I considered a cat harness for my cats awhile ago, but the things are escape artists. The thing about getting them used it at home though is… real. If the cat isn’t panicked well, not escape artist attempts.
The cats were happy to be free in the car but there are risks to the driver and, well driving.
I’ll second the advice from @fire and I’ll also recommend gabapentin; it’s a pretty well-tolerated med for arthritis pain in cats (you mentioned they’re old and they’ll be cooped up), plus it will help with anxiety and relax them for the trip.
If you have a lot of birds can they take you places?
Over the years we have harnessed several cats for outdoor walks. But we did have one that could get out of it anytime she wanted. Her brother though will just casually walk around the yard, by himself, with the harness on. You still want to be in the area though just in case another cat pops over the fence or he gets interested in a bird.
I figured if I had the right cat I would look into it again. My current lil guy freaks out over a strong breeze. Even if he was okay with a harness he’d spook easily. With a strip jacket, he’d squirm right out of those things but… a calm cat, used to it, in a car sitting on a lap… maybe okay.
@fire Wins the advice thread with just the right info. This exactly confirms our cat moving experiences over the years.
CBD might help with anxiety and mellow then out some.
Does the temperature make a difference? Do the cats get lethargic riding in cold weather?
I remember as a kid I was more likely to feel car-sick in hot/muggy/sunny weather.
Yep, Fire’s advice is right on.
I once drove cross-country – both directions – with a 20 pound Maine Coon cat on my lap. In a stick-shift Chevette. But Bill was a very special cat. Who got very annoyed every time I shifted. I would never have done this with any other cat I’ve had.
Not recommended.
Oh, I forgot about this:
Not sure if they made them for cats too.
@Editer Bill was a cat? I thought all those years you talked about Bill he was one of the kids. ;) (JK!)
Guys, this is all really good advice. Thanks. We move May 22. I’ll be sure and post our experience a couple of days after we get to out destination and chill out for a day or two. I’ve already got a nice new cat tree in the place they’ll be coming to.
Bill the Cat?
Just a caution about that cat tree: it is being left by previous owners? So used by a previous cat?
I’ve had cats that insisted on making things like that their own. Largely by pissing on them.
No on the cat tree, brand new. They will be the first animals to smell the catnip on it. ;)
I’ve spent my entire life having cats and am quite thankful, thus far to have avoided spraying and pissing as any sort of marking behavior. The horror stories from others though keep on coming.
The only time we had any problems like that was with an older cat who would just find a place to pee sometimes. When we tore out our old carpet we discovered she had been using an area behind a couch, which is strange because we never smelled it, and my wife smells everything.
We’ve never had any problems with our two old cats (both rescues as kittens, one was actually closer to a year old rescue) urinating in the wrong place. But our older one has a habit of pooping somewhere, even with a clean litter box, once in a while, then no matter how much we clean it he wants to poop there again. I can hear him scratching the carpet in a vain attempt to cover it.
He DOES use the litter box most of the time, and we haven’t correlated anything to this behavior (e.g. type of litter, open vs. covered little box, size of the litter box, location, etc.) I’d rather him poop than pee outside the box because the poop and smell is pretty easy to clean up and doesn’t penetrate the carpet.
I never have figured out that behavior either. My 23-year-old used the box to pee just fine, and most of the time uses the box to poop, but I still find the occasional poop spot behind a chair or something. Very dry, doesn’t make a mess, but I just don’t get what is going on.
My old dog has started to pee inside the house. So now I have to get up at 12am, 2am and 4am to let her outside.
:(