Indoor/outdoor cat

[TednRelinda]

Hi all;
We are new to the RV world and need some help or suggestions. Our cat, Sophi, is use to coming and going as she pleases. She has a cat door in our home and does what she wants. Problem is she hates having a leash and lead on and fights it tooth and nails. We had a bad experience with it last weekend and I won't put her or me through that again.
She will not stay indoors so I was looking for a way to screen in under the coach. We have a 35ft Fleetwood Pace Arrow and at least that would give her somewhere to be.
Any suggestions?

Thank you,

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by TednRelinda

Hi all;
We are new to the RV world and need some help or suggestions. Our cat, Sophi, is use to coming and going as she pleases. She has a cat door in our home and does what she wants. Problem is she hates having a leash and lead on and fights it tooth and nails. We had a bad experience with it last weekend and I won't put her or me through that again.
She will not stay indoors so I was looking for a way to screen in under the coach. We have a 35ft Fleetwood Pace Arrow and at least that would give her somewhere to be.
Any suggestions?

Thank you,

our 2 15 year old cats have always been indoor cats so the transition to the moho was easier on them. they do not like it when their house moves and hide while the coach is in motion. they know when the slides come out that we have stopped moving and come out to eat, drink, and use their litter box.
i read an article about this cabana thing a while back. maybe this will help?

Kitty Kat Kabana - a collapsible outdoor window cage for RVs

[Frank P. Martin]

Hi, and welcome to iRV2.

We both seem to share many of the same problems with our cats. Our Purrscilla was a stray and likes the outdoors very much. Last year was our first year camping with her and, FWIW, here's some things that I did to help our feline with RV life along with some of our experiences.

Before we went away for the first time with her, I tried to keep both doors (the regular door and screen door) open on the RV so that kitty could get comfortable with her new environment by permitting her to enter, explore the RV and leave on her own.

We put the litter box in the bathtub. This arrangement gives Purrscilla a "private" place and helps contain any litter that gets tossed or tracked out. When we need the tub, we temporarily put the pan in another location.

Because we have a trailer, Purrscilla rides in the cab and I put the litter box on the rear seat floor (we have a crew cab- see signature). With the rear seat folded up, it makes a nice platform where she can comfortably lie and watch everything outside. A spill resistant dish is used for water. Make sure your cat is secure before you lower your window for toll booths. I have E-ZPass which eliminates the need for lowering the windows except for toll facilities that don't accept it.

I purchased a flat scratching post and attached it to the support leg of our dinette using nylon straps. We've noticed that almost every time Purrscilla comes inside the RV, she goes right to the scratching post and gives it a little workout. This seems give the cat a sense of ownership and makes her feel safe in this new environment.

On our first night camping with kitty, we learned something important. Cats need windows they can see out of and most RVs don't provide this. What I mean is many RV windows (like ours) often have venetian blinds that are attached at the bottom of the window. Naturally, this is to prevent them from banging around while traveling. However, Purrscilla couldn't see out (we had the blinds closed for privacy) and started to push her head through the blinds. After I released the bottom of the blinds, raised them and used just the curtains for privacy, she was a much happier cat.

For the most part, Purrscilla kept a "low profile". She slept a lot and enjoyed hiding in overhead compartments above our bed. Sometimes loud outside noises, barking dogs or even just seeing someone walking their dog bothered her a bit. Her urges to go outside coincided with her home life, early morning and in the evening. Even with the doors closed, she would sit in the stairwell and meow at the door. Occasionally Purr would paw at the screen of the inner door to my dismay.

We have the same problem with the harness/leash. She wasn't buying it; no matter how many kitty treats we fed her. She'd growl, hiss and snap. I tried letting her outside while it was still somewhat light out so I could follow her and pick her up and bring her back to the trailer when she strayed too far. This worked OK until one evening she decided to go into a thicket where I couldn't follow her. We were in a state park and I thought she was gone for good. But, shortly after midnight, we heard her squeaky meow at the door. When I opened it, there was a cat purring loudly and very happy to see us. She came right inside- no coaxing needed. After that episode, I never let her outside again.

I've looked at the Kitty Kat Kabana. It looks like a solution. However, the problem I see with it is that if you hang it on a window and open it for kitty to use, it lets the hot air in and cold (air conditioned) air out; thus, making more work for the air conditioner.

[cj5 jeeper]

I am going to have to build a kitty kabana, as theirs will not fit our windows. I to did not like the open window, then I decided that it would not be hard to make an insert to fit in the open window with a cat door in it. Last fall I found a small bird feeder with suction cups that I put on a window when we park for several days. You can not believe how much fun we had watching our Maine Coon Kitty watching, and trying to get the birds. (one time we had six quail on it) Our other cat barely noticed it. We have gave up trying to get them in a harness. They will both want out, and at times where it is quiet we will carry them out. As soon as they are out in a strange place they want back in their safe house. They both chips, and small tags with our phone #.

[Barbaraok]

When we first put the halter and leash on Shadow she didn't like it either. Make sure you have an H type halter. We went outside and she hissed, laid flat on the ground, wiggled, etc. We just sat there, didn't pay any attention to her, just let her get use to it. Sure enough curiosity finally got the better of her and she heard something she wanted to investigate. We let her start walking and just followed behind keeping the leash from pulling on her. It was like a light bulb going on when she realized that she could go places, just had to take us with her. That was 4 years ago. She had always been indoor/outdoor. Now, if she hops out before the leash is attached, she goes about 2 steps and then sits and waits for us to hook her up - - the leash is her security when in strange areas.

Most people don't give it enough time. Let your cat wear the harness indoors for several days so that isn't 'foreign' to her. Then go out with her, keep the leash as slack as possible, and only pull when you need to do so for HER safety. Otherwise, be prepared to followed a convoluted route as they explore. They will get use to it - just be patient.

[TednRelinda]

Thanks for your experiences with the harness and leash. Luckily Sophi doesn't mind the harness and lets us put it on her without any problems. She also has her collar on at the same time so that her bell rings when she is moving around. I will try working on the leash thing at home. At least she was moving where before she would just lie down and stay put. I was hoping to find something that would allow me to enclose under the coach so she would have room there to move around but we also know she can get up in to the engine compartment from there. Guess we will have to work with her a bit more and figure out what will work for us.

[MickBrennan]

Siamese wants to get out. He wants out of the house when we are home, out of the Coach when we are on the road, out of the condo when we are in Mexico and especially he wants out of the crate when we are in between.

We had an "interesting" happening the other day when I had to stop short.

Poor cat.


Read about it here - CLICKY

[goldwingerx2]

We have an indoor only cat (Purr). We can leave a door at home or MH open and she will not come out. She wears a collar in the house and at night we take it off and she is confined to our bedroom. Since she has the run of the MH we do not put a collar on her much the same as the bedroom in the house. We carry her to and from the MH which is under protest the whole time. We put a figure 8 collar and leash on her. She knows the figure 8 means a move. She is not crazy about it but sits there while we clip the leash on. As soon as the door opens she starts her protest, sit her down in either place and she turns and lets a loud meow out and is perfectly good after that. She has traveled about 50,000 miles from AK to FL with no problems. She knows when we are loading the MH and goes and sits close to wear we hang the leash even though she is not crazy about it. Cats go figure.

[TednRelinda]

Oh my gosh! I love it! I am so glad things like that happen to others and not just to us. Thank you for sharing that with everyone.

[cj5 jeeper]

At home our two kitties are indoor-outdoor, and when we travel they both want to get out. When we take them out they can not get back in fast enough. Last winter we spent two months in Arizona. Right before we left I found a small bird feeder that attached to the window with suction cups. Our orange tabby did not care, but our maine coon gave us hours of enterainment. A couple of times we had 18# of cat hit the window.

[Frank P. Martin]

Originally Posted by cj5 jeeper

A couple of times we had 18# of cat hit the window.

ME-OWCH!

I'll bet that took a lot of purr out of your kitty.