We took George, our
orange tabby for a ride today to see how he would react to being driven somewhere that was not the vet's, since those are the only car rides he has ever taken with us, other than when we first brought him home in 2004. (From a pet-store in Jackson, where an employee had found him in the parking lot where someone had dumped him). It was a lovely day and we drove around the back-roads for about an hour, listening to our latest audio-book which is whatever the audio-equivalent of "page-turner" is...
The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second installment in the famous Millennium trilogy by
Stieg Larsson. George was not a happy camper of course, but he actually did better than I expected. At first he meowed and meowed but after a while he fell into a sulky silence and just sat quietly in his carrier. I think he at some point realized that we weren't taking him to the vet, so he just simmered down. And even when he was meowing it wasn't as deafening as with some other kitties, since his meow is quite high-pitched and not very loud--more like a squeak. And best of all was that when he was let out of the carrier back home, he reverted back to normal George almost immediately, which was a good sign that the driving had not traumatized him. Of course the actual move will be in a different car/van full of other things and will take quite a bit longer, but I think he will be OK. I'm sure he will be a bit traumatized by being in a completely new place, and without his brother and sisters, but I hope he adjusts fairly quickly.
Fellini whined almost the entire first day of driving from MA to OH, but did adjust just fine in the end (to this and four more moves). Probably helps that you are bringing along a pal for him...Good luck with the move!
ReplyDeleteHi Kristina! Fellini is a great name for a cat - much better than George-but he had already been given that name and since he is not the smartest cat in the world the name seemed to fit. (This was pre-Obama). Our first cat Belle (as in "southern Belle") traveled a lot on numerous moves and even on holiday trips--she got used to it, although she never enjoyed it of course. Our cats here have not had travel experience beyond trips to the vet. I hope he'll be OK.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, I had a nervous cat. He liked this calming spray stuff. We actually got one of those plug-in diffusers of it, but it started to give *me* a headache. Anyways, spraying his carrier with this might make him feel a little more zu Hause: http://www.amazon.com/Nutri-Vet-Pet-Ease-Natural-Calming-Spray/dp/B000OV7NUU
ReplyDeleteHi Frankity! I remember seeing ads for this stuff in a cat catalog (Dr. so-and-so's lots of stuff for cats)--thanks for reminding me about-I think we'll see if our local pet store in Jackson carries it.
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