Moving Again. Need Advice

[FreyaTheKitty]

So we're moving again! This time to Nevada... Yay! We sold the rv, and our stuff is being shipped by movers, so we're just going to all be riding in the truck, my mother, step-father, me, and my brother. Now you may be wondering where Freya will be riding! Well...

My mother wants to put her in a huge dog crate tethered in the bed of the truck, covered by a tarp. I'm personally not so certain to this. I need to know if anyone thinks this is a good idea, or why it's a bad one and give me some points to bring up to my mother on why, and the people who think it's a good idea, give me your reasons why.

The reason my mother says is because there's going to be four adults in the truck, and she doesn't think it's a good idea for her to ride in the cabin with us.

One of the few pros I can think of is that if we get into an accident, she'd be safer in the crate in the bed rather than the cabin because it'd be tied down and she wouldn't be able to run away or flung.

 

[amethyst]

It sounds like a very bad idea to me. Although being in the bed of the truck the crate will be tied down, it will also crush if you get into a roll over or get broadsided. Depending on the crate, if it's plastic the shards could impale her too, if metal and a weld snaps she could get impaled by a metal bar. Also you want the cat to travel in as small a carrier as she can fit in so she isn't being tossed around over every bump and turn. Also being outside she is going to be exposed to the weather, I don't know where you are moving from, but if it's raining even with a tarp she is likely to get wet, and if covered tightly she might not get enough air. The wind blowing in could cause a draft and make her sick. When I think of Nevada I'm thinking hot, so if it's hot and sunny out she could get cooked, quiet literally.

A much better idea is to get an appropriate size cat carrier for her and have her inside the truck with you. Unless it's a tiny truck (not an extended or crew cab), or you are large people, there should be enough room to put a cat carrier in there. If it's a fairly short trip you might be able to get away with putting her in an appropriate cat size carrier tied down in the bed of the truck, putting it right up against the cab. Put padding under the crate to protect it from the heat of the truck box and give it some cushioning, covered so it's shaded and stays as dry as possible, and put items around it to keep it in place so it's not going to move around at all even in a crash. A shelter up here transports dogs in a horse trailer (so kinda like a truck box) and use bales of hay packed in around the crates so they wouldn't move and were cushioned.

 

[dustydiamond1]

Oh please, please, please get your mom to follow Amethysts advice and not do the tarp in the back of the truck idea (Unless your mom will let you ride back there too...which she won't)
Keep us posted please.

 

[kashmir64]

This is a very bad idea. Not only because of the reasons above, but think about the heat. It was 120 degrees in Phoenix today and Nevada is not much better. I live in the mountains where it is normally in the 70's and it was 104 at 7pm tonight. Your kitty will suffer and could die in the Nevada heat.
Please transport him where there is AC available.