RVing with Cats Question

[Old Grape]

Howdy all. I have RV'd with dogs and seen folks with cats. I have a cat now. Have not taken her in the coach yet. How do you keep them from clawing up the furniture? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Jreeves2]

Cats have the ability to learn and understand about 50 words and commands....they just don't want to. We have a tortoise shell that is very independent. We use a spray bottle with water in it for attitude adjustment. They learn pretty quickly what you don't want them doing. We also put her in the crate for overnight, otherwise, she climbs the window treatments. When traveling, she hides under the sofa. Sometimes in the drawer. She never goes outside. It takes several hours after the engine is off before we even see her.

[HighDesert]

We traveled with two cats before they departed us. Two individuals - one would want to claw the sofa arm. and the other could care less. We did always have a scratch pad in the MH laid out for them to use. Spray bottles work, and there are self adhesive "sticky" items that be placed on items you don't want them on. Bottom line - the cat is going to do what the cat wants to do, unfortunately. The other issue you really have to deal with is what kind of litter box / litter you are going to use and where to place it. Pet peeve with me was cat litter on the floor when I'm barefoot.

[luvlabs]

You biggest problem will not be scratching furniture but getting lost in the nooks and crannies under the dash, under the bed, and any other neat place to explore. Foam core poster board can be used to make blockers for the entry spaces.

As to scratching, a nice cat tree with plenty of hemp rope wrapped areas will satisfy your cat's need to clean their paws.

[LynnD]

Hi Galen and Amy,

We have had no issues with the cats scratching the furniture, we currently travel with all 13 of out rescues. They don't do it at home and they don't do it in the motorhome. They were all taught to use the scratching posts and cardboard scratch pads, water bottles do help a lot when training them. You can make the posts and pads more attractive to them with catnip, it is a great training aid.

For the litter box....we use a pine nugget system with a clotted litter box, it works well for us, each of the 3 boxes we travel with are serviced a few times a day but it only takes a couple of minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGhQ...GARDENSCATTERY

[Marine359]

Put a coarse mat made from natural fibers like twine in the entry doorway. Your cat will quickly determine that it is the best thing in the rv to scratch her claws. Remove the aisle-side door from one of the dinette seats. Covered liter box fits neatly in there.

Cats like to play the hiding game. You may think they somehow got out of the rv when you weren’t watching. You look all over the campsite and finally give up and move on, and the crying begins. Hours, or maybe a day later when you’ve composed yourself, you hear a faint mieux and think your mind is playing tricks on you. An hour later you hear it again, this time you turn on your spidey senses and open the drawer under the sofa. There sHe is laughing at you because she won the hiding game. Divorce avoided.

[Dutch Star Don]

If they're indoor cats, why not declaw them.

The other thing I see people do that looks like a good idea, is to make a cage that fits through one of the sliding windows and allows the cat to safely be outside and get some fresh air.

[Mighty_J]

We’ve travelled the last couple years with our three cats. They use their scratching posts at home and we bring their favourite with us on the road - so far, no problems at all with scratching.

For travel, we take the doors off their crates and secure them on the rear bed. They mostly go in their carriers on their own while we’re driving (we also leave their carriers out at home so they see them as a safe place rather than a going to the vet kinda thing).

I’ve made Bristol board templates to put under the dash where the wires are to keep them out of there while we’re parked.

We used to have a cat that loved getting sprayed with water so we switched to putting some change in a stainless steel water bottle. A sharp shake and they stop whatever they’re doing and generally don’t do it again. It’s the sharpness and oddness of the noise.

It also helps that we’ve got inherently lazy cats (rag dolls). Lol

Best of luck!!

[trispeed]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

If they're indoor cats, why not declaw them.

The other thing I see people do that looks like a good idea, is to make a cage that fits through one of the sliding windows and allows the cat to safely be outside and get some fresh air.

only if you are ok with cutting off your fingertips, it's extremely cruel to de- claw a cat, they lose so much of their capability.

[chuckbear]

What do you do at home? Why would they do it in the RV and not at home? WE use a can of air to keep ours from doing things we don't want her to. WE alwats have a couple of scratching post handy. Chuck

[NorthernDriv]

We use an upright scratching post and seat belt it to the recliners when traveling.

[Old Grape]

Originally Posted by chuckbear

What do you do at home? Why would they do it in the RV and not at home? WE use a can of air to keep ours from doing things we don't want her to. WE alwats have a couple of scratching post handy. Chuck

We have scratch pads, scratch wraps around the kitchen table legs, and a few other things they are allowed to scratch up. But cats don't always scratch when you are around. The best cat will still attack a chair or sofa once in awhile when your not around. So I may just get some heavy duty furniture covers to help out.

[Old Grape]

Originally Posted by trispeed

only if you are ok with cutting off your fingertips, it's extremely cruel to de- claw a cat, they lose so much of their capability.

We have declawed cats in the past but they were mainly inside cats. The biggest fear with declawing is residual pain if it is not done by a skillful vet. Also they may start biting a bit more. If properly done they can still climb some, run, jump, etc..

Many vets still support declawing in certain circumstances because it is better than the alternative of euthanasia. Many more cats would end up in shelters and then be euthanized. I won't do that but declawing is still an option for us.