Rescue on the Road - Need advice on what to buy

[rvrescuernch]

I'm going full time this fall and taking my rescues with me. We may pick up a few along the way as well. It happens (cats and dogs only, humans don't crate well).

My questions are:
-Is there a make/model of RV that is more pet friendly?
-Originally considered an A or C class thinking I'd want to be in the same space as the fur family at all times, but then I saw a blogger with pets who towed a travel trailer with a cargo van. Thoughts on RV class?
-How does temperature control come into play? Any advice on how to keep it regulated while out of the RV?
-Has anyone traveled with a large number of pets before or have I lost my mind?
-Am I going to face challenges with number of pet limits? I've seen this mentioned on other posts. I'm not picky about the type of sites we will camp at, so hopefully this can be worked around.
-Do your animals free roam when you are outside?
-Has anyone traveled with larger animals?

I'm sorry, I could go on but I'll stop there. So far I've only talked myself further into it after researching the financial and freedom aspect, but obviously the pets are a unique challenge...

[Blondiega1]

Originally Posted by rvrescuernch

I'm going full time this fall and taking my rescues with me. We may pick up a few along the way as well. It happens (cats and dogs only, humans don't crate well).

My questions are:
-Is there a make/model of RV that is more pet friendly?
-Originally considered an A or C class thinking I'd want to be in the same space as the fur family at all times, but then I saw a blogger with pets who towed a travel trailer with a cargo van. Thoughts on RV class?
-How does temperature control come into play? Any advice on how to keep it regulated while out of the RV?
-Has anyone traveled with a large number of pets before or have I lost my mind?
-Am I going to face challenges with number of pet limits? I've seen this mentioned on other posts. I'm not picky about the type of sites we will camp at, so hopefully this can be worked around.
-Do your animals free roam when you are outside?
-Has anyone traveled with larger animals?

I'm sorry, I could go on but I'll stop there. So far I've only talked myself further into it after researching the financial and freedom aspect, but obviously the pets are a unique challenge...

We have friends that have a bunkhouse class A. They use the bunk space for the dog crates. They travel with 11 I think it is?? I could be wrong. There might be more. They haven't seemed to have any issue finding places to stay and use X pens outside to keep their crew corralled. Granted, they have little dogs. If not in a pen, they need to be on a leash at all times.

Many Class A's (such as ours) have auto generator start. So if the power fails and temp starts to climb, the generator kicks on and will run the air.
I would NOT recommend leaving your pets in the back of at travel trailer or 5th wheel while driving. They need to be with you in the vehicle. All the more reason to get a Class A.

We travel with two labradors and I've seen folks with even bigger dogs, so it can be done.

Happy travels!

[rvrescuernch]

Originally Posted by Blondiega1

We have friends that have a bunkhouse class A. They use the bunk space for the dog crates. They travel with 11 I think it is?? I could be wrong. There might be more. They haven't seemed to have any issue finding places to stay and use X pens outside to keep their crew corralled. Granted, they have little dogs. If not in a pen, they need to be on a leash at all times.

Many Class A's (such as ours) have auto generator start. So if the power fails and temp starts to climb, the generator kicks on and will run the air.
I would NOT recommend leaving your pets in the back of at travel trailer or 5th wheel while driving. They need to be with you in the vehicle. All the more reason to get a Class A.

We travel with two labradors and I've seen folks with even bigger dogs, so it can be done.

Happy travels!

Thank you! Even my well trained ones would never have completely free roam or be unsupervised. It's humans I have a hard time trusting, not the animals!

That was my thinking regarding a class a or c. I looked a bit more into the travel trailer idea, and I see how it *could* work if you don't mind moving your animals from vehicle to vehicle to ensure they're always with you, but I am still leaning towards the A or C. Just depends what I can find in budget I suppose. I also would have to tow a toad I think, so I feel like either way it's a lot of work either on the front or back end of the trip.

Appreciate the feedback!

[Selah]

Many campgrounds have limits on the number of dog, typically two or three.
Never let your pets ride in a TT or 5th wheel.
Some parks do not permit outside pens or fencing.
If you leave your pets in the RV during hot weather you should have an automatic generator start should the CG lose power. This has happened to is twice.
Just my opinion but it is not fair to the the dogs to have too many without the ability to walk them regularly.

[JC2]

Originally Posted by Selah

Many campgrounds have limits on the number of dog, typically two or three.
Never let your pets ride in a TT or 5th wheel.
Some parks do not permit outside pens or fencing.
If you leave your pets in the RV during hot weather you should have an automatic generator start should the CG lose power. This has happened to is twice.
Just my opinion but it is not fair to the the dogs to have too many without the ability to walk them regularly.

Well said. I agree. There will probably be a number of people who would not want to park next to a rolling kennel.

[Chickers]

My husband and I have traveled with dogs for years in our Class A. We have 5 dogs, 3 small & 2 medium sized. Three were bought from a breeder and 2 were rescues, actually they were foster failures. My purebred dogs act as mentors for my fosters. All dogs are in crates when on the road and ALL dogs have attended formal classes for basic obedience training from a qualified instructor. (Never use Petsmart classes) We enjoy participating in AKC performance events with our dogs and we are very conscious of our multiple dogs when staying at RV Parks. Dogs are walked in pairs so we can clean up after them. I have ex-pens but I only use them when we are sitting under the awning with the dogs so they can be free in the pen and not on a leash.
Currently we are working toward full time RVing and hope to be house free in a couple months. We will sell our Class A for the increased living space of a large 5th wheel. Our tow vehicle will be a Semi with a sleeper cab for the dogs. I personally don't think you want to use a Van as a tow vehicle because you will be limited to the size of trailer the van can safely tow. Dual wheeled pickup trucks were made to tow, vans were not. If you get a pick-up with a back seat you have a place for crates. Keep you pet numbers down it will save your sanity and allow you to camp in more spot. This coming from the person with 5 dogs right? We are starting out with 5 dogs but as nature takes her due and our older ones pass we will think long and hard about how many we are comfortable with.
This is a great site to learn form. Good luck!

[LynnD]

We first had a fiver, had a wire crate custom built to fit into the back seat of our Ram crew cab to house the 5 cats we had at the time. But I hated moving them from the truck to camper, especially if the weather was not good. . . I worried about a squirming kitty being dropped. And when one of out lovebirds died the decision to start taking our remaining lovie with us was made, along with the decision to buy the motorhome.

So we now travel with our 8 cats and a lovebird, in our motorhome, and God willing, will be full-timing with them in a year or so.

[brokenrule]

We travel mostly for dog shows with three chihuahuas. They are in crates on the dinette setup as a bed. We never leave them alone for more than a hour on hot days. We do not have an auto start for our gen set. From experience if the MH is 74 and it's over 90 outside, in a half an hour or so the temp will equalize without a/c. It will get hotter inside than outside after an hour closed up. Also, if 100 outside the best we can do inside is mid 80's. The more you go in and out the hotter it gets inside.

We keep battery operated fans, cool coats and cooling pads if it will get over 90 outside.

Heat is our most common worry.

We also carry a K9 first aid bag and copy of recent medical records with us.

That tops our list for traveling with dogs. The wife is OCD so I could go on and on and on....