Does this explain why cats freak on road trips?

[MoonRiver]

[hlthe2b]

1. Awww... poor putty cat.

[enlightenment]

2. That is my cat.

Certainly.

I have read that some cats get car-sick, which makes them react poorly to the experience.

[RKP5637]

3. I've had two cats that were with me over 10 years. One loved road trips. She

would drape herself across my back/shoulders like a scarf, lick the side of my face, loved looking out the side window at the scenery flying by.

My other cat wanted nothing to do with the car. It was pure panic, no matter how many times in the car. I always had to have him in the car in a carrier. The other one was just completely docile in the car. Nothing phased her.

[Major Nikon]

6. I have a dog that hates road trips

We have to skip a feeding just to take her to the vet or she throws up. The other dog lives for road trips.

[loudsue]

17. My dogs won't even get in the car or truck. They have to be carried, and it takes two people.

One to carry the dog into the car, and the other one to close the door before the dog can escape.

[LeftyMom]

22. I have one who looks out the window and purrs and

one who screams and pisses all over herself. The third freaks out for a few minutes and then gives up and sleeps.

Cats have weird little personalities.

[Skidmore]

4. Shoot, I must be a cat.

I see roadtrips that way sometimes.

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Methinks too many cats link riding in a car. . .

Last edited Sun May 18, 2014, 12:25 PM - Edit history (1)

. . .with going to the vet. Not exactly a pleasant experience for them.

Probable solution: on occasion, put the cat in the carrier and take them for a ride in the car whenever you run errands.

[MoonRiver]

7. I think a difference between the two species is that, while both associate the car with the vet,

dogs know they sometimes get a trip to the fun filled park. Cats just have one association and it is not pleasant.

[RKP5637]

9. Yep, that's an excellent point! n/t

[Louisiana1976]

26. I agree--that's the only reason my cats have ridden in the car.

That's a good idea--taking your cat with you when you're going on errands.

[roguevalley]

8. I am so lucky with my little girl, Spike. She jumps into little cage

with gusto and LOVES to go for rides.

[RKP5637]

10. With my husky male cat all four legs used to spring out at the carrier door. The only

way I could get him in was to gently hold his front legs together and gently push on his back side with my knee. He was fully clawed and had huge claws, but he never scratched, not even furniture, etc. He just did not like the idea of getting put into a carrier, then, once in the carrier he loved it.

[roguevalley]

23. :D I love cats. Spike is in the backyard in her bigger wire cage watching

the world. She's totally in the house because the toms in the neighborhood would kick her tiny fanny. She is only six pounds, a tuxedo cat with a golden heart. I forgot how much I loved cats until she wandered onto the porch in the winter, all four weeks of fluff and hunger.

I was lucky in the extreme that she came to me.

[MoonRiver]

24. She sounds adorable!

Would love a pic!

[RKP5637]

30. They are incredible pets. I love them too. n/t

Last edited Mon May 19, 2014, 08:29 AM - Edit history (1)

[tech3149]

11. Not all cats are freaked by road trips

when I moved to NJ both my cats took turns wrapped around my neck or sitting on the dash watching the world go by. That was an interesting 7 hour drive for us all. After that going to the vet was easier just jumping in the car rather than a pet carrier.
My parent's cat would jump in the car any time my Dad was going somewhere.
Cats are like people, all very much the same but so very different.

[qazplm]

13. yeah

my cat loses her mind on car trips...but I helped out someone take a stray to the vet once and she just chilled in the back seat as if it was nothing. Then again, that was a much more docile cat, and my cat is a lot more high-spirited and playful.

[tech3149]

15. My old lady cat is fine with a car ride

The problem is she likes to get down low and tends to get between my feet and the pedals. I've already had to spend a few K$ to fix the car because I was distracted by my little Bengal miss.
I think the big problem is motion sensitivity. It's like their internal gyroscope is thrown off. If they have some experience it seems much easier for them to adjust.

[EEO]

12. My dog whined like a little bitch in the car. We couldn't take him anywhere.

We left him at a kennel for a week while taking a vacation to Florida and were told our dog was not welcome back because all he did was bark and whine. Loved that dog.

[Motown_Johnny]

14. I only took a cat cross country once

but she was fine.

No issues at all.

[demigoddess]

16. We had a cat that rode

in the car from the west coast to the east coast and back again. He loved riding in the car. Maybe those other cats freak because the driver is taking the wrong road.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Mr. dixie drove our two cats when we moved.

I had gone on ahead to meet the movers and unpack and etc. while he finished business at the old house.

the vet gave me wee little tranquillizers for the cats, who would be in carriers, and
I gave Mr. Dixie instructions.
What I said was " Use these if the cats get too freaky on the trip."

He shows up on schedule with the cats, and I asked if there were any problems.

"Well, the cats got more and more agitated and louder and louder during the drive" he reported.
"They were really getting on my nerves, but after I took the tranquillizers, it was no problem."

[MoonRiver]

21. Lol!

Poor Mr. dixie! I can relate!

[Louisiana1976]

27. ....

[RKP5637]

31. ...

[Mister Ed]

19. On a serious note, I once read that the reason cats have trouble with car rides...

...is that their brains are wired to snap to sharp focus on every little thing that enters their field of vision. In a moving car, that means trying to focus on thousands of little details whizzing by every minute, which scrambles their little brains.

According to what I read, they need to be in a carrier located where they can't see out the window. Which is much safer anyway than having them locate themselves on the dashboard or under the brake pedal, both of which have happened to me before.

[NuclearDem]

20. I think the engine noise freaks my cats out.

[tridim]

25. My laid-back cat loved car rides.

But I think I know the type of cat that wouldn't.

[Jamastiene]

28. Sunday Girl loved to go riding in the car.

She got used to it as a kitten and rode in the car a lot over her 19 years. I sure miss her. Sunday Girl was very close to me, but she didn't freak out when I wasn't right with her. As long as you kept her away from cats she was fine. My step dad joked that even my cat hated cats. So, why should I expect him like cats?

Domino hated being in the car and Yogi hates being in the car. Yogi hates my driving, hates anyone's driving, hates being in the pet carrier, hates being in the car, hates being away from me, hates being away from home, hates being home alone, hates it when I go outside to walk around in the yard, and REALLY hates it if I close my bathroom door and he is on the other side (away from me). He's on me like glue 24/7. I swear there is an invisible rubber band that only he sees and he acts like he is afraid it will break if I get too far from him.

He is now 12 years old and I just now figured out he is actually either partially blind or completely blind. Either way, his pupils hardly ever adjust when he is looking at something. They have always been that way, but I never knew it meant blindness. I never knew because he looks right at me easily. I don't know if he can sense me some other way or what.

In any case, he's very dependent on me. I know that much, but even I cannot make him like going on trips like Sunday Girl did. She was an old pro at it and never complained. She knew it usually meant either ice cream or some other food for her. So, she was more than happy to go anywhere with her Mommy (me).

[countryjake]

29. Sweet little Yogi!

I really miss having a kitty like your Yogi. It does sound like his blindness may have had something to do with his attachment to you, but I've had cats who were like that before. Both of those dearly departed kitties had been kitten rescues and the bonds we formed were like no other. That rubber band you speak of was how I used to describe my old Nicky boy...I'd pulled him out of a burlap bag, destined for a bay of water, when he wasn't even three weeks old, and he never left my side for seventeen years. He rode in the car sitting next to me like a king of beasts, loved our many road trips. Like your Sunday Girl, he was an old pro.

I just lost my little Joey one year ago, during the time that I was needed away from home for an extended length of time...for some unknown reason she stopped eating, drinking, moving, and died only two months after I'd left. My heart is still broken and my guilt is going to take a long long time to get over. When I look at the scratches now on our bathroom door, the marks she'd made when I would occasionally forget to let her in with me, I am permanently reminded that I should never have left her for so long. My Jo Jo had flown across this country with me as a baby, quiet as a mouse, until we got into the airport shuttle when she being to yowl like a banshee. For two hours. Ha!