Any experience traveling with a cat?

I am planning on moving in a few months. I will be taking my dog and my cat. I am wondering what to do with the cat on the car ride. I have traveled with my dog several times, but never more then to the vet with the cat. It will be a 15ish hour car ride (poss. a sleepover somewhere to break it up). He will be in a carrier in the car. What do I do for potty breaks? Stretch his legs?

He is a very adaptable cat. We have moved houses before, but it was only 10 minutes away. I am not worried about the new enviornment, but getting him there. If he travels well, then when the dog and I travel back home I would like to take him too. He is more dog then cat. He and Riley are buddies too. Any help? Thanks!!

We moved with 2 cats. I bought a rabbit cage that was long so I could put a small box with litter at one end. The cats never used the litter box which most people told me that probably wouldn't. When we got to a motel, we put them both in the bathroom and they finally went in the litter box.

My vet also gave us some pills to use if we had to in order to calm them down, but they actually did very well on the trip and never had to use any.

We moved about 2500km with my first cat Panda. After the first few hours we let him out of his cage and him and the dogs just sat around in the car. A couple of days into the trip we broke down s it ended up taking us like a week to get there, by the end of it he loved travelling, he would jump int eh car just for a ride to the shop and always moved easily.

I would probably usesome sort of small dog crate or something this time around to keep the cat safe but I think if the cat is generally pretty laid back then he should manage.

If you're going 15 hours I would suggest a crate with litter box too. We can leave Jade out in the car as long as long as she can get to the litter box (In the trunk, we have a hatchback). If we try to kennel her for more than 4 hours and forgot to fast her th enight before we end up with a cranky gross cat by the time we get where we're going.

(We often drive 4 hours to visit my parents with both animals)

We moved across the country with ours, then another 600 miles. We kept his harness on, then anytime anyone ever even THOUGHT of opening the car door, his leash was on him or he was in his carrier.

He had a large carrier with his litterbox in the back of the van so he didn't have to ask to get to it.

He really enjoyed the traveling and spent most of the trip either on someone's lap looking out of the window or on the back of one of the seats.

A dog crate would be great if your car is big enough, just stick a small litter box in there. If one will not fit then you can keep him in the carrier (I would leave a harness on him, and leash him every time you open the carrier) and stop every 4-5 hrs for a potty break. Just put a litter box (aluminum pans work too, toss them out after the trip is over) in the foot and put him in it. He may not use it, but I would deff give him the option. You can put cat nip in the carrier during the ride, that revs them up at first but they settle down and get sleepy.

Oh and some cats hate carriers, start leaving the carrier out so he can check it out and get used to it. Mine fight over who gets to nap in it.

Thanks guys! My car is a pontiac vibe with the back seat down. With my large dog, our stuff, and the cat, there is No room for a crate big enough for the cat and a litter box. I was thinking of putting the litterbox in the car at breaks and letting him use it then. I will buy and keep a harness on him at all times. Good idea about the catnip. Thanks. I hope he will settle down in the car. He cries when he is in there, but lays still- doesnt stress himself out trying to get out. I also hope that with Riley being there too it will give him company. Thanks again for the ideas!

Mine would likely be drugged for such a car ride, they HATE them. Driving from my house to cape cod with them was a nightmare, that's only like an hour drive. If they are crated they flail around, pant extremely hard, froth at the mouth (the entire inside of one of their carriers was soaked with drool), and never stop screaming . I seriously worry for their health. Out of the crate they still pant very hard and have a very hard time settling down, they scream a lot, but not quite as hard, it's more nervous, not a full blown panic scream. Neko eventually would settle for a few minutes at a time, but not Willie. And they weren't on harnesses so I got very nervous with them walking all over the car and among the luggage. I had the litterbox on the floor when they were out of the crate and Neko used it at one point. I'd suggest you do a lot of practice runs to see how your's does.

Both our dog and cat have traveled with us from one end of the country to the other and back again. Our cat is kind of odd and has been traveling with us since kittenhood though, so he mainly sleeps on my lap or the back seat when in the car, thus we don't use a carrier. We have a covered litterbox in the back that's secured so it doesn't tip over, thus he uses that, and he's leash trained, so he get's out to stretch his legs with the rest of us.

I flew acros country with my cat, Del. She did fine nestled in her carrier for most of the day, with a two hour car ride to our new home after the flight,which was made an hour or so longer by car trouble requiring a tow truck.

Several months later, we drove across country with the lad's cat. She's a crotchety cat on a good day. I've yet to have a cat drink in a strange place, so while we did offer water at rest stops, she never drank. We let her stay in the hotel bathroom with a litter pan and food/water. It kept her confined so we didn't have to get a cat out from under a hotel bed.