Traveling in class c with cats

cherv · 07-31-2019, 06:20 PM

We have 2 cats that currently do not travel with us. Hide when anyone but us are in our home. Neighbor looks in on them when we are away for a week to 10 days. They limit our travel time do not want to leave any longer THAN A WEEK TO 10 DAYS.

Kinggartk · 08-01-2019, 11:17 AM

We have a dog that doesn't like to travel...but she doesn't get a say in the matter. She goes where we go, when we go and for how long we go, whether she likes it or not.

It might help if you challenge the alpha male for his position in the house....who knows, you might become the new alpha.

Camper_bob · 08-01-2019, 12:56 PM

We have a cat that acts the same way. The problem with bringing him along is that the last time he and his sister (now deceased) rode in a car, they completely evacuated their entire digestive tract from both ends. It happened every time we moved them in a vehicle. It was NOT a pretty situation. So, needless to say, he doesn't ride in the car OR the MH. Ever.

My in-laws on the other hand, their cat is a fantastic MH buddy. She roams the MH and can often be found riding in the dash. They even have one of those harnesses with a leash so they can take her on little "walks".

We usually ask them to pet-sit when we're gone. If that's no good, we have a friend who can "sit" for us while we're out.

Our cat is somewhat elderly. Otherwise I would take him on short drives and go longer and longer until he became accustomed to riding in a vehicle. Then we'd take him with us whenever we went, which would be SO much better...

Sorry I can't be of much help, but I'm interested to see what feedback others have...

DocBrown · 08-01-2019, 01:06 PM

We had one cat that we had to put down in Jan of 2018. He was 15 but he was the best cat we ever had. He loved going to the vet. The part he hated was being caged up. He would have made a great camping buddy, but we never took him because the other cat would have been lonely.

That other cat, and several other cats we had absolutely hated travel. Like Bob's cats he would lose control on the way to the vet, and again on the way home, which then required a full bath, also not fun.

If your cats don't mind being in the car you should be fine in the RV. But if your cats are afraid of people, they may not like the noise and movement of being in an RV. It might be more traumatic for them than leaving them home.

Why not take them both in the RV and let them explore and get used to it? Do this several times over a few weeks so it becomes somewhat routine. Then take them for a 20 minute ride in it and see how they do.

RogerR · 08-01-2019, 02:42 PM

Our cat (now gone) loved to travel, especially if he could nap in the hot sun.
Our neighbors adopted a cat while at a long stay campground and he treats the motor home as home.

So maybe give it a try in the car for a few short trips, starting with once around the block at slow speed. Good luck!

Joan617 · 08-01-2019, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherv

We have 2 cats that currently do not travel with us. Hide when anyone but us are in our home. Neighbor looks in on them when we are away for a week to 10 days. They limit our travel time do not want to leave any longer THAN A WEEK TO 10 DAYS.

Not sure what the question here is. Are you trying to learn how to travel with you cats so that you are not limited on travel time? You should try it.

We travel full time with 4 cats and 4 chihuahuas (same size as cats). It's going a lot better than we thought. Maybe we just got lucky.

In a class C, you have an advantage that we don't- access to the inside of your RV as you drive. We have to wrangle to dogs and cats to the truck when we drive. At first we naively thought we could leave the cats in the 5th Wheel, but we learned that the ride would be too rough. So they go in the back seat of the truck crew cab in a "Pet Tube..."

https://www.amazon.com/Petego-Pet-Tu.../dp/B000HVV3OE

... The dogs just lay about inside the cab of the truck, in a lap, on the floor, etc. We stop a lot and rarely go more than 200-250 miles a day.

Biggest challenge for cats were the litters. We found this cabinet (see pics below). It is a functional coffee table with a door on the end for cats to access a litter box, and side doors that open for cleaning and spare litter storage. We thought we would need a dyson stick for constant clean-up but the central vacuum system in our rig works well. We sweep and vacuum a lot but it is not bad. A good dustbuster would be fine as well.

We thought that we would have trouble with cats running outside an open door but they all stay inside. They are microchipped of course just in case.

Friends of ours travel in a class a with 6 small dogs. they line up on the front dashboard like bobbleheads.

Our cats do not get car sick. One of our dogs does but seems to be getting over it with few accidents of late.

It's all working much better than we guessed it would.

Good luck

Angus

che57vy · 08-01-2019, 05:02 PM

We have a 18yr old cat that has hardly been outside but due to a health issue she has to go with us we were concerned at first how she would react but she does fine with our two dogs and you hardly know she is in the motor home till cat box time the only part I hate whew!

Camper_bob · 08-02-2019, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by che57vy

We have a 18yr old cat that has hardly been outside but due to a health issue she has to go with us we were concerned at first how she would react but she does fine with our two dogs and you hardly know she is in the motor home till cat box time the only part I hate whew!

LOL!!

Ya, my cat can clear out an entire side of our house!! I can't imagine being cooped up in the camper with his stench come "relief time"!!

He's worse than me, and according to DW, that's pretty darn bad!!

michael.g · 08-03-2019, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joan617

We travel full time with 4 cats and 4 chihuahuas (same size as cats). It's going a lot better than we thought. Maybe we just got lucky.

Wow, that's a lot of pets. I am just curious if you ever get turned away from campgrounds when you let them know how many critters are in your camper? A lot of campgrounds we have been to put a limit at 2 pets.

-Michael

che57vy · 08-03-2019, 07:47 AM

No never turned away, we usually do not count the cat she only weighs 6 pounds and never leaves the coach. but has a thyroid condition and has to have meds every day. We took cushions out of front berth spread out a blue tarp and that is her home she sleeps most of the time. The other two are Australian Shepard's Elvis and Costello And when we get home we clean everything top to bottom. When we get ready to go out again no animal smells

Joan617 · 08-03-2019, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael.g

Wow, that's a lot of pets. I am just curious if you ever get turned away from campgrounds when you let them know how many critters are in your camper? A lot of campgrounds we have been to put a limit at 2 pets.

-Michael

Hi Michael

Yeah, first of all, we keep quiet about the cats. Unless someone has a warrant, they will not be seen.

For the dogs, we always come clean and are honest. If there is a two pet maximum, we move on to the next park on the list. So far, we are booked till May 2020. We recently booked for a good portion of winter in FLA, whereupon they told us about the new two-dog maximum after they confirmed our credit card. They just went "oops" and said that we were "grandfathered".

Several parks have confided that they keep the more restrictive policies in their back pocket for the occasional jerks but if there are no complaints, they let it slide.

Then, in a bind, there is the smoke and mirrors approach. Three of of our four dogs look alike from a distance where we can walk them two at a time, mix them up, and no one would be the wiser. Friends of ours with six small dogs do the same and walk them two-at-a-time in 15 minute intervals.

When we leave them alone for outings or errands, we put them in the (spacious) bathroom with dog-beds, turn on the radio loud with country music for white noise so that they will less likely bark at strangers outside.

But so far most of our neighbors have a dog or two and it is all OK.

Fair travels (woof)
Angus

crumgater · 08-27-2019, 07:23 PM

We adopted a kitten in May... we got him used to wearing a harness right away, and he was in the Seneca camping a few weeks later. We've thrown all sorts of stuff at him, and he just takes it. He's a very even-tempered cat. He's going on 6months now and is just a blast to have around. Although... our 7yr old mastiff thinks he can be a bit annoying at times (he likes to chew on her tail).

The up-side-down one (?) is the cat in his carrier on my lap going down the road... he was not happy in the soft-sided carrier behind the drivers seat. We'll be taking his bigger hard-sided crate on future trips... he naps well in that one.

t18skyguy · 08-27-2019, 07:59 PM

In my old rig we would take 2 cats. They would hide at first, but they got used to it. Their claws can do a number on the furniture, so I screwed a scratching post to the floor in the back. They loved it. One of them was my "navigator", and would lay on the dash right in front of me.

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