Have Cats, Will Travel

So, I wanted to let you all know how Joey and Addie survived the trip west. Turns out that they are fantastic travelers! Fortunately, with all of the trips between Bedford and the Cape, the cats were already acclimated to travel. Typically, they would snuggle together in their carrier, while Addie would sometimes cry and talk to me.

All of the advice I read was to avoid medicating cats for car travel, unless they absolutely freak out. Instead, I read a lot of recommendations for Feliway, a product that mimics the pheromones released by cats when they are rubbing their whiskers against everything. Apparently this pheromone is calming. Feliway is expensive, so I purchased a similar product (No-Stress from Pet Organics) at PetCo. I wasn't going to tranquilize or sedate my guys, but I wanted to have something just in case.

I also didn't like the idea of them traveling in a small pet carrier for six days straight. They needed something that was more spacious, something that would allow them to stretch out, stand up and change positions. I picked up a small dog crate for the purpose. About a week before leaving, I had done some laundry and failed to put away a blanket. The cats took to sleeping on this blanket right away, making it perfect to line the bottom of the crate - something comfortable that smells like home.

Thanks to my mom's insistence, I also picked up harnesses and leashes for both cats. They wore the harnesses a few hours at a time at home so that they would get used to them, and then they wore them 24/7 on the trip. The harnesses meant that if I needed to open the crate during the day, I had a way of securing the cats - wouldn't want them jumping out of a car at a rest stop in Iowa! The harnesses were also very useful when we arrived at our nightly hotel.

All of the hotels we stayed at were pet-friendly. There is a lot of information about pet-friendly hotels online. For simplicity, I went with the Choice Hotels group (Sleep Inn, EconoLodge, etc.). Not all locations were pet friendly, and the requirements varied: $10 per night; $10 per night per pet; $5 per night per pet; etc. In all, it was fairly reasonable. Except for the low-end motels (Rodeway Inn), we found that all accomodations were clean and friendly. As the pet owner, it is your job to provide food, litter box, etc., but that wasn't a problem for us. Most rooms we stayed in were either drive-up or otherwise on the first floor, making un/loading all of the supplies pretty easy.

So, we started the trip with the cats in their crate, which was secured with a short bungee cord in the backseat of my car. They had their blanket, which I sprayed lightly with the pheromone spray before we left (just in case). My sister (who had first duty in the car) reported they talked a good bit, but settled down once we hit the highway. It turns out that they just snuggled in and slept whenever we were driving - which was a lot! Most days involved at least 10 hours in the car!

Joey and Addie get used to their new accommodations.

When we arrived at our motel each night, we would unload everything, and then take the crate, with cats, into the room. I was very nervous about how the cats would do in the motels. I was worried about cleanliness (or that they might have accidents) and about whether they would get stuck under a bed or in another small space. When I took them out of their crate, I would make sure they saw the water, food, and litter, and then we'd attach leashes to their harnesses and let them explore. We kept an eye on them, and the leashes meant that we could retrieve them if they disappeared somewhere. Typically, after about 5 minutes, I would take the leashes off and let them get comfortable. They disappeared a couple of times (under a bed, behind a dresser), but it was never really a problem. For the most part, they were pretty wiped out at night (despite sleeping all day), and enjoyed taking turns sleeping with (or on) each of us.

In all, Addie & Joey were well-behaved and very impressive. And these lucky cats got to visit many of our country's best landmarks:

Addie & Joey at Niagara Falls.

Joey & Addie picnic near the Mississippi River.

Addie & Joey enjoy a South Dakota rest stop.

Joey & Addie relax during sunset at Badlands National Park.

Addie anticipates Devils Tower.

Addie & Joey at Devils Tower at last!

Joey & Addie come home to Missoula - free at last!

Looks like they had fun, doesn't it? In any case, once we arrived in Missoula it took them about a week to really start to feel comfortable and at home. The first morning we woke up, I think they thought they were going to have to get back in the crate! They're pretty satisfied here now. We're putting the window perch from our Bedford neighbor to good use now. We can watch the pigeons roosting (they're fed by my neighbor), or just relax in the sunny southern exposure. We have a great view of the "M" on Mount Sentinel from our windows as well (more on the M in a later post). Joey knows which drawer holds the cat food, and Addie is back to playing fetch - back to normal! We have also kicked into major snuggle mode, as the weather here has been rainy and cool (40s overnight!). Now that they're happy, I'm happy!