travelling with a cat for the first time + one other question

[bosnbulldog]

My wife and I have three cats and are going to be taking a week long trip in a couple weeks.  This is the first time we have taken a trip since we have had these cats.  In the past we only had one cat so it was easy to arrange for someone to come by and feed her everyday.

One of our three cats (Peanut) needs a pill three times a day to help with his hypertension in his lungs (caused by a very rare right-to-left P.D.A.) to help him breathe better.  We our going to have our usual cat sitter come by once a day to feed or other two cats but we weren't able to find someone that could come by three times a day to give Peanut his pill or would be willing to have Peanut stay at their place.

We really didn't want to put him in a kennel for a week (he's a pretty energetic cat and would probably go crazy being stuck in a cage for a week) so we are going to try and bring him with us.  It's about an 8 hour drive total and once we get there he can stay in a spare room at my parents house (they have two other cats and dog).  I know being in a room isn't much better than a cage but at least we will be able to see him and he will have room to run around.

We are going to split the drive up and do about 4 hours at night, stop at a hotel, and do the remaining 4 hours the next morning.  We have an SUV and are going to put him in a 24x18x19 crate in the back.  We are also going to try and giving him some calming cat treats before we leave.  Normally he does pretty good in the car when going to the vet. He meows when we walk him out to the car but once he's in his carrier he doesn't hardly meow.

I did have to take him to a vet that was about an hour away from us a couple times.  One time he had an accident in his carrier (#2) and the other time he was fine.  Should we put a small litter box in the crate with him or just stop every hour and let him out of the crate to see if he needs to use the litter box?

Any other tips for travelling with a cat?  Obviously when we stop at rest stops one of us will stay in the car with the cat with the AC running so he doesn't overheat.

On an unrelated noted, none of these three cats are litter mates.  We got Peanut from a shelter first (he's now a 2 1/2 year old male) and a month later we got two 2 year old females from a shelter.  For the most part they all get along.  They dont' sleep next to each other or anything like that but they occassionally play together although once and a while one will pin the other down when it doesn't want to be pinned down so we have to break it up.  Peanut seems to be the one that has more problems.  The two we got from the shelter get a long with each other fine (they didn't come from the same home and weren't kept together at the shelter but they got along right away).  But Wilma tends to pick on Peanut a little bit (she's bigger than him and ocassionally pins him down when he doesn't want to play).  And sometimes Peanut will pin Bug down (who is smaller than Peanut).  Like I said, nothing bad but occassionaly one will get pinned down and start meowing or hissing.

If we take Peanut out of the house for a week are there going to be any problems when we bring him back?  Will we have to re-introduce them?

 

[red top rescue]

I have traveled with cats and found that they will settle down and sleep through the trip well.  I used to make 8-hour legs between motel stops and they wouldnt even use the box until we were in the motel about an hour.  They would use it every morning before we left, and then they would complain for half an hour or so and then go to sleep.  Since you are only going on 4-hour legs, it should be easy.  If you want to put a litter box in his carrier when you make a rest stop, that would be fine, but if he has gone #2 before leaving, he probably will not have to go again in the 4 hours you travel.  You could also use an incontinence bed pad (inexpensive to get a package at Dollar General) inside the carrier, on top of towels etc., so if there is an accident, you can just roll it up and dispose of it.

Although Peanut will have a room of his own at your parents house, if possible you should let him sleep with you at night (with doors closed of course) so he doesn't feel isolated.  He may keep you up if he has been sleeping in his own room all day but if you give him a good 15 minute play session with some toys and then feed him right before bed, he should relax, and hunting (play), eating and sleeping follow the natural cat progression of things.

I doubt if there will be any problem when you bring him home again, but just watch their greetings and make sure.  The usual behavior when one has been away is to sniff noses, sniff butts, and then say OK, I know you, and that's that.