Cat pees and poops on way to Vet Help!

[nellers]

This is a question from my mother about her cat, Esmeralda. Yesterday, it was Ezzie's vet day. My mom asked me to help her out, so I went over to the house to assist. First, Ezzie refused to get into her crate. There was no amount of pushing, coaxing, tempting with treats, etc., that was going to work. Realizing we were going to be late, I found a large towell, wrapped her up, and placed her on my lap in the car.

5 minutes into the 15 min ride to the vet, she pees. A minute later, she poops. She shakes violently the entire trip to the vet. She shed more hair than I thought she had. Is there anyway to break her of this fear of the car?

Fortunately, the vet is not a daily/weekly endeavor but I am more worried about the trauma it must have caused her than the inconvenience of her messing. She is a sweetie pie calico, 2 years old, but she clearly is a scaredy-cat! My mom has only had her a year. The first year of her life she lived with a nice family that had another cat that just wanted to be the sole feline so my mom took her in.

 

[miss mew]

My cat Reilly has the same reaction to a trip to the vet as well.

I would suggest to talk to your vet about anti anxiety drops (mine suggested some from the local pet nutrition centre) They aren't drugs per say just holistic that help to calm him.

I also line the bottom of the cage with "puppy pads" they are large thin pads that are normally used to train dogs. I find that they absorb any accidents in the crate very well.

 

[momofmany]

I also have a cat that does that. I can't coax him into a carrier, I have to either take the top off and drop him in or put the carrier with the opening facing skyward and drop him in. Line the bottom with newspapers and a towel. In the car I play classical music and if you can find a CD with harps, for some weird reason it calms down a lot of cats (I used that when I used to transport feral cats). Some folks use Feliway spray in the carrier to calm them for the ride. I haven't tried that but am going to the next time Oscar is due for his annual exam.

 

[andelawhi]

I know it would be kind of a hassle, but the only way to get her used to the car would be to expose her to it more often. My husband and I travel at least 4 hours a month with our cats in the car with us, and beleive me, it took them some getting use to. We also travel with them uncrated. One of us sits in the back of the car with them and we lay a big blanket over the back seat. The whoever is sitting in the back keeps them from venturing up to the front half of the car. We keep a litter box on the floor board, just incase. I'm kind of going off topic here a bit.
Anyway, I don't know if you moms cat is the type who will want to use the litter box if they see you cleaning it out, but it's always worth a shot to try that before you leave.

 

[shambelle]

Originally Posted by Nellers

This is a question from my mother about her cat, Esmeralda. Yesterday, it was Ezzie's vet day. My mom asked me to help her out, so I went over to the house to assist. First, Ezzie refused to get into her crate. There was no amount of pushing, coaxing, tempting with treats, etc., that was going to work. Realizing we were going to be late, I found a large towell, wrapped her up, and placed her on my lap in the car.

5 minutes into the 15 min ride to the vet, she pees. A minute later, she poops. She shakes violently the entire trip to the vet. She shed more hair than I thought she had. Is there anyway to break her of this fear of the car?

Fortunately, the vet is not a daily/weekly endeavor but I am more worried about the trauma it must have caused her than the inconvenience of her messing. She is a sweetie pie calico, 2 years old, but she clearly is a scaredy-cat! My mom has only had her a year. The first year of her life she lived with a nice family that had another cat that just wanted to be the sole feline so my mom took her in.

Question - was this her first time leaving your mom's house since she was adopted? Since you said she's only had her for a year, I run under the assumption that she was vetted before being adopted and taken home, and that she's been fine since.

This happened with my PJ when we first got her. She would stand up and pee straight out of the back of the carrier. What we think it was is that all previous times she'd been shoved in a carrier something bad was happening. After she went to the vet a few times with us and realized she was actually coming back home, she stopped peeing. It's amazing! So for us, it did stop, but it took a few trips to the vet and returns home for her to be okay with it.

Of course, she screams like crazy... tortitude...

 

[nellers]

Originally Posted by shambelle

Question - was this her first time leaving your mom's house since she was adopted? Since you said she's only had her for a year, I run under the assumption that she was vetted before being adopted and taken home, and that she's been fine since.

This happened with my PJ when we first got her. She would stand up and pee straight out of the back of the carrier. What we think it was is that all previous times she'd been shoved in a carrier something bad was happening. After she went to the vet a few times with us and realized she was actually coming back home, she stopped peeing. It's amazing! So for us, it did stop, but it took a few trips to the vet and returns home for her to be okay with it.

Of course, she screams like crazy... tortitude...

She traveled two other times since my mom got her. She needed a booster last January and she pooped on the way home from the vet. The other time my mom made the mistake of trying to take her to get her nails trimmed and she pooped immediately, so mom just turned around. The difference with those two trips is that she did not pee, nor did she shake violently.

This was actually the worst she has been. I just found out that she hid all day yesterday, continued shaking, and threw up several times during the night. She is not talking either (she's usually a chatterbox). She won't eat and is more scared of sounds and movements than she was prior to the outing yesterday. So obviously this car ride really traumatized her!

 

[lsulover]

It sounds like she is just scared to death to ride in the car, I would talk to the vet and see if he could give her something ahead of time to calm her down.

Our vet did that one time for my beloved Sambo, it was like a nerve pill or something, I really don't know what it was, but it worked. Sambo didn't care what was happening to him.

Sending hugs from Mississippi for her though, I hope she is feeling more calm now.

 

[jokieman]

Our cat Poe hyperventilates when he is in the car. We get him in his carrier because he likes to "hide and pounce" from it when we're playing with him. We've pretty much decided that he needs to be sedated whenever he is in the car, because he freaks too much.

 

[joypebble]

You said:

"I know it would be kind of a hassle, but the only way to get her used to the car would be to expose her to it more often."

Cearly, it's not "..the only way."  My experience is that forcing a cat that is already stressed or traumatized enough to poop on your lap or in the carrier on the way to the vet is going to be made worse by repeating the source of the anxiety. That will only drive the animal deeper into a state of fear that will cause more serious damage and likely result in many more episodes of escalating and nastier events.

Try pheromone sprays and/or fasting for 6 hours before the trip.

You can't torture someone into not being afraid.

---JP

 

[catspaw66]

You said:

"I know it would be kind of a hassle, but the only way to get her used to the car would be to expose her to it more often."

Cearly, it's not "..the only way."  My experience is that forcing a cat that is already stressed or traumatized enough to poop on your lap or in the carrier on the way to the vet is going to be made worse by repeating the source of the anxiety. That will only drive the animal deeper into a state of fear that will cause more serious damage and likely result in many more episodes of escalating and nastier events.

Try pheromone sprays and/or fasting for 6 hours before the trip.

You can't torture someone into not being afraid.

---JP

The thread you are posting to has been dormant for 6 years.

 

[scootersmum]

Some cats just hate car travel and apart from sedating them I don't think there is much you can do about it. 

Our cat Felix poops, pees  vomits and screams like a banshee all the way to the vet/boarding kennel.  We have tried everything we can think of and have not found anything that will work every time(sometimes withholding food prevents the vomits).  So if anyone can come up with a sure fire solution for these problems I can't wait to hear it.

I can however offer a solution to getting your cat into its travel cage.  We also experienced a lot of trouble in this area until the owner of our boarding kennel said to just put your hand over their eyes and BACK them into their cage.  Sounded too easy to me but I was willing to try anything after trying to wrestle a 10 kilo cat into submission.  Well the first time we tried it it worked like magic as long as Felix can't see the cage he is no trouble to handle.  Good luck!