Thread: Very Long Journeys with Puss

Obviuosly not too many people out there have travelled a long way with their cats Dave,when we were thinking of perhaps showing abroad we had decided that the cat would travel the way we first took Merlyn to shows in a cage,room enough for litter tray & water all the while,we have taken him on holidays like that in his younger days & he was quite happy with the five hours plus we done so was sure we could have done more,only trouble is it takes up all the boot room so can't have many others in there with you or if you do they have to travel light !!! Don't think I would fly mine unless we were moving right away to far off countries can always remember seeing cats on an internal flight in America waiting to be loaded onto a plane,once they were in open sunshine & another time it was chucking it down with rain & they didn't get put on until the end but..... could be someone out there with good experience of flying them,might do it if I could have them with me & someone else took the car...!

Its a tricky decision to make, His welfare comes first of course but when they want to charge me £400 to fly him and knowing it won't be quite so straightforward as when us humans fly anyway I'm really considering the drive, as one person I know who flew their cat, had to be at the airport 5 Hours prior to departure time so the airport vet could check the cat was healthy/had proper paperwork etc.. so with that in mind, it won't be a simple 2/3 hour flight.

I'm trying to reintroduce the harness and leash with him so he gets used to it so if we do decide to drive, then at least I can take him out to do his business and have breaks out of the car as well.

Well, we drove 450mls from Dundee to London with 2 x 1 yr old cats in the car with us who didn't know us from adam, though it helped that they knew each other and were in the same cage [actually a dog cage that the 2 jack russells normally travel in] and they were fine.

We had litter in the car and let them out about 1/3rd and 2/3rds of the way, with all the doors closed, which they sniffed at but didn't actually use, and offered them food & water at the same stops, though only small amounts to try and avoid any travel sickness issues. Other than that they spent most of the time curled up asleep - pretty sure they had a more enjoyable time than we did

I guess at the end of the day only you can know what is best for him as they are all different, but if he is normally ok in the car, I would drive him, at least he will have you there if he gets stressed, unlike the flight versions. On the otherhand if he is not a good traveller, flights might be better, as despite the time in the cage for vet checks, etc, the actually travelling bit is minimised.