Cat obsessed with my truck

[AmandaRox]

My little Rox, 6 months old, has become quite fond of my truck. She loves truck rides, but only my Chevy. I also have a work truck, and she feels indifferent toward it. To be fair, I travel for work and she has been on long rides towing my trailer to jobsites since she was 8 weeks old. We recently road tripped from Kansas to Ohio to Virginia and then to Missouri. Now that work is picking up, she is lonely again, and whenever I take her on walks she just cries on the steps or hood of my Chevy. I take her on rides when I can. I know there's not many cat owners who can relate, but I thought I'd reach out. I was elated to have made her comfortable and happy with rides in general, but I never thought she'd become attached to it! Especially since my truck doesnt offer a smooth ride, it has 37" tires, and 8" lift, and a straight pipe exhaust (it ROARS!) How can I start my truck up with

out totally disappointing her?

 

[AmandaRox]

 

[klunick]

I have never tried having Boone and Gracie out of their carrier in the car but I think they might do well with it. They never cry inside the carrier on car trips (only 15-20 minutes). One day I might get bold and open the carrier door and see what they do. In about 5 years we plan on moving from MD to either CO/MT/ID so it would be easier on all of us if they weren't stuck in a carrier the whole time.

 

[Caspers Human]

Wow! A cat that likes to ride shotgun! Pretty cool!
Sometimes, you'll hear stories like this but I have never actually met a "Shotgun Cat" before.
Usually, it's the dog but, what the heck! Go with it, I guess.

We used to have a dog that was all about taking car rides. Any time he heard the car keys jingle, he would run to the door, wanting to go for a ride. I've also had hunting dogs that would get so excited whenever they saw somebody wearing hunting clothes. They would jump, bark and even bite at the wire on their kennel doors.

Some people debate about which is smarter, cats or dogs. I don't think that one is "smarter" than the other. I think cats and dogs are, on average, equally intelligent. It's just because of their evolutionary history that cats and dogs each have their own areas where they seem more intelligent. Where dogs are often thought of as "pack oriented" and like to follow their leader, cats are often thought of solitary or territorial and like to live by their own wits. Because of this, it's often easier to train dogs to respond to commands but, if a person is patient and can learn how to "think like a cat" and figure out what her motivators are, it ought to be possible to teach commands to a cat, too.

Our cat, Casper, knows the word "cookie" and will come running to get a cat treat whenever he hears the word.

What I'm getting at is that it should be possible to teach your cat some key word like "truck" or "ride."

If you can teach her that, it might help solve the problem because, then, you can say, "Let's go for a ride" or "Get in the truck" and she would know that it's time to have some fun. When you don't want to take her out, she might be less likely to fuss when you leave.

Hopefully, she can learn that there are times when she gets to go out and have fun riding shotgun in the truck and that there are times when she needs to stay home. We were able to teach our dog about that. When he heard the car keys jingle, he would run to the door but if you said, "Next time" he knew it wasn't his turn. If you said, "Let's go" he would run out, hop into the car and be ready to roll.

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be possible to teach your cat in a similar way. It might take a little extra time to figure out how to get inside the cat's head but, if you are persistent, it might work.

I have a hunch that one reason why your cat gets all up in the air about your truck could be separation anxiety.
I think she just likes to be with her human and gets anxious when you leave.

I think that she has learned the difference between your work truck and your personal truck and knows that it's fun to take rides in one but not so much in the other.

If that is true, I think you should be able to teach her that there are times for fun and there are times to stay home but, when her human leaves, you always come back.

I think it would be cool to have a cat where you can say, "C'mon! Let's go for a ride!" and the cat would hop in the truck.

I can just imagine the looks on people's faces when they see a cat in your truck. When they ask, "What's that cat doin' in your truck?" you can just say, "Aw, that's Rox. She's my shotgun!"

 

[AmandaRox]

Wow! A cat that likes to ride shotgun! Pretty cool!
Sometimes, you'll hear stories like this but I have never actually met a "Shotgun Cat" before.
Usually, it's the dog but, what the heck! Go with it, I guess.

We used to have a dog that was all about taking car rides. Any time he heard the car keys jingle, he would run to the door, wanting to go for a ride. I've also had hunting dogs that would get so excited whenever they saw somebody wearing hunting clothes. They would jump, bark and even bite at the wire on their kennel doors.

Some people debate about which is smarter, cats or dogs. I don't think that one is "smarter" than the other. I think cats and dogs are, on average, equally intelligent. It's just because of their evolutionary history that cats and dogs each have their own areas where they seem more intelligent. Where dogs are often thought of as "pack oriented" and like to follow their leader, cats are often thought of solitary or territorial and like to live by their own wits. Because of this, it's often easier to train dogs to respond to commands but, if a person is patient and can learn how to "think like a cat" and figure out what her motivators are, it ought to be possible to teach commands to a cat, too.

Our cat, Casper, knows the word "cookie" and will come running to get a cat treat whenever he hears the word.

What I'm getting at is that it should be possible to teach your cat some key word like "truck" or "ride."

If you can teach her that, it might help solve the problem because, then, you can say, "Let's go for a ride" or "Get in the truck" and she would know that it's time to have some fun. When you don't want to take her out, she might be less likely to fuss when you leave.

Hopefully, she can learn that there are times when she gets to go out and have fun riding shotgun in the truck and that there are times when she needs to stay home. We were able to teach our dog about that. When he heard the car keys jingle, he would run to the door but if you said, "Next time" he knew it wasn't his turn. If you said, "Let's go" he would run out, hop into the car and be ready to roll.

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be possible to teach your cat in a similar way. It might take a little extra time to figure out how to get inside the cat's head but, if you are persistent, it might work.

I have a hunch that one reason why your cat gets all up in the air about your truck could be separation anxiety.
I think she just likes to be with her human and gets anxious when you leave.

I think that she has learned the difference between your work truck and your personal truck and knows that it's fun to take rides in one but not so much in the other.

If that is true, I think you should be able to teach her that there are times for fun and there are times to stay home but, when her human leaves, you always come back.

I think it would be cool to have a cat where you can say, "C'mon! Let's go for a ride!" and the cat would hop in the truck.

I can just imagine the looks on people's faces when they see a cat in your truck. When they ask, "What's that cat doin' in your truck?" you can just say, "Aw, that's Rox. She's my shotgun!"

Lol thanks for that. She knows "outside" and "stay" when I have to leave without her. I'm going to work on "truck" because "ride" rhymes with "outside" and I had to learn the lesson from when I tried "okay" with "stay". She would sit at the door and stare as if I was still saying "stay". The tricky part is, every day I come home, I will be met with nuzzles and she will stay on my shoulders until I say "outside". If I wait long enough, she will eventually start to beg at the door and pull down her harness (hung by the door) until we go out. I would like to be able to take her to the side of my RV where my truck is (she will run right past the work truck no problem) but eventually she sees the black truck and starts begging. I will eventually distract her and carry her to the field to run and play. She actually walks me. I didnt feel it necessary to train her to be walked like a dog because that is HER time. So I'll just coerce her back whenever we go to far exploring. Besides that, I am the one being walked. I do wish I could take her everywhere. I make more trips to the pet store than I would normally just so she can have the ride and go in the store. Thank you for the support! The last thing I want to do is to discourage her from loving the truck rides (as we live on the road, there's so many in her future). Maybe I will try more short trips around the block, since the store is an hour away. I tried just starting the truck with her inside and the doors open. Somehow she thinks she will drive it because shes always in my seat and has locked me out when I shut the door. Twice. Cats ARE smart. When I started to break in both times she hit the window down button, and I could almost feel her laughing. Lol

 

[AmandaRox]

I have never tried having Boone and Gracie out of their carrier in the car but I think they might do well with it. They never cry inside the carrier on car trips (only 15-20 minutes). One day I might get bold and open the carrier door and see what they do. In about 5 years we plan on moving from MD to either CO/MT/ID so it would be easier on all of us if they weren't stuck in a carrier the whole time.

Maybe they just want to see whatsup? Some folks would totally disagree with free roaming, and I've been encouraged to keep her in the carrier and put the seatbelt on in case of an accident. Since she was a baby when we started going on rides, she is trained now NOT to go to the floor with the pedals, but she has given me some moments of anxiety when shes on the dash and I dont have a complete view. I think I've decided to rebel against the rule of the carrier because she's a rebel.
Your kitties may just want to look out the window. You could try just having them free to move around while you're parked. You never know!
One major tip I have is to put a litterbox in the back. I'm not sure what it is (maybe vibration?) But my cat has to poop in the first 2 minutes of every trip! It's so predictable that I act plan on where I'll stop in a couple miles to get the poop bagged up (even in litter it will consume the cab)

 

[AmandaRox]

Update: Rox is loving the new truck. Now that we're parked out in the country and spring is in full effect, she is more interested in the birds than the truck lol

 

[bear]

AmandaRox Will you be going offshore to work on the Dominion Energy turbines?