Moving cross country w/ pets

[dakcp2001]

Have you moved long distance? What is less traumatic for my cats, being in the car for a few days or flying? I have one cat that is terrified of people, I know he would have a very difficult time on an airplane, but in a car for hours at a time, how do cats ummm relieve themselves? How often do you stop to feed and litterbox? Anyone have any experience?
How did your cats do on a long road trip?
How did your cats do flying?

I have only one experience with a friend flying with her cat somewhere, and the cat DIED during the flight which makes me NOT want to fly with my cat unless he is carry on, but he may meow like crazy for the whole flight and make people angry. One of my cats is pretty chill, he would prob be fine.

And moving long distance in general- did you drive? Rent a Uhaul? SHip your belongings? Gert rid of everything and buy new when you get there? Our furniture is all crappy and old, appliances new but dont want to haul long distance.

Any tips or advice?

 

[RN2003AZ]

PM me... I have experience moving to AZ from MA towing a UHaul, and then from AZ back to MA flying with 2 cats...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If I flew, kitty would be a carry on.

For driving, we transported kitties up to Virginia one summer from Florida.

We bought a larger crate and put them in the back of the van. We put a litter box in it and some food. Water was provided on stops--b/c there is no way to keep it from spilling.

My BIL and SIL relocated October of last year and they moved from NM to east coast of Florida with their cat and she did fine. SIL was 8 months pregnant, so it did take them a while to do the trip. Their kitty hates people, too. They used their relocation money and moved themselves. Her dad flew to NM and drove the Uhaul cross country for them. (On their move out to NM, they used a professional mover.)

 

[eeyore65]

I have flown many times with my cat. She is a screamer in the car but was absolutely silent on the plane and did fine. You need to carry on. I would bnever put a cat in cargo. Your vet can give you a cat sleeping pill if you are really worried about it. I would think flying would be much less traumatic then a long car trip for my cat.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We moved from NC to WA in 2008. The thought of driving cross country with five kids, two cats, and a dog terrified me. We decided to have the humans fly and used uship for the pets. There are several respectable and trustworthy companies there that do nothing but transport pets.


You can post your transport details and companies will bid on your job. We were very pleased with the service and surprised how inexpensive it was.

The company sent a retired couple to our home. They had a cargo van with two large kennels in the back. Our cats were placed in one crate with food, water, and litter box. The dog usually rode on the lap of the passenger.

They took 5 days to drive. They stopped to let the dog relieve itself and stayed at pet friendly motels along the way. I think they even tag teamed the first night and drove all night.

They called us each evening to tell us their progress and let us know how the pets were doing. The pets were brought to our new house in WA.

They were just fine.

 

[geffric]

i drove from KC to Chi with 3 cats and a box in the back seat..

when the cats used the box I pulled over and emptied it.. drove thru for food so I didn't leave the cats in the car.. they fought for a while but settled in looking out the window and sleeping on the front seat and in my lap..

 

[Meriweather]

DD flew with her cat from WA to AZ.
Carry on....and tranqualizer. She did fine. Slept the whole way.

When we move from WA to AZ, I will also fly with my baby carry-on and talk to the vet about tranqualizers since he is getting up there in years.

 

[RangerPooh]

We moved from Ca to Wa, with a large dog, small parrot, and fish all in the car. We rented a U-Haul for our belongings. Made the drive a 2 day trip to save our sanity.

Then there was the move from WA to MI, with our large dog and small parrot. Once again we rented a U-Haul and made it a multi day trip.

Last summer we moved from MI-MD, same senario. Next summer we'll be moving back to WA with 2 large dogs, small parrot, and fish if they are still alive. We'll be making it a multi day trip and renting a U-Haul for our things.

Each time we moved our pets did just fine. Some car sickness, but when you drive mountain passes that is expected. A friend of mine moved from WA to IL and flew with her cats. She said that her cats didn't like being couped up but couldn't imagine having them in the car for that long.

 

[Binnie]

I've done both. With my cat, the plane was definately less traumatic, but he was a carry-on.

The car trip was rough on us (not so much on the cat), mostly because we had to find animal-friendly hotels, set up litter boxes, and deal with him meowing at us if we went under 70 MPH (He likes to drive fast!). Also, it made it really hard for us to stop and look at things, though our cat has been to Mt. Rushmore and Wall Drug--in a kitty backpack. (Kids keps seeing him and laughing, it was kind of funny!)

 

[luvmy3]

We moved from NY to CA and we drove. We rented a UHAUL and towed our car behind it. We had an extended cab and let our cat roam free, he loved to sit up on the dash while we were driving. That was definitely far less traumatic than when we moved back to NY from CA and we flew with him. We had to keep him in the carrier under our seat. Our vet had given us a sedative to give him but it didn't really help, he moaned almost the entire flight. I felt so bad for him.

 

[supercarrie]

Depending on where you are moving from/to, what about Pet Airways?

I have heard of this several times before - the world's only all pet airline, with pet attendants on board, regular bathroom breaks, etc.

Probably expensive but if you had to fly, seems a lot more safe than sending an animal as cargo and less potentially annoying for other passengers if you are worried your cat will make noise.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We moved and flew with 3 cats as carry-on. About 9 hours including a 2 hour layover. Yes sometimes someone would get the "meows" for a while, but on the floor,under the seat, they're still much quieter than a screaming child in a seat (been with that, too). The vet refused to tranquilize them, because if we hit turbulence with tranquilized cats, they may not be as capable of control and may get bumped around. Great decision and no problems.

 

[Stephanie218]

I've flown from CA to CT with two cats as carry-ons and it went fine. They meowed a little, but really didn't do too badly. I drove them back out to CA from CT and just let them roam in the car. They usually ended up curling up in the back seat on blankets or in their carriers. I offered food and water every 2 or 3 hours and they waited until I reached the hotel at night to use the litter box.

 

[floridalaurie]

I flew from MA to FL with my cat as a carry on. The vet did give me a tranquilizer for him so he was quiet through the trip.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We drove with our 2 dogs from TX to MO. It was me and my 2 girls and the 2 dogs.

We stayed in a hotel halfway.

 

[barkley]

we moved from california to eastern washington.

we used a moving company to haul all the household items with the exception of some antiques, personal papers, photo albums*, and those items of personal need (including enough clothing for one week). the items that did'nt go on the moving van went into a smaller u-haul trailer.

dh and my brother each took one of our cars, one hauling the trailer and drove. the family cat went in a carrier in dh's car, she did o.k. though it seemed she was more comfortable when dh would put a towel over the carrier. they stayed at pet friendly motels. the kids and i stayed a couple nights at a motel local to where we were moving from and timed it out to take a flight that would arrive after dh arrived in the area we moved to (no way either of us could have survived a multi day driving trip with the 2 kids and the cat).

one thing to know if you use a moving company to do a multi state move-they give an approximation of arrival/delivery date, so there can be a 2 or 3 day range (they call you the day before to confirm). that's why it's important to have those items of personal need and clothing to get through (we also packed in the trailer a couple of the tv's and preschedualed the direct tv hookup for the day after we arrived-that way the kids could watch tv while were getting the trailer unpacked).

as far as moving vs buying new-compare the cost of transporting and weather you will likely replace in the near future (and check what the cost of replacement is where you will move to, depending on the region and the sales tax you may find some items are more costly than you anticipate). also take into consideration how long it can take from purchasing furniture or appliance to actual receipt. if it's in stock it's one thing, if it's not then with furniture you can be looking at upwards of 12 weeks. as it was we had to stay for 3 nites at a motel local to our new home b/c we did'nt have beds or other items that were necessary to live in the house until the moving van got there. i give kudos to holiday inn express for being great regarding this-b/c it was a move pending the arrival of the moving van they let us ressie for the entire week with the agreement that we could cancel the remainder of the stay at no cost any day by noon (so when we saw the van pull in one morning we were able to alert hdi we would'nt need the room that night or the remaining days).


* reason photo albums went with us is b/c years ago we witnessed the after effects of a moving van that had been in a terrible accident on a mountain road. i can still remember seeing shredded photo albums and pictures strewn along the road and over the side of the mountain. insurance can replace most items a person has, it can't replace decades of photos and memories. this is why we packed these items to take with us.

 

[OK!]

I'll be traveling to and from Orlando for stays of multiple weeks at a time and have a diabetic cat that I obviously want to bring with me; what I was considering doing is getting a large pet carrier (he's a great big guy) and putting a litterbox in there with him with food etc., and driving there as quickly as possible without stopping. He's a yowler and even with tranquilizers, I'm afraid flying with him would be torturous for other passengers.

 

[MichelleVW]

I moved 2 cats and 3 dogs from North Carolina to North Dakota. The cats were in a large dog crate with a little box in the dressing room of my horse trailer until it got too cold. Then I moved them into a smaller cat crate and put them in the car. It was crowded but everyone did fine. I never let the cats out in the hotels though because they were freaked out and would try to find a place to hide.

Then a year or so later we moved from North Dakota to Texas and same thing except we would put the cats in the truck with us when it got too hot for them in the trailer. It took 3 days and although they were a little freaked out they did fine. They did hide behind the fridge for 3 days after we got here, but they recovered nicely.