Bringing Cats/Kittens in campers...

bhaneasa

Hi,
Don't know if this belongs in the pet or motorhome forum, so I'm going to post it in both!
Have any of ye ever brought cats away in campers? Can it work? Don't really want to leave them at home or put them in a cattery. I would like to bring them with us.....
Any ideas??

kazza90210

One of the main concerns would be them getting out and getting lost as they wouldnt know the area, so you would have to be extra careful when opening the door and you wouldnt really be able to open the windows, which could be a problem if the weather stays like this!!!

star-pants

How are they with being stuck indoors? And how are they on leads? If they got out they might not come back. A friend of mine lost one of her cats that way.

ValerieR

I have seen once a cat tied on a lead in front of a caravan in a camping site. It seemingly was used to it and didn't mind. However, though I'd have been tempted and considered bringing my cats along, I'd be terrified they'd escape on me never to be found again !
Cats are easily spooked and catching them when they are on the run is impossible !
We leave our cats home and are lucky to have this arrangement with our neighbours that they feed our cats when we're away and vice-versa.
ValerieR

MsFifers

Cats dont really like change, so I wonder if they would only be more stressed in a camper environment than in a quiet cattery where they would get used to the new situation in a couple of days.

I'm also thinking - I would not like to share the confined space of a camper with a litter box for very long. I would feel that the risks of the cats escaping and getting lost would be very high.

I did however see one family with their pet cat camping near a beach. They kept the cat on a lead the whole time, and it seemed fine. I suppose they may do it a lot though so the cat didn't find it strange.

dee o gee

It really does depend on the cat. Some are more like dogs in that they would love being brought away, others would hate the thought of it. Is your cat an indoor cat, in other words are they used to being confined in a small space?
Have they ever been on a lead, or do you think they could be trained to walk on one? My cat used to be lead trained, its not the same as lead training a dog, they can't learn to follow you (well its rare that they do anyways), they just get used to walking with it around them and with you following them, my cat took to it pretty quickly. You have to use a special cat harness not just an ordinary collar, an ordinary collar can choke them or they can slip it while on a lead.

Is there any way you could just try it for a night somewhere close by that if it goes disasterously wrong you won't be far from home, and if the cats get out they won't be at the other side of the country and lost??

FAYESY

Be really careful - when we moved to Ireland we brought our cats over we had 7 at the time & they were all in large cages - a few times a day they had free access in the van they were in - but we needed to be very careful as we would have hated to lose one of the babies.