Moving cats...HELP!

[Gardeaux08]

I am planning a move from PA to MN and I have to take my babies with me. My female is tiny and has always traveled well. My male is easily twenty pounds and gets car sick. I have tried everything with him...having free from the carrier, not feeding him that morning, children's benadryl, forget it. He doesn't get violent or anything just sick. Has anyone ever moved a travel-sick cat this far?

[demnan]

1. I would ask the vet

Maybe there's some medicine you can get for him. I've never had a car-sick cat, car-scared yes.

[Gardeaux08]

6. My vet suggested

children's Benadryl. He is a real bugger about taking medicine so it only upsets him even more.

[Eurobabe]

10. pilling cats is a REAL trip....

We found that my little red guy will take medicine better from a child's oral medicine/shot thingy. But then again it was strawberry-flavored Amoxicillin, guess he liked that...

[havocmom]

13. Gerber's turkey for babies is the best way I have ever found for giving

meds to a cat ;)

[Gardeaux08]

16. That is something I never thought of!

Thanks!!

[Lorien]

2. I drove from Florida to Ohio and back with all three

recently when I had to evacuate from some hurricanes. I used Feliway in their cages and in the car (available at PetsMart) and that really seemed to help. Do your two cats get along really well? All three of mine adore each other, so I put two in a large dog carrier, then place the cage doors so all three can see and touch one another. If I separate them, there's much more crying and anxiety (the two in the carrier together are quite as church mice)! I need an even bigger carrier, though; the one in his own cage STILL makes a fuss!

[Gardeaux08]

7. I can see how that would help them.

Maybe if I position them so they can see and touch each other. But I would really worry about Winston getting upset and hurting Salem by accident if they were together. They don't hate each other but he's a really big boy...about 20 pounds and Salem is about 7 pounds so he can really hurt her without trying. They were playing once and he got too rough and knocked the air out of her...just terrifying! Maybe this is why I don't have kids!

I've heard of Feliway but never anything about how it works. Maybe I'll try it on a few dry runs with them! Thanks!

[Lorien]

11. Oh, size is not a problem-really!

Here's Oberon and Puck; the two that were in the dog carrier together for the long haul (Oberon doesn't fit in a regular cat carrier). I don't know how much each weighs, but Obie is a freaking monster of a Maine Coon, and Puck is a delicate Turkish Angora (same size as most cats, just very slender). Here they are together:

The happy threesome in "their" room (Miro is huge too-22 pounds of chubbiness):

Earlier this year, the size difference was more dramatic-and they are only 4 1/2 months apart!

It's all about attitude, anyway!

[meow2u3]

3. 5 years ago, my mom and I moved with our 2 cats

I drove the rental truck. She drove the car with the cats in the back seat, in cat carriers, positioned so the cats could face each other. Fortunately, neither of my cats got motion sickness. But unfortunately, my mom complained of the perpetual "kitty chorus": meow, meow, mrrrooooowwww....

I forgot to mention we moved from TX to PA--my mom wanted to flee * and his polluting ways; she couldn't breathe and would have died back then. She died in February of last year, when * started allowing polluters to foul up the Philly air. Guess that strategy didn't work

[Lilli]

4. Well I get car sick

and all that works for me is travelling in the front seat and keeping my stomach full :)

Dunno if that would work for your cat or not...I agree though - check with your vet

[Eurobabe]

5. I feel for you -- will be moving my howlers next month

that is what they do, they howl. For miles and miles, then they barf. They especially hate West Virginia (LOL, windy roads)

Kitty valium. No food or water the morning of the trip.

I am blocking it all out until the day before I leave. Maybe rent a truck and put the kids in the storage part, there is usually an access door between the driver and passenger seat, you can slide cat carriers in through there. Leave the door cracked so they keep warm and can hear you, but they get droned to sleep by the whirring of the truck tires.

Bring music to calm the savage beasts. All of you. Good luck!

[Gardeaux08]

8. OK...this may sound stupid

but Kitty Valium??? Is there such a thing?

[Eurobabe]

9. oh yes there is...

it's the same diazepam that people take I believe, just in a strength for feline bodies (edit) from a veternarian.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. I just got back from taking my dog to the vet

He's a liberal kindred spirit, so knows all about DU and has answered the occasional question that I've brought him from here about animals. I asked him what would be the best sedative to give a cat and if it was wise. He answered immediately, acepromazine. He said that Valium wouldn't be appropriate.

I wasn't surprised, since my other vet gave me one acepromazine tablet to give to my cat. This is a cat who I rescued from outside and she was so terrified that I couldn't get near her, let alone into the carrier, to take her to the vet. He gave me this tablet to give her 2-3 hours before travel. I still have the pill, since I, obviously, couldn't get near enough to her to give her the pill, either, and it would have been unreliable if I tried putting it in her food. My friend, who has caught cats for the ASPCA ended up coming over and catching her for me, in my house, and she bit him! The vet had to completely sedate her to work on her.

Anyway, I asked my vet if this would knock the cat out and he said no, that he would just be groggy and mellow. He also prescribed this same medication for my cocker spaniel, who was terrified of riding in the car, and it calmed him right down. I would give it to him when I had to take him to the groomer and she said he was a different dog. For my cat, I was given 10mg (his writing is terrible, so don't quote me on this) acepromazine for a nine-pound cat. Your vet will have to weigh the cat, to determine the proper dose, and advise you how often he should be given it. Probably, as my vet said, 2-3 hours before travel.

Good luck with this! I don't envy you, for either the long drive or traveling all that way with kitties!:hi:

[Gardeaux08]

17. That was my thought.

I think I'm just going to get some meds for him because he will just be miserable. I don't like to give them anything if I don't have to...just like I don't take pills for no reason. But if it's going to make it easier on them to do it, I will.

Thanks everyone for giving your advice...I'm printing it all out and keeping it in my moving file!

[Rhiannon12866]

19. I feel the same way. My other vet gave me sedative pills for Barney,

But I only ended up giving it to him once, when the trip was over an hour. And it didn't work nearly as well as the acepromazine. My vet explained that he was so anxious that he was gulping air, which was ending up in his stomach, and there was a chance that his intestine could twist, which would be really serious. So I decided that this was something that I had to do and was very glad that I did.:-)

Moving can be very stressful for cats. When my friend moved, her cat spent the first few days hissing at everything in sight! If your cat is anxious in a new environment, you might want to try Feliway. It's mainly used to eliminate spraying in cats, but it also calms them. I got this for my cat for this reason. It now comes in a plug-in, that distributes it automatically, rather than the spray that I used.:-)

http://www.feliway.com/

Have a safe and uneventful trip and let us know how the kitty's doing!:hi:

[havocmom]

14. If you let the cats outside normally, please don't for a time after

the move. I have always read one should confine cats to the new house for at least 2 weeks so they get to understand it is home, get used to the electomagnetic field of the new home. People I know who let the cats out soon after a move always had trouble with them wandering off.
Those who were kept in for at least 2 weeks seemed to be fine with the new home and stay put.

Would hate for them to go wandering off looking for 'home'before they feel at home in the new place.

[Gardeaux08]

15. Nope.

They are indoor cats.

[SoCalDem]

18. We moved a cat from Indiana to Kansas..then to Colorado

spent a month in a hotel..then moved her to New mexico, and finally to California.. She hated every minute of it, but we managed..

We also made the moves with 2 cars, 3 kids and a dog..All within a 4 year period.. (We are NOT gypsies, so stop saying that :P..)

We are gluttons for punishment