Cats and Motorhomes

DavidCh

DavidCh

Joined
Apr 14, 2022
Posts
297
Likes collected
544
Location
Carvoeiro, Portugal
Funster No
88,080
MH
Bavaria T71LP
Exp
50 years of boating, just one on motorhomes.
I am not a cat person but we were adopted by one. Basically this very hungry cat turned up outside the house looking pathetic. Samantha spent about a week feeding it (bad move), then built a small hutch for it and...... So now it lives with us and spends most of its life finding the best place to sleep (our bed is the favourite or the window sill). We had her chipped, vaccinated checked out etc; (don't even think about the cost) and now she runs our lives! She goes out every night for a couple of hours but seldom goes further than 25 metres from the house.

We cant leave her at home when we go away in the motorhome and finding a boarding kennel for her would be very traumatic as well as expensive. SHe is very affectiante and good in the house but does turn into Satan if confronted by a vet (now banned from one after stitches were required!)

We intend to take her with us

Looking for advice from experienced cat people
 
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UK travel ?
You should be fine, lots of people take cats and most take to it very well.
I think most use a harness and a line to let them wander around the van without going missing.
Does she use a litter tray, this can be taken outside when on site.
EU is a whole load of more expense 🤣

Edit, oops, just noticed your in Portugal, you'll need to check for requirements needed if any for crossing borders, eg Switzerland ?
 
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In Portugal so no problems in the EU of course. Clearly she was a domestic cat that had been abandoned because she already knew all about litter trays (drives us mad, we live in an huge orchard and I see her run from the grass and trees into the house to use her tray and then goes out again!). She happily goes into a travel box and prefers to sit on top of it looking out the window when we take her in the car (slightly different story after a vet visit of course!). What sort of harness do you suggest? I don't think she would go very far from us anyway, I think she has learned not to let her 'humans' get out of sight.

Ta
 
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No problem. You could even instal a cat flap with step ladder like this person did! Seen at Tropicana a few years ago. the owner was an 80 year old lady! cat was perfectly happy even used its litter tray!
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We take our cat everywhere we go in the moho.. she travels in a conventional 'carry box' on my wife's lap connected to the seat belt.

We sometimes let her outside with a body harness and extended lead.

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We've taken our two house cats away a couple of times. One isn't great at the travelling part, but he's getting better. They are both well behaved when we're on site.

We've got harnesses for them when they go out the door. Don't venture far from the van. With Tractive trackers for backup in case something bad happens and they get lost.
 
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I had been worried about putting a collar on her for fear of her getting it caught on something and strangling herself. I am over thinking this?
 
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DavidCh said:
I had been worried about putting a collar on her for fear of her getting it caught on something and strangling herself. I am over thinking this?
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Collars generally have breakaway points. So they'll release if they get caught. I had a collar on too loose once. Archie got his hind leg stuck in it while scratching his neck. Kicked, and the collar flew across the room.
 
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Our two go everywhere with is, but with two notable exceptions, (Hylands End and Shrewsbury) they stay in the van. They are big cats so travel in proper boxes on the floor midships and are happy. When pitches they prefer the overcab bed and happily go up and (head first) down the ladder.

Biggest problem is the over enthusiastic covering their deposits sending litter a considerable distance. Damn painful if you get up and stand on in bare feet.

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Lots of us travel with cats, wouldn’t dream of putting him in kennels.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Cat power

Here's Missy Moho who loves her special bed that fits into the slots for the headrests.. any travelling cat pics or stories welcome as they seem to be underrepresented here....
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Does anyone tour with a cat?

We have an indoor cat who we would like to take with us once we get our Campervan. (We do have a plan b). After months of looking, my wife found a reinforced mesh that's possible suitable to seal off the lounge when we are out of the van. This would protect from opening the hab door, puss get...
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DavidCh said:
I had been worried about putting a collar on her for fear of her getting it caught on something and strangling herself. I am over thinking this?
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I'd say you were over thinking it. They need to get used to a collar and then a harness. She'll probably need a flea collar on anyway ?
And a little bell helps alert the birdies.
In the unlikely event of getting the collar hooked on something it should break free when she struggles.
 
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First time with a harness is fun. They will act like they've just been paralysed. I'm not sure if they're just being drama queens or if it's a genuine reflex, but they get over it in about 20 mins. It doesn't happen again. Mine like getting their harnesses on because it means they can go outside.
 
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DavidCh said:
I am not a cat person but we were adopted by one. Basically this very hungry cat turned up outside the house looking pathetic. Samantha spent about a week feeding it (bad move), then built a small hutch for it and...... So now it lives with us and spends most of its life finding the best place to sleep (our bed is the favourite or the window sill). We had her chipped, vaccinated checked out etc; (don't even think about the cost) and now she runs our lives! She goes out every night for a couple of hours but seldom goes further than 25 metres from the house.

We cant leave her at home when we go away in the motorhome and finding a boarding kennel for her would be very traumatic as well as expensive. SHe is very affectiante and good in the house but does turn into Satan if confronted by a vet (now banned from one after stitches were required!)

We intend to take her with us

Looking for advice from experienced cat people
Click to expand...
Most Cats tend to get stressed when taken out of their environment, they like to know where they are (dont bother giving them a map they won't read it) We have had Cats for years and would never subject them to this stress, so the options are 1) a Cat sitter a friend a family member or a paid service to feed the cat and make sure its OK. 2) Cattery although this is an expensive option.

Currently we are without a Cat and as much as we would love them we are away far to often to have one

How do you know if you cat is stressed...look for how much additional fur they shed, there are other signs but that is a very common one.

If your Cat escapes...... how long are you prepared to stay until or if it returns, Cats will adopt homes, if they are not feeling loved and safe they will find a new home

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Coolcats said:
Most Cats tend to get stressed when taken out of their environment, they like to know where they are (dont bother giving them a map they won't read it) We have had Cats for years and would never subject them to this stress, so the options are 1) a Cat sitter a friend a family member or a paid service to feed the cat and make sure its OK. 2) Cattery although this is an expensive option.

Currently we are without a Cat and as much as we would love them we are away far to often to have one

How do you know if you cat is stressed...look for how much additional fur they shed, there are other signs but that is a very common one.

If your Cat escapes...... how long are you prepared to stay until or if it returns, Cats will adopt homes, if they are not feeling loved and safe they will find a new home
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We did think very hard about this. Mouse is unusual in that we never intended to have a cat, she just turned up outside one day. Clearly stressed, hungry and bedraggled. We fed her by leaving food outside and, when the weather turned bad built a little shelter. About six weeks she won and moved in. She never goes far and I suspect had no intention of going back to ‘living rough’. On the camper we have just left the door open and I doubt she has gone more than twenty five metres away, just likes to lay outside in the sun. She has a tracker now anyway. Like at home she appears happy if the doors are open, just doesn’t bother going anywhere. Leaving her at home is not an option and she really would not like being in a crate for a week! See how we get on but so far so good :-)
 
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Coolcats said:
Most Cats tend to get stressed when taken out of their environment, they like to know where they are (dont bother giving them a map they won't read it) We have had Cats for years and would never subject them to this stress, so the options are 1) a Cat sitter a friend a family member or a paid service to feed the cat and make sure its OK. 2) Cattery although this is an expensive option.

Currently we are without a Cat and as much as we would love them we are away far to often to have one

How do you know if you cat is stressed...look for how much additional fur they shed, there are other signs but that is a very common one.

If your Cat escapes...... how long are you prepared to stay until or if it returns, Cats will adopt homes, if they are not feeling loved and safe they will find a new home
Click to expand...
I agree that cat sitters are good for a few days. But it's pretty boring for them. I'm also not convinced that a cat sitter would necessarily spot an issue if they're just dropping in to mostly feed and clean for 20 mins once or twice per day. We've got a local service that's great, but they don't really know my cats' usual behaviours.

My van is on the drive. So to allow them to adjust, I started taking them out for progressively longer periods, just sitting on the drive. I take their bedding and litter box with them so there's familiar scents. Give them a meal in the van. Then I did a few drives round the block with them. They start to identify the van as a safe place and a home. To be fair though, we take ours with us when we visit family and they are pretty relaxed outside their usual domain.

Escape is of course a risk. Ours are house cats as they're FIV+. We only let them out with harnesses. And they have dual trackers on their collars (Tractive and Tile). They are chipped.

A cattery is also going to be a very stressful option for them. And many catteries won't take my FIV+ boys.
 
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Guigsy said:
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My van is on the drive. So to allow them to adjust, I started taking them out for progressively longer periods, just sitting on the drive. I take their bedding and litter box with them so there's familiar scents. Give them a meal in the van. Then I did a few drives round the block with them. They start to identify the van as a safe place and a home.
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Guigsy said:
With hind sight we should have done this. I didn’t because I was worried she would not realise the van had move a few hundred kilometres from the house and would go looking for it. I think that was a mistake. Seems unstressed anyway :-)
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DavidCh said:
I am not a cat person but we were adopted by one. Basically this very hungry cat turned up outside the house looking pathetic. Samantha spent about a week feeding it (bad move), then built a small hutch for it and...... So now it lives with us and spends most of its life finding the best place to sleep (our bed is the favourite or the window sill). We had her chipped, vaccinated checked out etc; (don't even think about the cost) and now she runs our lives! She goes out every night for a couple of hours but seldom goes further than 25 metres from the house.

We cant leave her at home when we go away in the motorhome and finding a boarding kennel for her would be very traumatic as well as expensive. SHe is very affectiante and good in the house but does turn into Satan if confronted by a vet (now banned from one after stitches were required!)

We intend to take her with us

Looking for advice from experienced cat people
Click to expand...
We have 3 house cats, did ponder taking away with us but, cats are super sensitive when it comes to change (even in some but not all cases, a change around of furniture!)
If you do decide to take your furby, I'd try them in the van whilst at your home a few times to get used to it, then maybe take out on a few small journeys without staying over (that way, no nasty surprises for you if they don't travel or settle well when you do go away)

Even if yours doesn't travel far from your home, it may do when you're somewhere new = missing kitty so I'd probably ensure they stay inside your MH (leads/harnesses tend to be no good, as not only sometimes distressing for the cat but also super easy to escape out of!)

Have you thought about a pet sitter? Lots of companies offer visits to your home as many times a day as needed and usually chespr option to a cattery

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I thought I would update you all. Mouse has organised us as you would expect. I may have said this before but I now fully understand 'In ancient Egypt cats were worshipped as God's, they have not forgotten this!'. Most certainly given all of the complaing about not having the correct combination of quality food she has forgotten she was living out of a bin not long ago. Mouse has been great in the motorhome, we let her out as soon as we are parked and can see her with her tracker. She never goes more than about 100mts away from us. The only incident I have had was when I could not find her, the tracker GPS positioned her about 30mts away and when I went there I could see that she was within bluetooth range. It was another motorhome. I looked underneath, no sign, activated the light and the noise and could here it. Eventually found her inside that motorhome, curled up on a bunk with their cat :-). Oh, and similar we again lost her and eventually found her asleep in the locker! Tracker was worth every penny :)
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