Lots of questions. We have some answers.
Dexter, what are we talking about?
(crickets)
Well that was insightful.
But we have lots to share with you. -Yes
So stay tuned. -Yeah.
You ready to kick this off. -I'm so ready. Let's do it.
(intro music)
We're just here to share our personal experience, with traveling with a cat...
which we've done for a couple years now.
Let me just say, this guy, when we adopted him, he was not an outdoorsy cat.
We never let him go outside.
And... so home-body inside house cat...
That all of a sudden we were like...
Yep. We're gonna take you on the road and we're gonna drive 3,000 miles across the country
and let's hope for the best. -Let's go for it.
We always recommend taking like...
experimental trial runs, before you hit the road full-time.
Do a couple test drives with your cat and/or cats...
especially if they've never been on the road. And if they do terrible, it doesn't mean...
that you can't do it. We actually took him on a couple car rides. -Yeah.
And he didn't like it, but it just helped him acclimate.
We also can respect that each cat has kind of like its own personality. -Yes.
So what goes for Dexter here may not go for your little furry animals at home.
Let's talk about how we actually travel with him.
We looked at cages. Because, you know, they make these cages for cats
that are like really really tiny, which are good for going to the vet.
Well... (laughing)
We bought one for a medium sized... -Dog. -Rottweiler. I don't know.
So, we have a really... and we still use it, a oversized cage so that way he could stretch his legs.
But we could still carry it.
He enjoys it. I mean he likes his little seclusion space. -Yeah.
It's kind of like a safe space for him to refer back to.
Things we like to try to implement while on the road...
and traveling with him is like making it a familiar environment.
Yeah. -Like wouldn't you say like, we really enjoy putting like blankets that smell familiar...
or cat toys, that he might be familiar with and like, some of his favorite toys.
Just anything that kind of ease the new environment, that he's exposed to, while traveling on the road.
We have friends that travel on the road with their cat, and they just...
they just let their cat room around the vehicle, which is totally fine.
I think both is great.
It depends on also what kind of personality your cat has, if they like to really look out the window and...
explore. This guy is kind of more of a, 'it's time to take a nap and sleep in the cage'.
Kinda revert back to the safe space.
But we can't say like, that we have any safety recommendations.
I know a lot of our concerns are like, what if we got an accident while on the road?
Worst case scenario, if we were in a car accident...
I would like to know that he's in his cage.
If there's a way for him to like, run out of the car and escape, I don't want that to be a possibility.
I just want him to be in his little space, so if there's a problem, he's not gonna run away.
It's an easy reference point to find him, in case something went wrong.
For the most part, I try to implement we use the cage. -Yeah, the cage is good.
Keep them in a cage. It's in a safe spot. And then when we get to our destination...
I don't have to chase him around the vehicle, to get him out.
When it's time to put the slides in of your RV...
have your cat in the carrier or in the car, ready to go.
Yeah, I see where this is going.
Our first rig... it only had one slide out and it was only 27 feet.
But we decided, you know, we'll load Dexter up last.
That way he can stretch his legs, for every last second he can.
But the thing is... animals are... they're so smart.
You know, you think that they don't know. They know.
And guess what? Cats could fit in really tight spaces that we cannot.
The distance between our slide out and the wall to get to the bedroom was like this, I think.
I mean it was so... yeah let me see. Can we see that?
Yeah, I'd say.
So as soon as the slide went in or... I mean he just knew, he ran right back to the bedroom.
And we played this game where the slide would go, in and out, in and out.
We get him out of the way. We put the slide back in. He would find a way to run back in.
And guess what? We learned from experience because that's what you do, and that's how life is.
Ugh. You can't call a cat. 'Hey little guy. Come, it's time to go on our road trip'.
When it's time to put the slides in...
and everything's packed, I get Dexter in the cage and get him in the car right away.
We were actually concerned because when we first hit the road we were...
very set on, you know, we're gonna take these breaks, where he's gonna be able to get some water and...
use his litter box, cause we had no idea how many hours we were gonna be driving.
So let's talk about the litter box situation. There are some people that like to...
take the litter box in the car, because we have people who do this.
And their cat uses it on the road.
But we learned by research, on the fancy internet...
that cats can hold their bladder, supposedly for up to 16 hours.
Yeah which is pretty concerning cause even though they can do that...
We never want to put him in a situation where he has to do that, right?
So it's a fine balance of knowing that these animals
may be protectively, when they're in a stressful situation, can hold their bladders for that long.
A long time.
It's very dependent upon your furry animal and the situation you guys are presented with.
We had concerns with, when we first hit the road was what are we gonna do about his litter box?
Like if we need to stop, I mean it's not as easy as taking a dog on a leash.
Our recommendations were making frequent stops, on the road
to allow them, not only to stretch their legs, but maybe get some food and water.
You can pull over and offer them water. That's totally fine or in the car.
I would not recommend having a water bowl in your car.
No. That would probably not go over so well.
And they probably want nothing to do with it either.
Basically what I'm trying to say is...
don't focus, a hundred percent, on trying to set up your car to be like this cat oasis.
And here's the bed over here. And here's the litter box. And here's some water.
And here's your... here's your headphones and your blanket.
Although, they expect nonetheless. -Yes, they'll expect that you'll do that but don't feel like you need to...
um, when you're traveling. Don't... you're gonna end up stressing out more than the cat.
He's not interested in drinking water after a couple hours.
Like I said, he's just glad to be back in the trailer, and out of the car.
Yes, totally. Back in like a familiar environment.
Then he can use... the litter box.
Oh here's a question that we always get.
And it's very.. I know a lot of you people know the answer to this
but I feel like we need to talk about it.
What is it?
Do you guys keep your cat in your trailer while you drive?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, so that's a big question, we even considered, when we first started.
Yeah. -Cause, we had no idea.
Do animals travel in the back?
Where the bed is? Like, where it's super comfy. And where it's familiar, as we had discussed earlier.
It's a really familiar environment. Maybe they can be more relaxed.
Guys, don't. -Don't do it. -Don't do it. -Totally.
We don't have personal experience with it. -No.
There are so many things that could fall, and break, and open.
I can't imagine going 60 miles per hour, down the highway, with your cat just bouncing.
He's not gonna like the RV, much more. Now if you're.. if you're driving a motor home.
You know, you're Class A, Class B, Class C...
that's a little different because now they can roam around.
Yeah I wouldn't be able to touch on that, cause we have a pull behind.
Yeah, we always had a pull behind.
Don't put your cat...and touching on pet, or dog in your trailer, while you're driving.
It's too dangerous.
especially making sudden breaks and accelerations in the vehicle, can throw...
You just don't want any harm to be done to your furry loved ones.
Yeah and if anybody has a personal story...
Throw them in the comments cause we want to know.
I wanna know like, how it went. Or do you throw like a person in the back that you're...
I don't know. -Maybe just sick of like, you know, one of the family members. Quick, throw them in the back.
Have you been thrown in the trailer because maybe you're just talking too much.
Uh, secret's safe with us.
Okay. (laughing)
The issue related to cats getting sick while traveling.
One tip is to custom them to being in a car. So before you hit the road, like talked about before...
Yeah. Taking little mini trips early and often.
Take some trips with them.
I think there could be like, some similarities between animals and humans.
And one of those things are we're all prone to getting car sickness.
So take something out of the equation of emptying their stomach.
They might be used to getting fed in the morning but if you're gonna take off in the morning...
maybe bump up feeding time a couple hours earlier. -Right.
Just make sure they don't have a full belly basically before they take off.
It's just less of a chance that they're gonna get sick.
If the cat gets sick...
and it's related to anxiety... -Yeah.
They can receive some type of sedative. Or like an antihistamine or something like that.
So that's where I would talk to your veterinarian. -Totally.
Because they can recommend the exact medication. I am not an expert when it comes to giving...
animals any kind of pills.
Yeah, we're just nurses so...
Yeah we do people pills but not animal pills.
Not animal pills. -So... (chuckles)
Where to put the litter box?
Oh my gosh, that's a rough one.
I don't want to say we bought our current RV...
keeping in mind the litter box. But we kinda bought it keeping in mind, where the litter box was gonna go.
Let's be real, this RV's for the cat.
Our key spot is below the sink.
Taking out that door, and putting a little drape, where he can just go underneath, in and out of the sink.
The cool thing about cats is they're super adaptive.
So when you just teach him where the litter box has been changed, or the change in place.
All you gotta do is take them there a couple times to familiarize them with it.
And then most of the times they just pick it up and...
it becomes a familiar spot. -They pick it up and go with it.
There's also concern about...
the smell of the cat litter box, and I can tell you... -Yeah.
We've never had an issue. -No never.
(laughing)
No, honestly. -It's not bad.
No, it's totally not bad. -I mean there's times where...
it smells like he just used the litter box. But because...
if you're using really good grade cat litter, that smell is gone, within minutes.
Totally. And yeah, all you gotta do is stay up on scooping out the litter box. -Yeah.
Just your normal things.
it would bother me more if we...
if our cat litter box was in the kitchen or the big living area. -Yeah.
But being in the bathroom it's like it's a...
it's a fine place to be stinky. -Totally. Out of sight, out of mind.
Everyone could be stinky in there. It's fine. We love it.
Cat litter is gonna go everywhere.
And we like to keep it contained, mostly in the bathroom.
Getting out of the shower...
and stepping into some crisp, fresh litter on my clean feet.
I mean it's the best. I love it.
It's all authentic.
I have a broom in the bathroom that I just...
sweep it into one pile, and I do this a couple times a day.
Especially when I'm about to get into the shower.
I sweep it up in a pile, vacuum it real quick. It's done. -Yeah.
And then as soon as it's done, he goes right back in and sprays it everywhere else again.
He loves it. It's like a fun little game. -Yeah. -Family fun.
Please don't base leaving your house on a trip based on...
not having a spot to put your cat litter box. It will be fine.
People I know have put it in the bedroom. People have put it in their living space.
Like I said, if you keep up with scooping, if you keep air fresheners close by...
if you have really good cat litter, it shouldn't be a problem.
We also like to drive during the daytime.
He hates not being able to see and he lets us know every second of it.
Yeah and as soon.. he lets us know if it's getting too late because as soon as it starts to get dark and...
you can tell it as it's transitioning to dark, he starts to get a little bit more anxious and cries more.
Long story short...
take your cat for a ride, several times during the day, during the night. See what works.
Yeah, absolutely. -Because every cat is different.
And they'll let you know about it, pretty quickly. -Yes.
Disclaimer. This should go without saying but...
besides all the advice you have on the internet...
and YouTube about traveling with your cat, please talk to your veterinarian...
before you hit the road, for many reasons.
think about getting your cat microchipped.
Oh totally. -And making sure all their vaccinations are up to date.
That's super important. And I don't think the microchipping is very expensive, whatsoever.
And it's a little peace of mind as well
yes because even though we don't
let Dexter outside unattended or pretty much outside in general we've had a couple instances
where he accidentally got out where the screen door wasn't shut all the way and I think he went
to stretch his arms on the screen door and next scene I'm he's outside and none of us knew about
it until you were outside it make sure all your vaccinations all their records are traveling with
you guys because those are important documents as you're hopping across states you want to have
all those readily available to you guys so when it comes to controlling the temperatures inside
your RV for your little furry ones a big thing is is leaving them throughout the day or night
to make sure they're not too hot or too cold and one thing that we use that we have no affiliation
with but we like to bring it up is a little device that is from RV pet safety it basically runs off
its own network so you don't have to have Wi-Fi for it to work it's almost like a little jet
pack and you could put it anywhere in your RV I recommend keeping it somewhere where you can keep
it charged because it does have a battery on it and it sends you alerts based on how you said it
you could set like a range or if it gets below a certain temperature of it being too cold or above
a temperature it being too hot it will send you an alert via your iPhone or Android and make you
aware they can come and check up on them wherever you are yeah and you see a little peace of mind
let us know in the comments if you have any other suggestions that we might be able to use because
we're always looking for something better I think that pretty much covers a lot of traveling with
cats thanks for watching our video and yeah you know hopefully we provided some good advice but
if you already travel on the road with the cat and you have any advice that we missed let us know we
are so curious to know what other tips and tricks are for cats out there especially when you're
driving 3,000 miles across the country so oh yeah if you guys like this video show us some love
subscribe like comment below so we can hear from you it's been awesome I'm gonna be waiting for the
comments yes I'm super excited to see what's out there yeah I think a lot of people have some fun
stuff to share yeah absolutely I like that one we can get the light poor guy give him some carrots