Panting when driving

[dice]

hmm, Usually I take all me kids into the vet on leash and harness. I always have tried to get all me cats use to having a good time in the car. Road trips, drives to the beach fur walks, Heck, even have a mobile litter box for them. In fact my Vet prefers that I bring them in this way, I can always calm them down, and they are much more relaxed.

Do you take them for walks, are they leash trained.???? If so, would just set up some food, water, litter box and a bed in the car. Harness them up and take them for a walk, and coax them into the vehicle. Let them eat, drink, and relieve themselves. After being comfortable, then take them fur a drive. Go to a park, beach, or Mic EE Dee's and get them a chicken sandwich.

Of course for surgeries and such, need them in a carrier, if that's the case, have carriers in the car, and don't crate them till you arrive.

 

[F2bguy]

Unfortunately your cats are now associating the crates with bad experiences. As Pam suggested, feeding them in their crates and keeping their bedding in there may help acclimate them. Try covering the crates completely with a towel or blanket when they are in the car and see if that doesn't help settle them.

As others have mentioned, Ace can cause adverse reactions so it's always best to test a dose or two before hitting the road. You can try Xanax or benadryl but they won't last as long as the Ace. Prozac or similar agent takes about two weeks to build up in the system and be effective, so it's probably too late to try that.

You mentioned a couple of times that your boy sprayed - are your cats not neutered? If not, doing so would undoubtedly calm them down some...

Both cats were neutered 3? years ago (testicles removed). He sprayed a foul smelling odor that didn't smell like pee all over his crate when in the car.

 

[Pam Flachs]

Both cats were neutered 3? years ago (testicles removed). He sprayed a foul smelling odor that didn't smell like pee all over his crate when in the car.

What your boy most likely did was release his anal glands...the smell is incredibly foul. His nervousness about the ride was probably the reason for this to happen...unless he had a sudden bout of diarrhea, also due to being worried about riding in the car and why....

 

[F2bguy]

Yeah he did that a lot at the vet when he had issues when he was a kitty. He was being "lovey dovey" with me last night, even talking to me....so I'm assuming he thinks I'm mad at him and I did this on purpose.

Am wondering should I grab him and attempt to shoe-horn him into the crate today to take another 30 minute car ride in the city in order to acclimate?

I leave next week Friday. Will be seeing vet on Wed. to see if he can give me alternative meds to put him to sleep or calm his nerves.

This has got me really stressed out....but at the end of the day, when push comes to shove and if he gives me no alternative, I'm just going to physically grab him (the morning I leave town) and put his ass in the crate with him kicking and screaming and just head on down the road and pray that he shuts up eventually.

I will be spending the night in a hotel after driving 7 hours....then the next morning I have to wake up at 5am and shoe-horn him back into his crate (kicking and screaming) and drive another 6 hours.

I wish the vet could give me some meds...

 

[F2bguy]

Small update: Went to Petsmart and bought the spray "Feliway".

Sprayed 5 mists in each crate (x2). I accidentally got some on my finger and the F2 was looking at me, so I told him to "smell my finger". He took one whiff and immediately backed away....guess this stuff is really strong.

Any "best practices" on how to use Feliway properly? Aside from what's written on the instructions on the box? (spray 20 minutes in crate/car prior to road trip)?

 

[Trishy]

Another thing that might help is taking an old shirt and wiping yourself down with it, sleep in it, then put it in the crate and leave it open. If he goes in to investigate close the crate and only carry it to another room, let him out and give him some amazing treat and play with him with his favorite toy. Get him back in the crate and back to the other room, more treats, more play. As much as you can until he gets that being in the crate doesn't mean Armageddon, omg, end of existence. This could take a lot of doing this.

As far as a 30 minute drive I would do around the block then back in and treats and play again. Please try to ignore his howls and spraying although I know it's hard not to react, but he can sense your stress and it probably makes his even worse. Patience, F2bguy, and worst case, kitty wipes, lots of extra towels and relaxing music turned up a bit.

I do use the feliway spray around my house according to directions as I am trying to introduce 2 kittens to a resident cat who wants no part of them. I also have a few diffusers going and I think it has improved things a bit. Older cat is more snuggly and playful than she has ever been. Of course she may just be trying to tell me see... I'm all that, now get rid of them.

Another thought is the thunder shirt. They are a bit pricey and I know you are going through a move so it may not be the answer. I got one for my F2 for vet visits but haven't tried it yet beyond putting it on her in the house. If nothing else it made her easier to handle.

Good luck, F2bguy, I really hope things go well.

 

[Rafiki]

Good luck on the drive today. Please keep us posted.

 

[Pam Flachs]

Yes, I hope all goes well!

 

[F2bguy]

I just experienced what 8 hours of sheer, unadulterated hell must be like.

Just checked into the hotel room. The 8 hour drive was beyond miserable.

Two days ago I managed to crush up that pill (I forget the name) and put it in a can of wet food. The cats ate it and both got sleepy. No "crazyness" whatsoever.

So the vet visit went beautifully. They got their rabies booster and that other thingy that I forget the name (another booster).

Confident that I now had the upper hand on both cats, and knew how to trick them into taking a sedative prescribed by the vet....I didn't think much of it.

So this morning at 5am, I woke up, crushed up a sedative pill (low dose) and put it in their wet food.

Neither cat ate it. The plan was to leave at 6am and I was too busy running around doing last minute stuff and putting stuff in my car so I could vacate my apartment.


6am rolls around and neither cat had touched the food laced with the sedative. I mixed it really well.

Not wanting to stress, I just grabbed both cats, threw them into the crate, stacked one crate on top of the other in the front seat and put the seatbelt around them.

From 6am to 2pm they howled and screamed non stop. At first the little one started howling...then the big one joined him in a sympathy howl. The big one pooped in his crate 1 hour into the trip and luckily I was by a town....so I pulled into a gas station and removed the two blankets I had intelligently placed there the night before. I knew this might happen.

But he stepped in his own poop. So the entire trip smelled like foul cat poop. Nothing I could do but run the air.

So tomorrow morning, I'm going to scruff the big cat and use the plastic "tube" the vet gave to me to "shoot" a pill down his throat with the plunger. I was told to put my pointy finger and thumb in the corners of his mouth (he won't bite me, I'm 100% sure of this).....but the cat refused to open his mouth.

I'm not leaving this hotel room until I get a pill in his mouth. I am going to only give them 1/2 a can of wet food tonight (total), then hopefully by tomorrow morning they will both be starving....and eat my sedative laced wet food.

If not, we do it the hard way and he gets scruffed and manhandled.


Thanks for all your help so far.


Would appreciate it if anyone had any advice on how to manually feed him a pill. I asked the vet to lower the dosage so I'm not even giving him the full recommended dosage for his body weight....just to be safe.



The problem with this cat is that he has LOUD vocal cords....and he does not sound like a normal cat. He howls like a banshee and it's just annoying as hell.

I learned that if I ignore him....he usually shuts up.

I tried to speak to him the first few hours in a calm voice telling him it will be ok....that only set him off and made him howl even louder.

He was acting like a spoiled 2 year old human being child. Reason/logic/rationale did not work on him whatsoever.

 

[F2bguy]

I should mention this is a 2 day trip. 13 hour drive total. I got about 6 hours on the road tomorrow. The most dangerous part of this drive is over (I drove down a 2 lane highway, me going one way, opposite traffic going the other way).

So that added to my stress because I have a dinky 4 cylinder car (fully loaded with a 2 bedroom apartment) and it's damn near impossible to pass the slow moving trucks on the road....unless there's 5 miles of open road ahead of me. Not to mention I don't like driving on roads like this because it's not safe.

Tomorrow the road (after an hour or two) turns into a normal American highway. Kinda sorta.