Camping with cats! A how-to guide!

A lot of people thought we were a bit nuts that we wanted to take our cats camping with us. They may not have openly pointed and laughed at us, but there were definitely a few eyebrow raises when we told our friends and family of our plans.  Our cats are our family - I couldn't imagine leaving them behind. Besides, I knew that we were not the only ones who did this (like these awesome people that I follow). And, we figured that if we did it thoughtfully that it should work out just fine. 

So, this blog is for those of you interested in taking your cats camping with you and looking for tips or for our friends and family who are just interested in how we managed it.  

OUR CATS

We have two cats. Dexter is our "old man." We have had him since 2000 and he is 14 years old. He has actually already traveled across the country in our moves from Oregon to Arizona and then again from our move from Arizona to Oklahoma. 

Dexter enjoying 2 of his beds on the couch

Kora is our new girl. She adopted us last July. Luckily she is a very chill cat who seems to actually love people and strangers. 

Kora is such a lady

The first thing we did to get them prepared to become campin' cats was to spend a ton of time in the 5th wheel before we even left home. We would take them out there every evening for several hours while we just sat and watched tv and movies to get them used to the smells and the idea that it was a safe place. We then transitioned them into staying over night with us out there. We fed them and gave them a litter box to use. Then we left them alone in the 5th wheel for increasingly longer periods of time. This was all over a period of a few weeks and by the end of that time they were used to it and seemed to look at it like a second home and were completely relaxed.

FOOD

During this transition process we got the 5th wheel ready for cats.  Our cats eat Halo Spot's Stew canned food and Iams dry food. We already order their canned food from amazon (because it is hard to find in stores and it is less expensive online), so we just ordered enough to last them for about 2 months, which was about 120 cans of food.

That's a lot of cat food!

I got these nice storage tubs that fit perfectly under the bed in our storage area. At the beginning of the trip one container was completely full and another one was about half full of food. You can see that I also stored extra cat litter under the bed as well. Now, if your cat eats food that you can get easily in grocery stores, you wouldn't have to stock pile food like this. But spots stew is not super easy to find, so we just stocked up for the entire trip. 

Our awesome under bed storage

Then, I kept a shelf in the kitchen just for cat stuff. I had 3 smaller boxes that I kept can food that I could more easily get to instead of under the bed, along with cat treats and their anxiety stuff (more on that later). I also got a couple of those cereal containers that I filled with their dry food. I had a bag of plastic spoons that I used to scoop out their wet food into their dishes and I also kept a couple of bottles of water that were kept filled with filtered water so that at all times we had access to water for them to drink (which turned out was really necessary when we were stuck on that mountain in California). I also used the water when we occasionally stopped in rest stops to give them water and also to give them water when we would initially stop at our camp site, but didn't get the water hooked up yet. 

The cat's very own cabinet space

We had a couple of feeding "stations" set up for them in our kitchen area. One area had the dry food and water. 

Water, dry food, and a cat toy!

The other area had their wet food bowls. We kept their food on these plastic mats (small versions of this one) we got at Petco to help sorta contain it.

Canned cat food area

We are lucky because our kitchen layout allows us to put both of these food areas out and not be in our way. We can still open the cabinets in front of the wet food. Of course, we thought about that when we were looking for a 5th wheel, since we knew that we would be bringing the cats with us. 

The two food areas in our kitchen

LITTER BOX

So, of course, food and drink means that eventually, it has to come back out, right? This was a hard decision for me - where to put the litter box. We have heard of people putting the litter box in the basement storage of their fiver and then putting in some sort of trap door/ramp contraption for the cat to get down there. I didn't want to do anything like that for a variety of reasons. So that left finding someplace inside. We eventually settled on the shower. It was the most out of the way place with ventilation to help with the smell. We got a covered box that fit inside the door way to help control the smell, the amount of sand being thrown about, and of course, any potential accidents (remember, Dexter is 14!). Then we got a rubber mat that went underneath the litter box to help keep sand from going down the drain and again catching any dribbles. 

The litter box in the shower

To scoop the litter, we got this awesome scoop that hold these awesome bags in the handle. The bags have baking soda in them or something that helps control the smell. Basically I would scoop the litter into the bags, tie up the bag and throw it away, and then I would get a new bag to keep the scoop in to keep from litter from the scoop getting everywhere. 

I scooped at least once a day, which seemed to be a good amount for 2 cats. At least once every 2 weeks we would completely dump out all the cat litter and wash the inside of the litter box out to keep the litter fresh and the smell down. 

Scoop, bags, and bagged litter

The only downside of having the litter box in the shower was the fact that the shower became unusable. Usually we would just use the shower houses at the campgrounds, but occasionally, if the campground didn't have one or if the showers were all being used (like in Anaheim), then we would use our shower. It wasn't that big of a deal. We just took the litter box out and I used my little dirt devil hand vacuum to suck out any litter. Then after our showers we dried the shower down and put everything back. A little bit of a pain, but not too bad. 

TRAVEL

One of the things I was dreading was the actual driving to each new place. Both cats hate riding in the car. We did a lot of research trying to figure out the best way to handle them. Some people just throw their cats in the 5th wheel while they drive, but I didn't want to do that because there is no temperature control while we are driving, there are no shocks to help them have a smooth ride, Dexter is old and not very stable in the best circumstances, and I would be afraid that they would get trapped under a slide out or something like that.  So...that meant they need to ride in the truck with us. We also don't like the idea of letting them just roam about the truck because we don't want them to scratch up the truck, but most importantly to keep them safe. 

Dexter chillin' in his large carrier and Kora in her "cave"

We tried a variety of carriers (seriously, we have spent SO MUCH MONEY on different carriers) to try and get them to be calm on the drives. We eventually ended up with Dexter in a large soft sided carrier so he can stand up and stretch up his aching joints, and I can actually sort of pet him through the mesh. Kora liked the smaller carrier better and since she managed to figure out how to scratch holes in the soft sided carrier, ended up in a hard sided carrier. She seemed to hate the large trucks passing us, so I covered her carrier in a lightweight cardigan to make it like a cave for her. 

The new hard sided carrier for Kora

We also tried a lot of "anti-anxiety" things for them, like these chews, drops, and spray. I can tell you that none of these things worked for our cats. They may work for your cats, but not for ours! Our vet recommended children's Benedryl, which also did not work - in fact, it made Kora foam at the mouth and get more hyped up than she was before. So, in the end, it was just the "natural" method of talking soothingly to them to calm them down.  By the end, after figuring out the carrier situation, the cats actually did really well. Kora usually cried for about an hour, but could usually be calmed down. Dexter would do really well, but would sometimes get pissy and cry for awhile. All in all, it wasn't that bad and they didn't seem overly stressed by the situation. 

Failed anti-anxiety treatments

WINDOWS

Our cats are indoor only cats, which worked out great for us because they are already used to being inside all the time. We did see people who let their cats out. One nice elderly couple "walked" their cat in a special pet carrier that looked like a baby stroller. We saw another couple who put their cat outside on a leash and harness. I know other people who walk their cats or even let their cats outside with no leash. Kora might be up for something like that, but Dexter has never enjoyed being outside, so for now, both of our cats will remain indoor only. 

Dexter enjoying smelling out the window

One of the great things about camping with the cats is allowing them to see and smell new things. As much as we could, we left windows open for them while we were in camp with them. They spent a lot of their time staring outside watching the wildlife. 

Cats hanging out in camp

When we were gone from the camp site, we would close all the windows and make sure the air conditioner was on for them. At night we would leave a few windows that we felt they couldn't get out of open.

Kora loves to sit at the door when it is open

The cats watching the bunnies in Santa Fe

Exciting wildlife for the kitties (and us!) to enjoy!

MISC. 

Because they are indoor only cats, we had to make sure to bring all the toys that they would have at home. We got this small ball chaser ring that was a perfect size for the 5th wheel. 

Awesome light up cat toy

We of course gave them a couple of nice cat scratching posts for them to use (and a cat brush of course!)

World's best scratching post?

These ottomans that we got also made a nice storage area for cat stuff. We kept toys, brushes, toenail clippers, warming mats, strings, etc. in there.

SLEEP

Both cats also had their own cat bed to sleep in during the day. They also doubled as the beds that went into their cat carriers while we were driving. The black one was Kora's that she sleeps in at home.

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur...

The leopard print blanket is actually this really awesome blanket that reflects Dexter's heat back to him. This is another blanket that we brought from home. The grey bed actually was bought just for the travel carrier, but Dexter liked it outside of the carrier as well. And, Dexter of course has to have a chin rest when he sleeps, so we brought his special pillow I made him as well as his kick-a-roo! What spoiled kitties. 

...happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr. 

PROBLEMS:

Luckily for us, neither of our cats is on any medication and was healthy enough for travel. Kora did get sick, but we were able to take her to the vet and got her all fixed up. She also got sick in Yellowstone because we had run out of her dry food and the grocery store food that I found first made her sick to her stomach. Luckily we found another store that carried her real food, and she was all better after that. In the future, I will definitely make sure that I don't run out of her food! 

CONCLUSION:

Now that our trip is over, I am so glad that we took them with us. There were times when it was a pain and stressful (mostly in the drives), but I feel like we figured out how to make it enjoyable for everyone. I definitely recommend it! I can't imagine going an entire 6 weeks without them! Even though they only barely tolerated riding in a car, they really seemed to like camping. Hopefully we can continue to experiment with ways to help them be happier in the car and then it will be perfect!