Traveling With Cats

Now that we're a little bit settled - though no furniture for another week it seems, (minus the new couch we bought on impulse after my legs fell asleep in the camping chairs for the bazillionth time) - I have had some time to reflect on the ordeal that was traveling/moving with the cats.  In short, I wouldn't recommend it.

We tried to do as much as we could to prepare them for the trip and keep them as comfortable as possible.  We got them a pretty large crate to ride in to allow them to move around if they needed to/wanted to, and we got them the drugs that were supposed to calm them down.  The drugs didn't seem to do anything, and we were treated to at least 5 hours every day of Fro just howling at us, especially when the roads were bumpy, which was always.

by the last day, Fro was just done.

One morning, as we were driving out of Williams Lake, B.C. at about 5 a.m., we heard them making more commotion than usual.  All of a sudden, Andy says "they're out!" and sure enough, they somehow got out of the kennel and were roaming freely over the piles of crap in the car (still howling).  We pulled over and somehow I got them back in without opening any doors (I was freaking out at the thought of them bolting into the woods in the darkness and us never getting them back), but from that point on we were extra paranoid about them getting out.

Hanging out in the hotel - they preferred rooms where they could get under the bed.

When we got to the house, Fro settled immediately like a champ.

Zeus, on the other hand, is still (6 days later) freaking out a lot.  He spends about 5-7 hours a day just howling for no reason, especially when we're sleeping.  When he isn't testing the acoustics of the house, he's hiding in the cupboards or banging the cupboard doors all night.  Oh, or peeing on my laundry (thank god for the washer and dryer...I have one pair of jeans with me). In short, he's been a joy this week.

What's that?

Yes, there is a cat in my cupboards.  Also, the wine is so we can put up with his howling. 

We are trying everything we can think of to help them (Zeus) settle better.  Today we bought a plug-in pheromone diffuser that promises to help the cats relax.  It smells like a combination of hippie incense and wild animal and is adding some nice ambiance to the house.  About 3 hours into the experiment, Fro is acting drunk and Zeus is just following us around.  I guess it's better than banging the cupboards.  We also got them a new tower:

They love it. Maybe even more than the couch.