33 hour car ride with our cats

Yep. That's right. You read it correctly! It was a 33 hour car ride with our cats. Well, luckily it was two cars and Herman was in one car and Eddie in another. Of course, Eddie was in the car with my daughter and I and Herman with my husband and son. Eddie is on the shy side and does not see my husband as often (lots of long distance travel, military). I like to say "shy" my husband uses another word. lol Okay. She does a lot of hissing and paw batting towards him. lol

So, let me get to the point. We encountered way too many traffic jams and spent a few hours sleeping in a rest area. Thus 33 hours! Oh my! Herman started off like a pro. She had free reign and was on the prowl; although, she liked the trunk cubby hole area set aside for her (one backseat flipped down for her). Eddie, on the other hand, sat in my daughters arms for the first 15 minutes shaking and then plopped down on the front seat floor mat. Sitting on a pillow covered up in a blanket with her head peeking out and eyes wide open in wonder. I think, she though, well, if this what you all do when you leave the house, I want no part of it! She never moved until 3am in the rest area. She slowly moved from her position. My daughter and I laughed, as she reminded us of a turtle its head out of the shell. Next part of the trip, she choose the backseat, nestled in some blankets.

If you wondering about litter boxes, yes, we had two set up. Neither cat used one. Herman had a little dry food and water and Eddie was not interested. We kept dabbing our finger into a water bowl and placing it up to her mouth, as if, we were bottle feeding her. Yes! They were glad to arrive! Ate and used the litter boxes within the hour upon arrival. So, we did it or shall I say our cats survived a 33 hour car ride. Whew! I think, I am still a little frazzled myself

 

Hahahaha, it sounds like it was such a journey for your two girls! Hehehehe, 33 hours is very long for not even using the litter box at least once, but the same things happens to me when I travel somewhere, specially by plane. I remember the first time I traveled by plane (21 hours or so), I couldn't go do number 2... not until I reached my destination, lol. Never been a fan of public bathrooms

 

33 hours, I can barely do 30 minutes without feeling bad. My experience with driving with cats have never been positive. I have had cats urinate on me while taking them to the vet. I just can't stand the way they meow either. They make it seem like some one is trying to kill them. We have tried transporting cats in boxes or pet crates, some are okay some meow that crazy meow the entire time. We have also allowed cats to roam in the car while we drove. But we have had cats who will run all over the place and that can be distracting. Because most of our drives are less than 20 minutes, I tend to get away with holding the cats by the nape of their neck the whole time and they seem okay.

Anyway, I wanted to say that my parents used to have a cat way back when, that loved to take car rides. Every time they got in the car their cat would join them and just hangout. And recently my sister in law took her cat for a ride then walked her on a harness. I think they went to some park or something for the day, don't remember. I would love to find a cat that was comfortable in the car.

 

WOW. I am impressed that your cats were able to succeed a 33 hour car ride. I mean, that must have been so intimidating for them from the beginning. I've only had two driving experiences with my cat:

The first was when we first got him. He was in the typical Humane Society box and was meowing the entire to our home. The total time was about 30 minutes. I felt so bad that I was just talking to him so that he could hear my voice, but it was still extremely hard.

The second time was when I had to take him to the Vet and we were unable to find our kitty carrier. So what did I do? I placed him into the front seat of the car and hoped for the best. At first he was uncomfortable, but after a couple of minutes, he was on my lap and on the wheel, as if he was driving feeling fine. Whenever I stopped at red lights, people would look over and laugh that I literally had a lap-cat. This drive was probably about 10 minutes, but it still felt like forever with the amount of careful driving I did to not scare him.

But still, 33 hours. I am truly impressed with your cats. They must have been relieved when you all were at your destination!

 

Wow, to your parents and sisters cats! Wonder how many cats actually like to go for car rides?
Did your sister train her cat with a harness, as a kitten? I wonder how she managed to accomplish this feat? We have tried to no avail. When we stopped at rest areas and saw all the dogs on their leashes, we talked about how nice it would be to take our cats out on a leash, too1

Oh, we dreaded the trip! But I kept saying to myself, at least we are able to bring our cats with us! Herman does like to prowl, Never had her help steering, though! What a picture! Did he try to get down by the gas pedal? Herman tried this on a few of our past long road trips. Very dangerous and scary, this time my son made sure she did not get close to the drivers side.

 

Yeah I am sure that if they were on a leash you could have been able to let them out when you made stops. I am unsure if my sister trained her cat as a kitten. We don't live in the same state, so I just saw the picture on Facebook. I have another sister who was able to put a harness on her cat as well. This cat she just adopted recently, so maybe the cat already had experience on the harness. We haven't tried putting a harness on Bob, but she doesn't go very far when we let her out of the house.

 

Delightful if you ask me. I am glad everything turned out well. Like I said in another post I missed a lot of what went on with the girls. I actually thought this experience was coming later in the year. I am quite proud of them. I always took my dog driving but was afraid to take Twinkle in case he jumped through the window. When he was a kitten he went with me a few times but she was in a dog basket enclosed and he did not like it one bit.

 

@Herman&Eddie Not at all! He never tried to reach for the pedal, break, anything. He just stayed on my lap and would put his paws on the steering wheel. There were times where I would open the window a tad bit and he would stick his nose out, but with that I would hold onto him with one hand and the other on the wheel. I think that's what also made him feel comfortable. And obviously, this was during the red lights since I only took residential streets; never would I do that for the freeway! But the more I get to know my pet, the more he has the personality of a canine.

I do know what you're talking about regarding cats and gas pedals and how scary that can be! A long time ago my mom surprised my brother and I with a kitten. Before going home, she had to run an errand to the nearby store (I think to get kitten-related necessities), and I decided to wait in the car with the new kitten. After a minute, I couldn't handle the meowing in the box and I took him out and began to pet him. He went crazy! He started to climb all over the car and then there was a point where I couldn't find him until I heard rustling in the drivers side. I saw HALF of his body going into the car and I pulled him out. I still think about today: what happens if I didn't catch him? It's scary!

 

Oh, right, right! The panic when a cat tries to escape from a car! One time, we on a road trip and our Herman jumped out of the car at a gas station. I made a flying lunge to catch her! I felt a bit like a super hero and think I was in my children's eyes! Another time, we had our beautiful cat Powder on a road trip. We had stopped at a hotel for the night and she escaped through the hotel door in the morning. We searched everywhere and found her in an old abandoned truck trailer that had the back door ajar! To think, how lucky we were to locate her in this far off place! Car and cats can be a bit of a predicament at times to say the least!

Oh yeah, now that I think about it (and this is bad), the day we brought our Herman home, was the first week I was learning to drive a stick shift. My son and I got out of the car to open the house door and prepare to bring Herman into the house (a surprise Birthday gift for my daughter). I forgot to put the emergency brake on and the car was on an incline. Yep, Herman took a little ride down the road on her own! Talk about terror!

 

@Herman&Eddie You are so lucky to have found and caught your cats during when they had gotten away. People don't ever get that luxury of doing so. Granted, I have never lost a cat, but I will say that I will never forgive myself if I did. So kudos to you and your family for finding Powder and catching Herman!

I probably shouldn't be laughing this hard, but that is hilarious! It must have made quite a good first impression for Herman. He probably thought, "What family was I taken to?!" and then long and behold, a 33 hour car ride! Good thing love is unconditional!

 

I'm so glad that you guys got there safe and that your kitties made the trip well. I've never been on a trip that long with a cat. The longest trip I've been on was about 10-12 hours (Can't remember...blocked most of it out) with a cat that I used to have (Sadly she passed away, Sabrina). She handled it very well and just mostly laid in the backseat the whole time. I don't know how well Tinkerbell would handle the car, I think she would do well though. She's very laid back.

 

I am so sorry you had to go through that! No one deserves to be trapped in a car with cats for 33 hours. They're worse than a 1 1/2 year old.