How to Best Transport Your Cat
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Most Cats HATE to Go Anywhere!
At some point you will need to take your cat away from home. This event usually involves going to the veterinarian. There might also be other traveling scenarios such as: moving to a new home, taking a trip, taking the cat to a friends house because you will be gone too long to leave kitty home alone, or perhaps an emergency fire, flood etc.
It’s best to plan for any of these circumstances now. The number one thing every cat owner must have is a pet carrier. On the surface they all pretty much look the same, but let me tell you all cat carriers are not the same.
For years we have wrestled with our cats to get them into a carrier with a small door and too small of a carrier that was often flimsy. The doors are not always totally secure either which is very unsafe. Our cute, adorable, loving cat would suddenly turn into the Hulk when we tried to get them in the carrier. Trust me under all that gorgeous fur is a muscular, very athletic, lion with superhuman strength. The kicker is you usually only get one shot to get them into that tiny little door. If they are able to squirm free of your grasp and escape, then they will hide for several hours at least. You may have to wait several hours or possibly several days to be able to try again. This attempt often resulted in some injuries to one or both of us and our beloved cat was usually extremely traumatized.
If you are lucky enough to get your cat in the carrier, then you still had to try and get them out again at the vet. If you thought putting them in at home was tough you are now in for round two as you try to pry them out. We have had a few cats that just hated the carrier and the car ride. They were pretty easy to coax out since they wanted to explore their new environment. This is a pretty uncommon behavior though.
Finally, we found a new carrier on the market that takes care of nearly all of these issues. This carrier is larger both in overall size as well as the door. Speaking of doors…it has two! One door in the front and another on the top. Most of the top actually opens up with two latches and lifts right off. It is so much easier to lift our cats up like we usually do to pet, or move and lower them into the carrier from the top. You or a partner just need to be ready to get the top back on…quick.
This model is also very sturdy with a solid door and tight latch. The top door also is very secure and has a handle in the middle for picking it up. My wife usually puts an old pillow case in the carrier ahead of time so that our cat is not just laying on cold, hard plastic.
In the exam room it is so much easier to get them out. I just put the carrier on a seat or bench and remove the top door. I can just reach in and pick them up in a very calm easy manner. A tip here is that it is WAY easier to get them out if the carrier is a little lower than you. Trying to get them out while the carrier is even with you like on the exam table is much more difficult. This is especially true if the cat is big and or heavy. If you have to put the carrier on the floor that can work also.
Allowing your Cat Early Access to the Carrier Can Be Very Helpful
We keep the carriers in the garage since we have several. We want our target cat to be as calm as possible before we put them in the carrier. Usually the day prior we will bring the carrier inside and wipe it out with a clean damp rag. This helps dilute or eliminate any “smell” that might concern the cat. After it dries for a bit we put in a small towel, old pillow case, or maybe an old T-shirt inside. This helps make the space more inviting and less scary.
Make sure when you set the carrier out that the door is blocked open. Hopefully, you can achieve this very subtly like we did with Ruby. This plan has a higher success rate if cats can freely go in and out. Also it’s ok if other cats besides the target cat go inside. This often will make the target cat more comfortable and curious to investigate after they see their playmate go in and out with no issues.
Another tip is to make sure to bring a rag or two and some kind of bag like a plastic grocery bag. There have been a few times when our kitty gets so nervous and worked up that they have an accident in the carrier on the way. This is another reason why it’s good to have a towel or something already in the carrier in case an emergency clean up is required.
For so long we have had to deal with trying to use the older, smaller, single door carriers. Taking our cats to the vet or anywhere was usually a nightmare for a us and them. Since we have been using these new Carriers by Amazon Basics it has been so much easier. Now we almost never have an issue and when we do it’s minor and easily handled.
