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Unicorn Driver · 04-08-2021, 09:15 AM

Great advice Chuck,

That would even help with them going to the vet.

We used to let the big one roam in a SUV for short trips to the vet until she pooped in a cup holder, even though she had a litter box.

chuckbear · 04-08-2021, 09:23 AM

Short trips in the car are still not fun. I think she knows we are going to the vet and she really, really, hates that. In the RV we let her roam free while driving. She has her harness on and a leash connected if she starts trying to climb in front of me or under me while I'm driving. Mostly she just sleeps on the floor between the front seats until we arrive at the campsite. When we stop for gas or rest stops, we can either put her in the carrier or on the leash if one of us is staying in the RV. Chuck

Unicorn Driver · 04-08-2021, 09:31 AM

I could let them roam free in the rv as the dog gets harnessed in to a seat belt on the sofa.

The more I think about this the more I think it's best to go with the hybrid boarding/stay at home option, so a week at boarding and then a week at home and back to boarding and then home.

The oldest one has FIV and is now probably 14, the young one is about 6-7 and does not have it

The young one was adopted from the kennels.

J Birder · 04-08-2021, 09:59 AM

Contrary to popular belief, cats can be trained. It's just that they are very good at convincing us that that they are deaf, and that they don't understand a word of English. Actually they hear very well, and they understand a surprising amount of English. For example, "Wispy come" will rarely get any response. "Wispy come Dinner" will usually get an immediate response. "Who wants to go out?" will usually have them both lined up at the door.

We too travel with two cats. While enroute, they ride in the truck with us, loose in their beds. They have never gotten entangled with the driver's feet. One of them loves to ride in the truck. See alternates between DW's lap, the center console, and her bed. The other one cries for the first ten minutes, and then goes to sleep in the litter box

When we get to where we are going, I get the 5er leveled, then open the truck door and tell them "go home." They jump down and walk back to the steps. Occasionally, one or the other decides she wants to explore first. when that happens, a second, sterner "go home" command will get her up the steps.

When they are inside the 5er, they have access to their "catio" (see photos). They also have access to it while we are off hiking, or seeing the sites. That way, we don't need to worry about them getting overheated.

When we're sitting around the campsite, they sit out with us. When I call "who wants to go out?" They both line up at the door. It generally takes them an hour or so to learn the boundaries of a new camp site. The hardest part of that was teaching them not to chase a squirrel or chipmunk past the boundary, and they still sometimes need a reminder. One of them requires her own chair, and if we don't bring it out, she'll grab one of ours.

One thing that seemed odd, was that one of them would go to the door to be let in. Then a few minutes later she would be at the door, crying to be let out. I finally discovered that they were going in to use the litter box.

Q. What's the difference between a cat and a dog?

A. When a dog needs to pee, it scratches at the door to go out. When a cat needs to pee, it scratches at the door to go in.

When we're ready to go back inside, "go home" works for one of them. The other one immediately runs under the 5er to the other side, and sits there until I walk around, at which point, she dashes underneath again. When I get back around again, she'll be sitting on the top step, looking smug. I could probably teach her to quit doing that, but she seem to enjoy the game so much, that I just let her continue to play.

Once when I was out with just Wispy, I called "Spunky, go home. There was absolutely no response. She didn't even look up. I tried again, and still got no response. I finally realized that I was talking to the wrong cat. I tried Wispy go home," and she jumped up and literally ran up the steps. She knew all along what I meant, but until I got her name right, she was going to pretend that I wasn't talking to her.

Obviously, cats don't come this way. They needed some training, which we did at home, with one cat at a time. It really didn't take as long as you might expect. My one concern was that at home, "go home" meant go to the front door. I wasn't sure that they would understand that it would also mean go up the steps to the 5er, but they made the transition immediately.

Some cats will take longer to learn than some others, and some will be quicker to obey than some others, but like dogs, I'm convinced that all cats can be trained.

Joel

NorthernDriv · 04-08-2021, 10:52 AM

One fellow RV'er came up with a brilliant idea - Remove the device that connects the screen door to the main door. When you open the main door, the screen door remains closed , thus you can see where the cat is!
Since the cat wears a harness, attach a GPS tracker to it, for example - https://tryfi.com/

Unicorn Driver · 04-08-2021, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthernDriv

One fellow RV'er came up with a brilliant idea - Remove the device that connects the screen door to the main door. When you open the main door, the screen door remains closed , thus you can see where the cat is!
Since the cat wears a harness, attach a GPS tracker to it, for example - https://tryfi.com/

My door does that by itself sometimes ;-)

Digger01 · 04-08-2021, 12:49 PM

Ok now I will tell You My Story we have 11 cats all rescues. I promised My Wife
when I retired from the Government we would move back to Illinois from North Carolina. That is the reason I bought our MH. I am still in the process of doing updates it is a 97 Fleetwood Southwind. 32H. I have enjoyed reading all these ideas and will look forward in our endeavor of Transporting our menagerie. LOL!

amosnandy · 04-08-2021, 01:45 PM

I have two cats that travel with me. I leave Minnesota and travel to Mazatlan Mx in October and return in April. They hate riding in the car. Will do just about anything to avoid it. Once in the motorhome they are fine. One just goes under the couch while we are moving, the other will walk the dash, sit in the passenger seat, or look out the side windows. Both know how to tell time and when we stop around noon they know it is lunch time. The hider will come out, use the litter box and get a drink waiting for lunch to be ready. The other one uses the litter box going down the road no problem. I had a gas V-10 36' and couch hider would not come out while it was running. I upgraded to a 40' DP and usually just idle it up when I stop during the day. Couch hider has learned to come right out now. They spend half the year in a S&B house and half the year traveling. They seem to adapt. My suggestion is you just put them in and go for it. I know some argue about declawing, but I would get that done as soon as possible. And yes, it can be done at any age. Put them in, let them roam for a few hours, then take off. They will find a way to deal with it. Cats adapt to their environment. They just argue about it for a while, like a lot of people.

Unicorn Driver · 04-08-2021, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amosnandy

I have two cats that travel with me. I leave Minnesota and travel to Mazatlan Mx in October and return in April. They hate riding in the car. Will do just about anything to avoid it. Once in the motorhome they are fine. One just goes under the couch while we are moving, the other will walk the dash, sit in the passenger seat, or look out the side windows. Both know how to tell time and when we stop around noon they know it is lunch time. The hider will come out, use the litter box and get a drink waiting for lunch to be ready. The other one uses the litter box going down the road no problem. I had a gas V-10 36' and couch hider would not come out while it was running. I upgraded to a 40' DP and usually just idle it up when I stop during the day. Couch hider has learned to come right out now. They spend half the year in a S&B house and half the year traveling. They seem to adapt. My suggestion is you just put them in and go for it. I know some argue about declawing, but I would get that done as soon as possible. And yes, it can be done at any age. Put them in, let them roam for a few hours, then take off. They will find a way to deal with it. Cats adapt to their environment. They just argue about it for a while, like a lot of people.

Thanks,

The declawing is not going to happen.

TampaDave · 04-10-2021, 04:08 AM

Depends on the cat. Our Bengal used to love the RV, used to ride up on the dash and watch the world go by. Parked, he got stir crazy. RV parks do not want animals roaming around. I could more or less walk him on a leash. He got out one rainy night and I believe became gator bait.

Our calico kitty is a drama queen. In spite of all that, it's obvious she loves the RV when it's parked. Especially if there are birds to watch. But, she needed to find an appropriate hidey-hole while driving. She finally figured out how to get under the sofa, which is a safe space for her, no machinery or electrics down there. We had to plug up a hole so she wouldn't get behind the kitchen cabinets. That first trip was pretty special. Digging her out from under the slide. Coaxing her out from behind cabinetry. Sheesh.

Hot tip: get some pool noodles. Cut em up and plug up every hole you can find.

Any change in environment is tough for a cat. Takes a few days for them to relax. We moved aboard when she was about eight months old. Our attitude was, "deal with it sister." She did. Took about three days.

Going back and forth is going to be interesting. Maybe the first venture should be on a road trip of at least a week, give em a chance to choke down that initial adjustment, spread some scent around, sniff every square inch thoroughly.

In terms of scratching, we finally trained her to use the scratching post *most* of the time, and take comfort in the fact that sofas are easy to replace.

Hot tip: Da Bird is the greatest cat toy ever. Evidently it's so fun, you can use it as a reinforcer. Gets the wiggles out quite effectively. Which is good; you kinda don't want your cat to get the zoomies in an RV; in a tight space it's hard to avoid becoming part of the circuit.

As for the captain chairs, we finally put sheepskin covers on them. For some reason that freaks her out and she's been leaving them alone. We tried double sided tape for a while. It worked meh OK but will admit, the entertainment value was well worth the cost of purchase. Shoulda seen the look on her face. She was not amused. We were.

ehunt · 04-10-2021, 03:58 PM

We keep the cats in their carriers while traveling and they don’t come out until we are set up and slides are out. I purchased 4” soft foam from a fabric store cut into various lengths to plug holes around bed, slides, etc. After having one go into the dash and disconnect my cameras I started using plastic lattice cut into sections to wall off under the dash.

We use three sections of our 24” dog fence around the stairwell to keep the cats away from the door. I have it attached at one end beside the door and just swing it out and away to enter or exit. We are still careful when we open the door but in two years never has one of our cats jumped over the fence and into the stairwell.