Dear Todd:

Oi, what a task you have before you! Yeah, they'll yell and scream the
entire way. Don't worry about them fouling the carriers--the instinct
is to not do so. If they gotta go, they gotta go (as the humanoids).

Make sure your hotels accept pets. Put the litter boxes out and the
food and water containers before you open the carrier gates. Try to
keep some fresh catnip on hand. And a lot of love and attention will
help.

Yeah, they're going to hate you for a week. You disrupted their lives.
You're going to pay for it. But they'll forgive you eventually.

Hope all goes well. Good luck and a safe trip for alloyez!

Oh pshaw, on Sun 18 Jun 2006 07:44:23a, Todd Copeland meant to say...

Well, here's an encouraging word, Todd...

In 2000 we moved from NE Ohio to Arizona in two cars with two cats.  One of
cats, who historically was very resistant to change, led us to consult the
vet about the trip.  He recommended a very mild sedative and assured us the
trip would be uneventful.

We called ahead and made reservations at motels that accepted pets.  Many
do.

We bought disposable litter trays  pre-filled with litter (6 in all, 1 a
piece for each day of the trip) and placed them on the floor of the front
passenger seat.  Each cat rode in a carrier placed on the front passenger
seat.  During the first 15 minutes or so of the trip, there was the usual
meowing and fussing, but they both settled down for most of the driving
day.  After about the first hour or hour and a half, we opened the carrier
doors, but both cats usually remained in their carriers and slept.  Once or
twice they hopped out and used the litter tray, then either lay down on the
floor or seat, or returned to their carrier.

Early each morning they were fed and allowed enough time in the motel room
to use their litter tray before we started out on the road.  At night their
litter trays, carriers, food and water were taken into the room where there
were immediately fed.  Once they ate, we headed out to have some dinner.

It was a great trip and the cats were no worse for wear.  I think the mild
sedative was very effective, and helped keep them from being bored, and
allowed them to sleep for much of the trip.

A couple of years ago I drove across the country with three cats. It is
difficult, but they'll be just fine.

I was driving a rented passenger van (a Dodge Caravan, I think), which
I suspect made things go more smoothly than had I been driving a car.
The van provided more room for the cats to move about and more
locations for litter boxes, food and water.

Super 8 motels, while not great, are just about everywhere and they
will accept your cats for an additional $10 per cat.

My cats did soil themselves in the carriers until I started leaving the
doors to their carriers open all the time so that they could stay in
the carriers or walk about the van at their pleasure. If you're going
to be on the road for three days, you'll pretty much have to give your
cats the same freedom. You can't keep them confined to the carriers for
three days.

However, be sure you have some sort of 'barricade' set up around the
driver's seat and the driver's side of the front cab area, since you
don't want the cats to get down around your feet while you're driving.
Seriously, you must do this! Otherwise you could have an accident.

Furthermore, be absolutely sure that your cats ARE confined in the
carriers anytime you're getting into or out of the car. When you stop
for gas or a cup of coffee, don't tell yourself that you'll jump out
very quickly and then close the door behind you before any of your cats
get out. If one of them wants to get out, perhaps because they hate the
car, and they see an open door, they WILL get out. And believe me, you
don't want to lose one of your cats in the middle of nowhere. So always
confine them in their carriers before any door is opened anywhere in
the car.

Sorry to sound paranoid, but a little paranoia will sometimes spare you
a ton of grief.

Steve

I have to disagree with letting the cats roam free in the car while the car
is in motion.  Imagine if there was some sort of car accident while that was
happening, the cat could be thrown against a window or through it.  Just as
you would never let a child run around a vehicle, you shouldn't let the
cats.

There are sedatives for cats.. Talk to your vet.  You may also want to
consider microchipping them.  Its probably around $50 a cat, but so worth
the piece of mind.  Do not forget to register the chip.  No point in having
one if the company can't contact you.  Collars with tags are also a good
idea.  Not fool proof, hence the microchip recommendation.

Instead of newspaper, I would recommend puppy training pads.  They are
absorbent, and disposable.  They got the idea for puppy pads from
incontinence pads for people confined to bed.  Nice thing is they absorb the
smell of the urine as well.

Another suggestion is rescue remedy.  It is a natural stress reliever.  Good
for humans, dogs and cats :)
then there is feliway, which mimics the welcome pheromone that cats secrete
when they rub up against things.  I used it when I moved, and my cats took
the move beautifully.  WAY better than I expected.  You can use Feliway with
any meds the dr might recommend.. but id ask before mixing RR with meds

Good luck, and thank you for taking them with you.  I do a lot of work with
the local shelter and am always amazed at people abandoning their pets
because of a move.

As the last reply said...PLEASE be careful in not letting the Cats get
loose. It can happen so easily and they will be scared if in unknown
territory,perhaps even too scared to come to you. I would suggest
putting extra documentation with their Tags......perhaps an additional
tag with phone numbers at your destination,relatives,etc...this way
should the worse come to worse,you can be contacted and make
arrangements to regain your Cat(s)....

On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 14:44:23 GMT, "Todd Copeland"

<todd@copelandhome.net> wrote:

I don't "Suffer" from Insanity..I rather enjoy it!

CATTS
http://members.tripod.com/~thewebster/catts.html

WHY SO BLUE,PANDA BEAR?
http://www.serindaswan.com

Hi there,

You've already gotten great advice, I'll add one thing. Make sure they
have on collars with tags that contain working phone numbers. We drove 4
days, 10 hrs/day and my biggest fear was that one would slip out of the
car in a different state. We didn't have a cell phone, so we put my
parents' phone number on the tags and told them not to hang up if
someone called about a cat!

Luckily, no one had to use it.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Todd,

May I suggest an alternative, one I've used, which will be in the long run
much easier on you and much easier and safer for the cats.

Place the cats in a  boarding kennel and have them shipped by air to you
after you have arrived and have settled. By doing this you are subjecting the
cats to a few hours distress instead of several days.

Jim

First, I want the thank _everyone_ for all the great replies. Not only was
there some great information shared but it also help put me at ease. I've
ruled out flying the cats. I know it would only take 5-6 hours, which is
much shorter but I think it would be _much_ more stressful on both cats.
Sitting in my truck for 3 days really should not be too stressful. Mainly
they will meow to tell me that they don't want to be there but I can't
imagine it's all too bad for them. I'm really hoping that after a few hours
they realize that they have made their point but that is the way it's going
to be for awhile.

I won't let them out of the carriers during the ride. The scared one would
probably not come out but if she did, she would probably just hide under a
seat. I could not get her out without opening a door. Also, I don't want to
risk one of them running under my feet. I have big carriers and both can
stand up, turn around, and stretch out inside of them. Also, I have a truck
which will need to have a few things inside the cab so room is very limited.

I think I'll stop by the vet and pick up some medication as recommended. I
new it would clam them down but I can not really thought that it will make
their stress much less as well.

I would never normally do this but I might keep a spare key in my pocket and
leave the truck running (A/C) when I go into a place for a meal along the
way. I'll watch the truck of course. I figure semi-truck drivers do this all
the time. Again, I'd not normally do this as it creates a greater risk of
the vehicle being stolen.

So, I'll have the bed of my truck loaded with tons of items and then be
pulling a boat behind the truck, all with 2 cats in the vehicle for a solid
3 day trip. I just don't want to think about it. :)

Thanks again for everyone's wonderful input!