Never Forget These Basic Travel
Items When Bringing Your
Cat On A Trip

By Teri Champigny

Regardless of how you plan on traveling with your cat, life is a whole lot easier when you plan ahead and bring the necessary gear. Below are a few items of importance that you can use as a starting checklist before embarking on your journey:

1. Bring your cat's leash, his harness, and identification tags. Whenever you travel you are going to have to make stops, whether it is a stop to eat, a run to the rest area, or just to let your cat out for some fresh air. It is during these times and in unfamiliar locations that he may try to wiggle free from your grip.  If he does wiggle away, be sure that he goes no further than the length of your leash. In other words: Have him leashed before getting out of your vehicle.

Whenever you take them out of his crate his harness should always be locked secure, as well as his identification tags attached.  A perfect traveling leash would be the type that extends and reels out up to 10 to15 feet. They are small and light weight, and gives your cat plenty of room to walk his distance yet still be controlled by you.

2. Always pack a few of your cat's bowls for food and water, as well as a quick bite to eat that you can serve up any time.  Hard cat food is perfect for this which is why I always advise cat owners who travel often with their pets to get their cat used to eating hard food. If you happen to be using moist food than remember to bring a can opener and some sort of a scoop, or a fork, that you can use to serve up his meals in his bowl.

And never forget to bring along fresh bottles of water so that any time you make a stop you can pour some for your cat.  Dehydration is a common occurrence in animals when they are traveling because people sometimes forget that their cats need as much water to drink as we do when making their trip.

3. Never travel with your cat without the use of a carrier or a crate.  If you plan to travel by air then make sure that the carrier is airline-approved. Also, be sure that the crate is sturdy and is made out of high impact plastic.  The size should be large enough so that your cat can stand up and turn his body around.  However, you do not want the size of the crate to be much bigger than this. On the other hand, if you plan on making a long journey by car (cross-country for example) then it is best to have a larger-than-normal sized crate.  This is to ensure that you have enough room to place a small litter box next to your cat within the crate in case he needs to use the bathroom on a moments notice when you are unable to stop the car.