A while ago I made the decision that I would take my two 11 month old boys with me to my family's home over spring break, which is ~7hrs away. My parents have prepared my old room and the attached bathroom to cat-proof it (as much as they know how, never having owned any animal before), and I have a longer packing list for my boys than I have for myself.
But despite all the preparations, I'm still insanely nervous. My boys are fairly young, so I figured it would be easier on them than older cats to travel so far. And I don't trust them in my apartment for a week with only check-ins a few times a day (see my recent cat-proofing thread, they're menaces!). They love their carriers, I have puppy pads that I'll place in them when we travel, and comfy fleece blankets. I found calming treats that each can eat prior to leaving, and I have a calming music soundtrack to play, even though I usually blast music on long drives. I'll need to stop halfway through for gas, and I'm unsure if I should let them out of their carries to go to the bathroom, because I don't want them escaping somewhere I can't reach them in my car.
The longest drive they've ever done is 10 minutes to the vet and then back, and never both in the car at the same time. Orange boy is always silent the whole way, Monty cries and it breaks my heart. I don't know if I can do 7 hours of him crying. I meant to get them gradually used to longer drives, but man has time just snuck up on me. We leave in a couple days, and I might be able to take them on a trial 30min drive tomorrow, but I don't know if that would just stress them out too much before the actual drive. And at this point I'm doubting my decision to take them with me, and I've read through every single car travel article/post on here and other sites that I could find. These two boys are my life, and I'm so scared that I'll stress them out beyond their limits, particularly my orange boy with a sensitive tummy.
Any last minute advice for this journey from all of you wise folk? This will be my first long trip with the boys, and we'll be driving there and back within 9 days. I'm kind of wishing previous me had booked with a local cat-condo to have them stay there for $25 a night...
But despite all the preparations, I'm still insanely nervous. My boys are fairly young, so I figured it would be easier on them than older cats to travel so far. And I don't trust them in my apartment for a week with only check-ins a few times a day (see my recent cat-proofing thread, they're menaces!). They love their carriers, I have puppy pads that I'll place in them when we travel, and comfy fleece blankets. I found calming treats that each can eat prior to leaving, and I have a calming music soundtrack to play, even though I usually blast music on long drives. I'll need to stop halfway through for gas, and I'm unsure if I should let them out of their carries to go to the bathroom, because I don't want them escaping somewhere I can't reach them in my car.
The longest drive they've ever done is 10 minutes to the vet and then back, and never both in the car at the same time. Orange boy is always silent the whole way, Monty cries and it breaks my heart. I don't know if I can do 7 hours of him crying. I meant to get them gradually used to longer drives, but man has time just snuck up on me. We leave in a couple days, and I might be able to take them on a trial 30min drive tomorrow, but I don't know if that would just stress them out too much before the actual drive. And at this point I'm doubting my decision to take them with me, and I've read through every single car travel article/post on here and other sites that I could find. These two boys are my life, and I'm so scared that I'll stress them out beyond their limits, particularly my orange boy with a sensitive tummy.
Any last minute advice for this journey from all of you wise folk? This will be my first long trip with the boys, and we'll be driving there and back within 9 days. I'm kind of wishing previous me had booked with a local cat-condo to have them stay there for $25 a night...