Moving cross country with an anxious, carsick cat

[theorangecat]

In two months I'm going to be moving from North Carolina to Colorado. I will be driving my car there with a friend. The schedule should be to drive nine hours the first two days and six hours the third day, stopping at pet-friendly hotels for the two nights. I have one orange tabby and he's normally a very social, laid-back cat. I've traveled with him to friends' and relatives' houses before and he does well in new locations--he explores but doesn't get into trouble, eats regularly, and uses the litter box with no problems.

The drive there, however, is utter hell for him.

It seems to be a combination of anxiety and carsickness, though I'm unsure how much each play into it. He shakes, loses bowel control, and pukes. He's miserable and the only thing I've found that even helps minimally is for me to sit back next to his carrier and open the top-loading door to hold my hand on him and pet him for the entire drive. The most he's even ridden in a car is three hours and now we're looking at three days. It's not feasible for me sit with him the whole time as we'll take turns driving and the car will most likely be pretty packed.

I've scoured the internet and the forum for advice from people in the same situation, but most of the information I've come across is from people whose experiences did not include cats that had such problems during the drive. Those that did, the overwhelming majority seemed to vote for medication/tranquilizers. I really, really don't want to go that route but I also really, really  don't want him to be stressed, miserable, and exhausted for three straight days.

I've already tried Feliway, lining is carrier with familiar blankets/shirts of mine, covering the carrier, keeping it uncovered, letting him explore the car before the trip, driving with music/no music, driving with the windows up/down, and calming treats. The only thing that I know for sure is that he doesn't like the windows being down. Everything else had no effect. I only got him to eat one of the calming treats once and then he wouldn't touch them again.

I have the time to test out the effectiveness of new things by taking him on short (~an hour) trips to my relative's place. While it might not give me an accurate idea as to whether it will work on the move, I'll at least know if something definitely doesn't work.

I think the big question at the moment is whether or not I should invest in a dog crate for him. He currently has a large, hard-sided carrier, but I wonder if being enclosed in such a small space contributes to his anxiety. He's not the type of cat that likes to wiggle into small spaces and hide. He doesn't sit in boxes. He doesn't go into the condo part of his cat tree. He's usually sitting in the middle of the floor watching stuff or sleeping on the couch in his bed. The dog crate will give him more space and more air. However, would being able to see more contribute to his carsickness? What if he poops/gets sick in the crate? When he's in the carrier, I have it layered with towels and just roll up and pull out the one that is messed up, wiping the inside walls of the carrier down if stuff's on them. With the crate, though, there are no walls. I don't even want to imagine the mess. If I did get a crate, would it even be worth it to get a large enough size to have a litter box in there that he most likely won't use?

I'm ordering him a Thundershirt to try out, but I'm worried that if he does poop, he'll get it all over the shirt and it will be useless for the rest of the trip.

Has anyone tried something other than Feliway with good results? I'm looking specifically for a car diffuser, but I'll settle for a regular spray type if that's all there is.

And finally, any natural calming treats that really worked? Anything for carsickness? My cat is finicky about treats but I'm willing to at least try to get him to eat them if they'll help.

Even though I don't want to do it, if anyone can lend any thoughts or experiences about sedatives, I'd appreciate at least having all my options laid out for me.

And of course, if you guys have any other ideas please let me know. They say moving is stressful but this is what is stressing me out the most. Thanks in advance!

 

[ruaryx]

Personally, I would keep the cat in the carrier without food/ water/ or a litter box, line the carrier with puppy pads, and cover the carrier with a blanket.  Offer him food/ water/ potty breaks during rest stops and at night at the hotel.   

You can try Bach's Rescue Remedy (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...bach's+rescue+remedy+cats&tag=&tag=thecatsite)  which I've had mixed results with.  

If he loses his bowel control and pukes, I might consider getting tranquilizers since he would be at risk of dehydration.  I've read that most people don't use tranquilizers nowadays, but your case is pretty severe.  Have you asked you vet for any advice?  

Good luck. I hope someone with more experience about this will chime in. 

 

[GoldyCat]

You could try the crate on your test drives to see how it works, especially if he doesn't really like enclosed spaces. Be sure to have a light blanket or sheet to give him some shade if the sun happens to be hitting the crate.

My friend has a cat who always gets carsick at the beginning of a drive, and does okay after that. She does best when she can look out the side window. One of my cats insists on being able to see out the front window. Her carrier always gets placed in the middle of the back seat so she can look forward between the front seats.

I've tried a number of different calming agents and the only one that I've found actually has a noticeable effect on my cats is Nutri-Vet Pet-Ease.

 

[NewYork1303]

We recently did this with a dog that has similar problems. Went from SC to WA state. Had to get pills from the vet to sedate the dog and she still was hard to deal with during the drive.

I think for your cat a larger crate could potentially help. You can often find ones for cheap on ebay and craigslist and similar websites. 

Good luck with your cat! Moving across the country is always hard and even more complicated with an animal.

 

[StefanZ]

Yeah, a crate was one of my proposals too.  Perhaps even changing the tires.  I know, it costs multum, but if you are on verge of changing them, take some other brand, preferably one which is wellknown for an even going.

Also, its super important the cat has a collar with your name and cell phone number on, and preferably, is on leash the whole time during the ride and in the hotel.  The risk of him fleeing is quite great, greater than with  an occassional, short ride.

So collar and leash are always advisable during car transports, but here double so.

 

[angels mommy]

I think everyone has given good advice. I can understand not wanting to tranquilize, but what about some Cerinea for nausea?  Giving an anti-nausea  each morning before heading out. (like a half hour, or hr. before leaving, so it has time to kick in.)  Also, maybe an anti-anxiety med, just to help him relax, since he won't eat a calming treat anymore. This way, he's not tranquilized, but has those two meds to help him through. amatriptyline is an anti-anxiety you can ask about, that may be helpful.  I think those two things can help him get through it, as well as settling in a new place, the anti-anxiety will help w/ that too. 

Here is a video from the Cole & Marmalade channel that may be helpful for travel ideas. It's worth a watch! 

 

[theorangecat]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! He has an appointment with the vet to get a checkup before the trip and I'll see what he recommends. I ordered a small-medium crate and puppy training pads to line the bottom with in case of an accident. He's leash and harnessed trained, microchipped, and will be wearing a collar the whole time. I'm really hoping that after the first day he'll adjust and realize that sitting in the car is boring and not anything to be stressed about, but that's probably just me trying to be optimistic.

 

[corbiemw]

Wondering how your cross-country move went...

I have a long-haired orange male cat, 11 years old, 18 pounds. He's long, big-boned, and very fluffy. He gets horribly sick in the car, even if it's just a 15-minute car ride. He urinates, defecates, and vomits every time. He gets super stressed and anxious, meows the *whole* time, and sometimes even pants with his tongue hanging out (not because he's overheating, though).

I currently use this soft-sided, collapsible playpen thing to transport him. I line the bottom with puppy pads and put a disposable litter box in the playpen with him. He's great about using the litter box, and he'll vomit on the puppy pad. The smell, of course, is awful, but it is what it is.

I'm moving from Minnesota to South Florida in a few months and plan to make the trip in three days, driving 8 to 9 hours each day. The stress and anxiety I have about the car ride has caused me to delay this trip for literally years.

I've considered using sedatives, but I've read horror stories in forums about the side effects of the medicine. My cat is pretty picky about treats—he really only likes tuna flakes and Meow Mix Brushing Bites—so I'm not too optimistic about getting him to eat calming treats. I've used Comfort Zone Feliway diffusers in my home in the past, and he seems to respond somewhat positively to those.

I'm thinking about investing in a large dog carrier for this trip. The playpen I have now is big, but the litter box takes up about half the space, which doesn't leave a lot of room for my cat to stretch out.

Idk. It's overwhelming and super stressful to think about and try to plan. I'm curious to know what you ended up doing, whether it worked or not, and how the overall experience was.

Thanks!