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Moving from New York to Florida... 18 hour car ride... ADVICE PLEASE!
My mom is relocating us from New York City to Florida. She plans on driving the 5 of us down in her car so we will be able to have roomy carriers but she's kind of confused with how to handle it all. When we flew from Singapore to New York 3 years ago we were in carriers for 36 hours with these great liners that would absorb our pee and turn it into a gel deep in the bottom layers so we stayed dry the whole trip, we didn't poop. We were fine. Now we will be driving to Florida which is about an 18 hour drive, mom will be driving alone so she will have to stop and do the trip in 2 days. Has anyone ever done this? How did you handle a long distance move/drive with your pets? Note from mom: Boarding or leaving my cats with someone else relying on them to get the cats to me isn't really an option.
Asked by
Salem
on Mar 30th 2011
in Car Travel
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Car travel with cats isn't difficult if you prepare in advance. Take some "practice runs" of an hour or so in duration. Put them in the carriers (w/those pads if you have them)and just drive around. Before you go, have them vetted and microchipped or otherwise identified. Put your name, new old/address, cell phone, etc. on the outside bottom of the carrier. When you stop overnight, make sure the hotel is pet friendly. Of course, be extra vigilant when the room door is opened that there are no escapees. Pack everything familiar from home, inc. blankets, food, dishes, toys, etc. Find a good vet down in Fla. now so if needs be, you can visit them as soon as you get there and speak with your vet now, who knows your cats and their behaviors, for other advice. Good luck! Safe trip!
Izadore (Izzie)
answered on 3/31/11.
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I do lots of animal transports across many states so this is a no-brainer for me. This is what I do and you can adjust according to your financial/space constraints. Each cat should have a carrier that is large enough for it to move about and to hold a smaller litter pan. Something like this is ideal: www.walmart.com
They should be provided with water at all times. This product allows you to provide it without spillage: www.petco.com
Feeding can be done in the hotel. If your cats don't do well on car rides, you may want to consider a sedative such as Acepromazine that can be obtained from your vet. Keep the temperature in the car cool so that they don't overheat, which can happen easily if they are stressed. Provide them something soft to lay on in the carrier, & never let them out of the carrier or out of the car. AND everything Izzie said!
Dahlia
answered on 4/1/11.
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