Cat who gets anxious in the car

SarahMollie

We adopted our cat back near the beginning of the year and we're both mad about him. He was a former stray but had clearly been owned before. We tried to locate any previous owner to no avail before taking him in.

Anyway, hes generally such a silly, friendly soul and we get great craic out of playing with him because he's so good natured. He snuggles with us on the sofa from time to time and is typically a non stop purring machine.

This completely stops when we attempt to get into a car. He's absolutely fine with the carrier, often just walks into it, but the second the ignition switches on, he just loses it. He meow's solidly for the duration of any journey. If the journey is more than 5 mins, he starts breathing strangely, panting almost. He then tries attacking the carrier, and then recently, he's taken to wetting himself (this has happened 3 out of the last 4 times).

If anything he's getting worse, rather than getting used to it. The panting and peeing are relatively new developments, and I shudder to think what he'll do next.

We obviously don't take him for jollys in the car, its literally only to go to the vet or to leave him at my mams house if we go on holiday.

Anyone have any advice/tips?

baby and crumble

Our girl is quite similar, it sounds silly but I find if I talk to her all the time she seems calmer. Also if she can smell me she calms, so I tend to have a finger through the bars of her carrier all the time which she rubs and she settles ok then. Have you tried using Feliway? When we got Shade she was NOT settling and then we got a diffuser and the change was amazing. You can get spray, maybe spray it on a cushion in her carrier?

Alun

We had a cat like this once, and she'd not only pee but poo in her carrier which wasn't pleasant when we got to our destination, either the vets (which she hated) or the cattery (which she loved).

Our solution was to let her out of the carrier once in the car and let her sit on my wife's lap. She'd put her front paws up on the edge of the car door and look out for a bit, and after a while then just settle down on my wife's lap for the rest of the journey. I think it's just the unsettling thing of being moved around, and all the noises and other sensations, but not knowing what causes it that makes them anxious, and being able to see around them makes them worry less.

I should add that she was very well behaved and didn't move around the car. If there's a chance your cat may wander and get in the way of the driver esp. get under their feet while driving that idea is clearly a non-starter.

SarahMollie

baby and crumble wrote: »

Our girl is quite similar, it sounds silly but I find if I talk to her all the time she seems calmer. Also if she can smell me she calms, so I tend to have a finger through the bars of her carrier all the time which she rubs and she settles ok then. Have you tried using Feliway? When we got Shade she was NOT settling and then we got a diffuser and the change was amazing. You can get spray, maybe spray it on a cushion in her carrier?

Thanks yeah, we've tried talking to him and having constant contact but it doesnt seem to do anything for his stress levels. We've tried putting a sheet over the carrier, no real help either. We've tried 2 different carrier types, one is the traditional hard plastic with a metal grid front, and one thats more like a special duffle bag with mesh that he can see through on all sides. With that one we were able to get our hand in and pet him, but he carried on wailing.

Thanks for the Feliway suggestion though, thats sort of what I'm looking for I guess, anything that might have a calming effect really.... don't suppose my vet will give me a tranquilizer!

SarahMollie

Alun wrote: »

We had a cat like this once, and she'd not only pee but poo in her carrier which wasn't pleasant when we got to our destination, either the vets (which she hated) or the cattery (which she loved).

Our solution was to let her out of the carrier once in the car and let her sit on my wife's lap. She'd put her front paws up on the edge of the car door and look out for a bit, and after a while then just settle down on my wife's lap for the rest of the journey. I think it's just the unsettling thing of being moved around, and all the noises and other sensations, but not knowing what causes it that makes them anxious, and being able to see around them makes them worry less.

I should add that she was very well behaved and didn't move around the car. If there's a chance your cat may wander and get in the way of the driver esp. get under their feet while driving that idea is clearly a non-starter.

Yeah I'd be very nervous about this TBH. He's so agitated as things stand it could be a big jump to let him loose. I suppose it might be worth considering as there are harnesses you can get for cats, but he'd need to be restrained in some way.

Obviously if he went nuts and we ended up crashing the car, the nobody would enjoy that!

Kovu

One of my cats (Squeak) does this too. She's also a rescue that literally turned up on our doorstep full of kittens but is now the most lackadaisical, lap-cat so the change that comes over her in the cat is extreme.
She does all the same things as yours bar the wetting herself, wailing and scratching at the bars, panting and twisting round trying to find a way out.
Luckily we don't have to bring her in it too often though.

I wonder if it would help for you to get him more used to the car? Just let him sniff around the car when it's not started, we've started that with ours now, letting her explore all round it. She'll now sit quietly on my lap while the cat is started once she's got treats and ear scratches. Small progress but progress!

(Another thing we've found to help Squeak is to stick my other cat in the carrier with her, he is an experienced traveller and loves to sit up front with his nose out the window doggy style. So he seems to have a calming effect on her in the carrier, plus if she gets too loud he gives her a bop on the head to shut her up )

SarahMollie

Kovu wrote: »

(Another thing we've found to help Squeak is to stick my other cat in the carrier with her, he is an experienced traveller and loves to sit up front with his nose out the window doggy style. So he seems to have a calming effect on her in the carrier, plus if she gets too loud he gives her a bop on the head to shut her up )

Thanks, but Boris is an only child unfortunately

Alun

SarahMollie wrote: »

Yeah I'd be very nervous about this TBH. He's so agitated as things stand it could be a big jump to let him loose. I suppose it might be worth considering as there are harnesses you can get for cats, but he'd need to be restrained in some way.

Obviously if he went nuts and we ended up crashing the car, the nobody would enjoy that!

You'd obviously have to try it out first, maybe somewhere really quiet, say in an empty car park on Sunday morning or something like that, so that if he did start exploring then the consequences wouldn't be disastrous. You may be pleasantly surprised, especially as you say he's a bit of a cuddle monster, he may just settle down on your lap quietly.

As for harnesses, we had them for our two as we were preparing to do an international move with them in the car at the time, but I can tell you that Houdini has nothing on a cat that really doesn't want to be in a harness

Bandana boy

Have you tried putting them in the boot , I know a relative has a pair of cats that went to sleep in the boot but went nuts when in the front of the car , not sure why but worth a try.

Alun

Bandana boy wrote: »

Have you tried putting them in the boot , I know a relative has a pair of cats that went to sleep in the boot but went nuts when in the front of the car , not sure why but worth a try.

Lateral thinking, I like it!

I've seen cats curled up on the back parcel shelf of cars before now too!

SarahMollie

Bandana boy wrote: »

Have you tried putting them in the boot , I know a relative has a pair of cats that went to sleep in the boot but went nuts when in the front of the car , not sure why but worth a try.

No, as initially I thought it seemed a bit mean, but its apparent he takes no solace from sitting on our laps up front, so I'm definitely coming around to this idea.

baby and crumble

I'd be really nervous of anyone who leaves anything (human, animal or vegetable) loose and unsecured in a car. If (and God forbid it happens) you are crashed into or loose control (not to do with the cat) your cat loose becomes a missile in the car. That is hugely dangerous and irresponsible if you ask me. Doesn't matter how well trained a cat is, accidents still happen.

pawrick

Very risky to have an unsecured animal in a car while driving + maybe someone else could confirm but is there a risk of penalty points if you are stopped by a guard? All it takes is for a minor distraction to cause an accident never mind the risk of a the pet being flung at you or a window during a crash. You can get leads which attach the harness/collar to a seat belt which would reduce the risk of movement if you had to have the cat on your a knee (still not ideal but less risk of the cat interfering with the driver).

As another poster said sometimes putting your finger in to the carrier will help the cat relax or even covering the carrier with a towel can help it settle. I never tried the feliway myself so cant comment on that.

SarahMollie

I think I'm going to try a combination of Feliway and/or the boot.

He was a bit unwell last night (got sick and hardly ate) so if he's still not perky I'll be taking him to the vet this evening, so I may get to try it sooner than expected!

kathleen37

I aways use towels to hang over the cat cattiers in the car. It does seem to calm them, though we have some that pee/poo/vom in the cat basket and there isn't anything which helps them...

You can get Feliway in spray form - i've not tried it myself, but maybe that may help? (Never had much success with the diffusers, but some people say it does help)

Some of the cats aren't bothered by the car, but for those that really are stressed out, if I'm honest, I'm still looking for something that will really work to help them.

Stepping Stone

We had this issue. We sort of dealt with it slowly. It never fully resolved itself but it got better.

We used to leave the cat carrier out around the house, so it became a favourite bed for the cat. We used to lock him in and take him out to the car when we were cleaning it and sometimes just sit in the car while he roamed around it.

We progressed to taking him to the shop, so one of us would stay with him and release him while the car was parked. He never got to love the car, but he got used to short journeys. I think that it was probably the break to look around and watch people in a carpark (I know that it looked and sounds crazy) before we returned home that convinced him that it was not nice but not that horrible.

Like yours, he was a former pet that ended up on our doorstep. I have always wondered if he got separated from/ dumped by his family in a car.

Milly33

You could try and spray a little of the feliway spray in the carrier to calm him down..And make sure there is a cover over the carrier when moving..either put it on before or when he is in the car

taytobreath

ive a cat that goes nuts too. i had a small plastic container for her water and she literally chewed it too pieces such was her anger at been in the car.
the best thing i think is in a cat carrier with a blanket over it in the boot. but i think its something that just happens,

i always wonder why they get so stressed over it, is it the motion of the car that gives them a sick stomach or the noise.