traveling cat?

Meg

Meg

New member
so my traveling partner just got a pet cat. she says she can train it to come w/ us but im not really sure if thats healthy for the cat or if hed even survive. any tips?
 
I take both siamese and rescued feral red cat to the vets via city bus in a pet carrier. They dislike it, and they let everyone on the bus know as well :). Took my siamese into work a couple years ago (on way to the vets via bus) and my boss says "Let her out!!" - ha. Spent the next hour trying to corner her and get her into her cat carrier - it was not pretty.

I have seen some vids though of people who were able to get their cat used to a harness & leash. I rather wish I did that with my siamese - she would have loved it. But now, even though they sit in the window and stare at everything - they would go nuts being taken outside.

Train them early! Wish I did!!
 
I'll never understand why people take cats traveling, but that said--it's something I see a lot of here on the west coast. Some are chill. Some are not. Most just look clueless as to why they just keep moving and meeting waves of dogs.

As far as health concerns, I can't say I've seen a mistreated or unhealthy looking cat (while traveling). I can't say the same for the dogs I've met. But that could be for a number of reasons.

Shots. Keep it fed. I think your main concern will be other dogs. And being asked by everyone about it.
 
ide say the chances of keeping yer cat while traveling is pretty slim. cats dont like to sit on the sidewalk all day and tend to run around to go climb a fence and get hit by a bus. i cant even imagine trying to take a cat onto a train successfully. get a new road dog or tell them to give the cat away to a good home.
 
I'd say CCH is the best message. I love my cats but then I travel infrequently and have people take care of them at my apartment when I'm gone. They would not like to travel with me on my bike. Still would have loved to have tried to leash train my siamese though. meh
 
Meg said:
so my traveling partner just got a pet cat. she says she can train it to come w/ us but im not really sure if thats healthy for the cat or if hed even survive. any tips?
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I would question the judgement of your travel partner. If they think they can train a cat to travel, what other irrational shit will they try to convince you of?

Just sayin'...

Hope you enjoy your travels!
 
Misread the title at first, read "bat". Made me think of this...

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We use to rubber tramp with my cat, Spore. It's not easy and I don't typically recommend it, but it can be done, depending on the cat's personality and age. My biggest concerns with traveling with cats, is even with a mellow cat who's really well versed with traveling, like Spore was, a cat is still going to be a cat and go prowling. They'll be there one minute, then gone the next, and you may not see them for hours. If something happens and you need to bolt, and your cat is out and about, they could be screwed. You could develop a call for the cat, but cats are cats, and will only respond when they feel like it.

We ended up leaving Spore behind with my mother last time I was home, after a tornado touched down while we were camping and couldn't find him.... My husband, our dog, and I were running through the woods with golf ball sized hail and lightning flashing like a strobe light, SCREAMING the cat's name. In the end, we found him and got out of there, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

That being said, I'd take Spore back in a heart beat and travel with him again if something happened where my mom couldn't keep him and he was going to go to the shelter. I highly doubt that would ever be the case, given my family adores him, but if it ever were, I'd rather him be with us, living it up and being loved with the risk of dying a premature death on the road, then being subjected to the cruelty of the shelter system where he'd just live in a tiny cage as a number, and ultimately be euthanized alone, scared, and unloved.

My recommendation to you and to anyone else out there considering traveling with a cat is if the cat isn't fixed or microchipped, GET IT DONE. A fixed cat doesn't tend to wander far, but if it did and was found and turned in to a shelter, vet, or animal control, they'd be able to contact you. Leash train the cat ASAP. Make sure you get them on the healthiest cat food you can afford. You want to make sure the cat is in the best shape possible, should it need to out run or defend itself. Get the cat use to the sounds of traffic and large groups of people. Do NOT let your cat off leash in cities, especially near sewage drains. If you settle down, observe the area very closely and make sure it's relatively safe. Cats are very curious, and will wander off to explore. If they wander into a sewage drain and get lost or stuck, they're fucked. We only let Spore loose in wooded areas or parks.

Hope this all helped. Good luck to you!
 
I have a 10 week old kitten that walks on a leash. She still pulls back sometimes but for the most part has taken on a role as the puppy of our family lol. Our dog treats her like a baby.

Train it young, train it to potty outside not in litter. Don't let it off the leash. Etc. it will be fine and can make you lots of money! I made $116 in two hours yesterday with Lucy :)
 
I personally cant stand people that travel with a cat, just don't understand.
 
this is a dilemma i am facing.. i love my cat so much but i am getting ready to leave.. idk what to do.. she is such a free spirit and hates being kept in the house but i feel like she is always going to want to just run away..
 
i travel everywhere with a cat on my back and have had no problems. i trained her to a leash really young and she has never ran off. as a matter of fact hitching is almost more easy with her... shes so scared of the noise of the highway that she wont leave my coat or pack. it just depends on your relationship. get it fixed or she he will surly be gon forever.
 
There's nothin' wrong with taking a cat! Make sure it's got it's shots and if you get one as a baby it's much easier. Also male cats are much more chill than female, and if you can bring them around dogs when they're young they won't freak out so much. My cat sits his lazy ass on top of my pack and he's just fine, he loves being outside all the time anyway. Train hopping would probably be harder with a feline friend but hitch hiking isn't too much trouble as long as you can get them used to cars! My kitty LOVES vehicles, sometimes he'll try to jump in cars that I'm not even trying to get into. Jumped into the passenger window of a truck once haha. when he was a baby he used to sleep on the steering wheel of the van I lived in for a short time.
 
Tude said:
I'd say CCH is the best message. I love my cats but then I travel infrequently and have people take care of them at my apartment when I'm gone. They would not like to travel with me on my bike. Still would have loved to have tried to leash train my siamese though. meh
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View attachment 12660 This is nana. Anyone who's a cat person will understand this next sentence , "she's not mah cat, I'm her human." <---- we've been partners for a few years, and I'd never take her traveling. My Chihuahua is different. Best advice? Do what I did, and find the cat a place to live happy and full, where you can come visit, (makes both of our day every time I come by) even months later. Or hook up with a local trap neuter return group so the cat can be safely put back into a habitat, better than it was before. In fact, do anything BUT travel with it. I couldn't imagine putting her through the terror of confinement and movement and powerlessness that travel entails. And when she trusts and loves me? In my situation at least, traveling with nana would be tantamount to torture. Maybe your friend needs to think hard about if the cat is a living thing with wants and needs, or a material possession to do with as she pleases. :/ sorry for being crass, but cats are so autonomous that... Yeah. Dogs are travel pals, cats give you a reason to swing back through the town, reconnect and make new memories with old friends, human and furry alike.
 

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ive travelled with 2 cats at the same time. 1 was great 1 wasnt. 1 we never had any problems with it, we could let it off leash and it would never wonder off from camp, it would ride on the top of my pack werever i went, seemed like it loved it. the other was always running away and seemed stressed alot. carried a small pet carrier so we could put it in if things got too bad, left it with family 1 day, seemed better for cat. we were in boulder for a month camped out a few miles into the mountains the bad cat ran off we couldnt find it for 3 weeks. the day we were leaving town it came out the woods looking terified and skinny. thats wen i took it to my fam. the good 1 would lay in the guitar case the whole time we were busking.

bolth these cats were raised travelling together, and were complete oppisites
 
my cat absolutely loves it shes been traveling non stop with me for 2 years. she always comes back it might take i little bit sometimes but im never in any kind of hurry(and if I am, i entice her return with a can of tuna fish and calling her by name). With training a cat on the road you have to find a happy medium between you guys or it'll just run away. i recommend a carrier, even though its kind of bulky it gives here a sense of safety and familiarity if she gets all cat like and trippin in certain situations ans its something she can call hers.
tape worms are the biggest and pretty much only health problem that you have to be aware of like any pet though.
if its a young kitten and itsView attachment 17964 very found of you then you guys will live simply! id even say that shes less maintenance that traveling with a dog
::cat::
 

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