We have a 4-year-old inside cat that rarely goes anywhere with us. We took her on one short RV trip with us, and she meowed almost the entire time we drove. I am looking for any suggestions to make travel easier for her.
Time and patience. I once drove 3000 miles with my girl cat meowing once every 30 seconds.
Ours usually settle down after about an hour, sometimes even sooner. There are are drugs available but I would not like to use them rountinely.
We usually spend the night before travel in the coach with our current two cats. It makes closing up the house easier and gets them acclimated to the coach before we start our travel day.
Once we are moving, they tend to camp out with the copilot.
Rich
Depends a lot on the cat. We fitted ours with a harness and let him out every few hours. Didn't take long for him to figure things out. Rich has a good idea getting the cat used to the motorhome a day ahead of time. With our granddog, he was scared all the time and tried to get under the pedals and went crazy when I hit the rumble strips. Took a couple of years to calm down but never completely relaxed. The wolf took to the coach right away and was happy on the floor or sofa. Our new Husky, Luka loves the car and coach starting on day one.
Pierce
My current cat thinks I am stupid for leaving her well setup in and out home by the beach. So she complains mightily. After a few days she seems to adjust to the smaller area becoming less complaining. Previous identical looking cat liked the coach and used the provided kitty tree when traveling at times. I think she gets motion sick at times. Less food before moving seems to help
Good old self medication, cat? what cat? :giggle:
You might want to try a calming pheromone diffuser. They work for some cats.
Our cat is now 18 years old. In our previous coach's he would hide under the passenger seat until 5 pm, then come out and scratch on my arm to tell me it is time to stop. He always hid in the house if he thought we were going to go. With our coach we now have, he waits by the door going out of the house to make sure he doesn't get left behind. He rides a lot of the time on the dash. He has really changed this past year.
Cats that have not gotten used to traveling at a very young age may not ever fully adjust. We had a cat before we started full timing, and after a year and a half of traveling all over the country, she would still hide somewhere totally out of sight as soon as I started the engine. Unfortunately, after a year and a half we lost her. We adopted two very young kittens a few months later, so all they ever knew was riding in the Foretravel. Neither ever acted scared or hid. It may be possible to get an older cat to adapt to riding in the coach, but cats are notorious for not liking change.
All this driving is exhausting...
Full-timing 5 years and little has changed. By instinct, Violeta knows when its a travel day and heads for the spot under the couch to wait it out. Fine for up to 5 hours or 250 miles, whichever come first, and at that point emerges to let us know this must end wit ha scolding. As soon as we park, she's at the door and wanting a walk on the leash to explore and make sure the new location is acceptable by cat standards.
We've learned to adjust. 250 mile max on any travel day. Litter box resides in the bottom of the nightstand where a safe used to be. Kitty bed under the couch. She's actually a good traveler and loves the lifestyle. Just not so much the "getting to" part.
Maybe try a Thundershirt.
We now crate our cat when driving and putting slides in or out, because he once hid inside the bedroom slide before we put it out.
We always lure ours to the back of the coach with a couple of treats and close the door before operating the slide. They know the drill.
Rich
Ask your vet for a sedative, works like a gem