Trifter

It started six months before we left. We had decided to stay in a Seagrove Beach, Florida condo for the month of January. The condo owner said I could bring my cat for an additional fee of $75.00. That sounded like the a great deal!

I went online to Petco.com and purchased a beautiful kennel for kitty. Purchasing a large (25″x181/2″x 16″) would provide plenty of room for a 9.5 pound kitty. My husband and I realized we had some training to do.

We took Kit for a ride to the Post Office about 3 miles away. He meowed a few times on the way, but was a quiet little boy on the ride home. We talked to him and put fingers in the kennel so that he would feel loved and safer. The kennel was used as his transportation to the Vet for boarding that happened three times from August to Christmas. He was doing fine and no meowing at all.

People laughed at me when I bought a bright, red leash…couldn’t understand how I would walk a cat on a leash. The idea was to get the cat used to his leash. He always wore his collar and so the leash was an easy addition. He wasn’t crazy about the “the red thing” at first. Over the months, he began to pay less attention to it! No, we didn’t do much walking, but he knew it meant some form of restraint.

When we returned from Christmas we began serious packing for our month in Florida. As I put the bags out in the hallway, Kit became curious. More bags, more curiosity. On the day before we left, Kit became worried. He would run away when I wanted to pick him up. He paced and paced some more. He wouldn’t eat. Kit didn’t know that he was going on vacation. He thought he was going back to be boarded at the kennel and although he doesn’t mind going to the kennel, I think he thought “…too much, too soon. They have lots of luggage here, so I will be in for a long stay:-((”

Kit was going to make this trip with no tranquilizers. That seemed over the top! This is a great little stray that has been good to us! We’ll show him lots of love and attention…it will work!

At 5:30 AM, we began our morning ritual. Kit was suspicious and wouldn’t touch his food.

At 6:45 AM on New Year’s Eve, we finished loading the car. Kit was slightly reluctant about getting into his kennel, but he did go. He was loaded into the back seat, bagged litter box resting on the top of the kennel and me in the seat next to him.

He meowed some. It was dark and I realized he had never been in the car after dark. Trying to soothe him, I talked to him and put my fingers into the kennel. He tried to settle down, but after 15 minutes he began to meow constantly. Had this been such a great idea?

He then passed a little gas and I opened the kennel and put the litter box at the doorway. Sure enough, he hopped in and did his “business”, covered it up and strolled back into the kennel. The meowing never occurred again. And people think that dogs signal when they have to go out! Kit gobbled down the treat he got for great behavior even though his small dish of food in his little house had been untouched. The litter box was recovered and the room spray misted in the air, and everything was back to normal.

Of course, Kit went to sleep on his favorite blanket that I had placed in his little “dorm”.

We had to travel the second day, and Kit was even more comfortable with the ride.

We are now settled in our condo and we will stay for a whole month. Kit loves it! He sits in the huge picture window, naps in his “dorm”, naps on his blanket placed on the sofa, or flops and waits for some loving and petting. His appetite is very good and he is as normal as he can be!

Travel with your cat? If not, why?