Charles and I moved from Orlando, FL to Boulder, CO in August of 2022. We knew fairly quickly that we didn’t want to fly for a few reasons, so that meant moving across the country in a car, with a cat… We learned a lot and up until about 3 hours outside of Boulder, had a pretty good trip. Here’s our experience on how to travel with a cat!
neko
Before we get into all the good stuff, meet Neko. Neko is our 2.5 year old leopard Bengal cat. She’s {mostly} hypoallergic and has loads of energy. Her favorite activity is fetching with a bobby pin (yes, she even returns it) and stealing our seats when we get up. But she sure is pretty, so that helps…
She also likes doing normal things like you and me.. such as get things out of the fridge, weight train, and even go on walks!
She even helped us pack! Although, when we arrived, she was clearly tired from the long drive and decided she needed a nap…
Packing the Car
We did go to the vet to get Neko a mild sedative before we left, but we wanted to see how she would do without the medications first. I had them handy the whole trip, but fortunately we didn’t need them. Our vet gave us gabapentin, which would make her sleepy but not completely out of it. We went on a few car rides with her in the past (other than to the vet) so she was comfortable in the car already.
We packed up the Pod about 2 weeks prior to moving and left what we thought were just the essentials that we would need for the next few weeks until we we able to get into our Pod again. Our original plan was to leave enough space so that Neko could roam around and have most of the back seat to herself. You know what they say about the best laid plans…
While we didn’t have an empty backseat like we planned, we did give her lots of blankets and she got comfortable quickly. We kept half of the back seat down and put her litter box right on the inside of the trunk so that she could easily get to it. We also used the same litter that we use in the house and she didn’t have any problems going when she needed and made sure it was nice and snug so the litter wouldn’t get everywhere.
Driving
Once we got driving, she settled in. The car ride itself took 2.5 days and 2 nights. For the first few hours, she would move around from the blankets to the top of the trunk but then realized she could lay at the passenger’s feet, which was definitely her preferred spot the rest of the time. She also slept in between us a few times, which was adorable. Although, I can’t say she looks comfy…
When we weren’t driving, Neko thought the rest of the car was fair game.
Hotels
The first night was fairly straightforward. We pulled off at an exit that had 5-6 hotels and went to all of them to get prices. While it was a bit annoying at the time, it was definitely worth it. The pet fee varies quite significantly from place to place, so it was worth asking around. We ended up at a Radisson. Neko doesn’t like carriers, so we use a leash and harness. We put this on her in the car and I carried her up while Charles got our stuff and Neko’s stuff to the room. One of us stayed with her the whole time to help with anxiety, but fortunately the room was “cat-proofed”.
Our second night was a completely different story. Unfortunately our car got a flat tire about 3 hours outside of Boulder at 6pm. We were close to a town so we drove to a car shop, but they were closed for the night. The tire was completely flat by that time, so our only option was to walk to the closest place. We found a motel about a half mile away. That sounds so short now, but when carrying a cat and all the stuff, it wasn’t! I’ll save that story for another time, but safe to say it was not a great experience for any of us.
What Worked
The move across the country definitely went better than expected. Here are some tips that I think made a difference:
- Getting Neko comfortable in the car prior to the move.
- Making her litter box easily accessible.
- Letting her move around the car (safely). We made sure that she couldn’t get under the seats or on the driver’s side door. We mainly used pillows to achieve this and it worked well.
- Have her favorite toys and cat scratcher in the car with her.
- Having medication on hand, just in case.
Final Thoughts
Here are some things that I would do differently and/or should consider if driving across the country with a cat:
- I would have bought a rooftop cargo carrier to create more space in the car. While it all worked out, having more space would have been less stressful for everyone.
- Given Neko flea medicine before leaving. Our second motel had fleas and while I gave her flea medicine the day we left the motel, but I felt guilty the whole time.
- Consider the laws when driving through each state as some states require that animals be in a carrier/cage rather than free roam.
- We normally give Neko a cup of food in the morning that she eats throughout the day, but we limited the amount of food we gave her in case she got car sick. She wasn’t super interested in eating though. I wasn’t worried as I knew she’d eat when we got settled. Since cats notoriously have kidney issues and the litter box was accessible, we did give her water at each stop.
- Make sure the “window lock” is on or you have a way to ensure that the windows can’t do down.
- We didn’t need to give Neko the medication, but she had been given it before when she hurt her paw, so we knew what to expect. If you are given medication, I’d recommend trying it prior to moving.
- We didn’t know how far we would travel the first day, so we opted for the “hope it works out method” of finding a hotel. However, you could definitely do research ahead of time and make sure accomodations are all set.
Did you find out the hard way that cats need to be in their cages in some states?