4 Tips for Car Travel with Cats

What should you do when you decide to do a car travel with cats? There are 4 tips for taking cats on long-distance car travel, we will talk about 3 parts, before, during, and after the traveling.

Summary

1. Prepare some medicine before car travel with cats

If you want to do car travel with your cats (especially for a cat that has never experienced long-distance car travel), it is important to prepare some targeted medicine in advance, so you can respond to emergencies in time in the car. Please purchase these medicine in a reliable pharmacy store or buy them from the doctor and adherence to the doctor’s advice

a. Magnesium Carbonate Tablets: for gastric reflux

An OTC drug that quickly binds excess gastric acid. If cats are unwilling to eat or drink during the journey, or they vomit white foam and clear gastric juice after nausea, they can be carefully fed about 1/5-1/4 tablet, and it usually takes 30 minutes to see results. It can be fed multiple times a day depending on the situation, and it is not recommended to feed more than 3 times.

b. Gabapentin: can relieve the mood of cats

This is a long-used sedative for cats (originally used for the management of epilepsy in humans). Fewer side effects, some cats may be confused and have an unsteady gait, which usually resolves within 12 hours.

Dosage: 20mg/kg for healthy cats, or 0.1g capsule/time. Dosage in cats with kidney disease halved
How to use: Take 1-2 hours before going out
Duration of drug effect: ranging from 6-12 hours. It can be eaten after losing its potency, it is not recommended to use it more than 2 times a day

c. Dimenhydrinate: for motion sickness

Motion sickness medicine for both cats and dogs. If the cat is not showing signs of motion sickness (maleness, vomiting) it should not be used. If you are not sure, or the cat has looked bad, give about 10-12.5mg/cat, which is about 1/2 of the 25mg tablet.

2. Make sure the cat case is reliable before car travel with cats

Before doing car travel with cats, a sturdy flight case/cat bag that allows the cat to lie flat is reliable!

There are many materials to be chosen, like the following:

When the trip is approaching, you can take out the cat box at home and let the cat get used to it for a while, so as not to stage a “cat-catching battle” at home on the day you go out.

There are the following small suggestions:

Open the door of the cat box and place it in the living room or bedroom where cats often pass by
Put a mat or blanket that the cat is familiar with in the box, your old clothes are also a good choice
Put a little snack in it to attract the cat to enter the air box by itself

These are not limited to the operation during the period before car travel with cats and can be repeated several times at home every day. It will help take the cat to the hospital or for other unexpected travel plans.

3. Fix the cat case during car travel with cats

Cats and people are more suitable in the back of the car, don’t put cats in the trunk!

The shaking environment is not conducive to the cat’s adaptation to the journey. You can use the seat belt to fix the cat case so that when there is a sudden brake, you can also ensure that the air box itself will not shake violently, or simply hold the cat box behind between the seat and the front seat.

4. Let your cat choose after reaching the destination

After arriving at the destination, put the cat box in a separate room (preferably there are not many corners to hide in the room), open the door of the air box, let the cat choose whether to come out to explore, and do not force it.