Car Travel Cat
It's that time of year when pets are likely to accompany families on holidays, so road trips are in order.
Cats will often vocalise long, and loud, and persistently, and gradually produce a more tortured sound that most owners can't stand to listen to.
If you have just one, or a couple of trips to take, we can use anxiolytic medications to help your animal cope on trips, as well as antiemetics so that we keep that upholstery clean! (and vomiting is an awful feeling as we all know)
However it's much easier to train your animals to the car as early as you can. This involves positive training and associations with the car travel: Start with small trips around the block and offer treats and encouragement. When your animal is comfortable you can increase the length, do night trips, go on the freeway.... expose the to different stimuli slowly and positively. If they already have a phobia, you may need to medicate with an anxiolytic to begin this program.
Cats can be trained to love their carriers - it's easy and there's some tips below (so no more stuffing them into a cobwebbed carrier on vaccination day!). But the idea is the same - start small and slow, and work up to bigger and more complicated trips as long as the animal is handling it. Use anxiolytics when needed to make it a happier experience for everyone too (don't be afraid to use medication to help!)
Lastly, make sure your pet is secured. Cats will probably not eat or drink whilst traveling.
See the links below for other tips :)
