scenery and cars zooming past at highway speed.

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:38 pm

Thanks Gidget, that's a prime concern of mine.

Toby's the kind that will curl up and sleep, and Jack is very inquisitive and will want to see and smell the sights, so the cage has to be up high enough for him to see out and smell the smells from a window cracked open. Sometimes I walk around the house or out in the patio with him in my arms just letting him sniff stuff that's way up high...he loves it!

linne · Post by **linne** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 3:48 am

I don't know anything about cats, but just want to tell that I just saw a repeat of a TV programme, where you had to guess the price of a house. This time one of the houses was in Florida, and the house was unbelievable cheap. The visit was in 2008, but if it's the same prices today in Florida I understand why you want to move. You got really value for money.

Linne

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:55 pm

Linne - The place we want to move to is called Cape Coral and it just happens to be one of the most financially depressed areas in the USA. Bad for them, but good for us. You are right about the houses being unbelievably cheap...they still are.

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:13 pm

I've traveled cross country with a cat before who is very prone to motion sickness

Lavender helps him. I have a spray bottle of lavender water and spray it. They also make collars that contain lavender or some people will put some lavender oil on a cotton ball or something.

Also any of the Feliaway products are calming for cats.

linne · Post by **linne** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:51 am

California Girl wrote:Linne - The place we want to move to is called Cape Coral and it just happens to be one of the most financially depressed areas in the USA. Bad for them, but good for us. You are right about the houses being unbelievably cheap...they still are.

I became a little curious and looked at Cape Coral on the internet. Only saw a row of positive things and many interesting places. What's the negative in Cape Coral since the houses are so cheap?

Linne

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