My boyfriend and I are going to our home town for about 5 days for the Thanksgiving holiday, and are taking our cat with us. On the rare occasion that we go out of town for a day or two we have a friend who does a great job of looking after her for us. This is not an option this time b/c he is also going out of town. Also I figured taking her would be much better than taking her to a kennel for several days, plus it makes me happier if she's with me :). Anyway I want the temporary adjustment to be as easy as possible for me and her. My parents have a small (non-aggressive) dog who stays downstairs almost all the time, which is where his food and bed are. I was wondering if it would be best for the cat and the dog if her litter box and food were upstairs. I don't mean locking the cat upstairs or anything, just so it would be out of the way of the dog so he won't get into her food and what-not. Would love to hear from anyone who has had any kind of experience with travelling kitties. Do you think she would go upstairs to use the litter box as long as I made sure she knew how to get to it? Just an additional note we live in an apartment so she doesn't have stairs at home...I'm not sure if that will make a difference.
Update:Sorry I left this out, I'm not flying. It's about a 2 hour drive.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Your cat will more than likely be very stressed as they dont like change once they have an established home and territory.
You will have to make sure that your cat gets plenty of water. Once she is at the new home I suggest making sure that she cant get out of the house first and then put her in the house. She will more than likely hide away somewhere because it is a strange house. If this is the case then its a good idea to put her in one room which is quiet and dark so she doesnt stress out to much.
If you think that your cat will stress out a lot then you can take her to the vet and tell them that you will be travelling and you dont want her to stress to much, they can give her a shot of something that will make her calm down and the travelling and new house a lot less stressful.
I have a cat who gets extremely stressed when he is moved or when a new animal comes into the house and will spray and pee and poop everywhere and just be stressed out so whenever we move or introduce a new animal we take him to the vet for this shot.
I hope you're not flying with the cat. Recently, so many cats have escaped at airports it's unbelievable. I'd board the cat if you're flying. i know I'm not answering your question, but you needed to know that.