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Travelling long ditances with multiple dogs


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So it seems our time on the farm is slowly but surely coming to an end, which mean that some time this year we'll be moving away. Probably far away, 1500km's +-. I am planning on taking the woollies and the kitties with, but since I've never travelled further than town with the dogs, I"m looking for some advice from those of you who have either moved long distance or travel long distances with multiple dogs. How does one do it? How do you load up 5 BC's and 4 cats and move across the country?

We are for now thinking of crating the cats who will have to travel in the cab of our double cab, the two meezers sharing one crate and the other two one each to a crate and the dogs loose in the canopy. it's probably less than ideal, but they're not used to being crated in the pickup, so that might take some doing to crate them, providing I can fit 5 crates into the back of the pickup in the first place.

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Dear Doggers,

 

I've tried traveling with three loose in the back of a station wagon and it made them very uncomfortable.in a 12 hour drive. (they broke through the barrier to the front to get away from each other.) I'd suggest crates. Not hard to accustom dogs to crates if that's where they're fed.

 

Donald McCaig

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I'd be more worried about the cats than the dogs. How to provide toilet opportunities safely?

 

most of our dogs travel together in the back of my small suv with a dog guard to stop them coming forward and a tailgate guard to stop them jumping out and to allow ventilation when stopped. Works for us.

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What I do for cats for travel is have a small crate for each, just large enough that a dishpan with cat litter fits sideways in the back half, and a folded towel or piece of blanket fits in the front half. The cats travel well as they have a potty place and a sleep place, and water can be offered at rest stops.

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Dear Mr McCaig,

You do raise a good point there. Especially since two of the girls don't always get along to good. My biggest problem is whether I'll be able to fit five crates in the back of a double cab pickup. At the moment the plan is to olnly take the one pickup down to Cape Town and if\when it becomes neccesary acquire another.

What we used to do for the cats in the good old days when cats still went with on holiday is to keep a litter tray in the back and when the cats started showing signs of having to go, we would pull over somewhere quiet, cat was fitted with a harness and the litter tray put on the ground and cat allowed to do his business. then we would load up and continue with our journey.

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I've moved across the USA multiple times with my pets. The cats each get a dog sized crate with a small litterbox plus food and water (for trips longer than one day). The dogs are all ideally in crates. I had to use a seat belt harness with one on this last trip. If you can't find a small litterbox, foil disposable baking pans work just fine and come in many sizes. I do NOT open the cat crates during a trip for fear of one getting loose far from home.

 

I would be worried about dogs loose under the cap of the truck. In an accident if that cap comes loose you can lose them. It can also get quite hot in there. If the dogs are crated you can at least open all the windows. PS, crates should be strapped down so they aren't thrown in an accident.

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I also strongly recommend crates for the dogs. They might not be used to it now, but in the long run, I think they find it much more secure feeling. It's like giving each of them a safe den when everything around them is strange and unsettling. It's also MUCH safer if you should get in any kind of an accident. Even just a fender-bender or a slide off the road can terrify a dog to the point of trying to escape.

If you have a double cab, I think your proposal for 2 cat crates sounds good. I've traveled with cats loose and crated, and while my cats those years ago were used to travel and did very well loose ... we also had a terrifying incident where we thought one kitty had got out of the car in the dead of winter. We couldn't find him anywhere and finally had to leave, and I was driving down the road crying my eyes out - when I felt a bump under my seat. The rascal had simply crawled under the driver's seat for a nap! But the danger is very real for losing one on a long trip. Crating is much, much safer.

So I'd say just put some kind of beddng and a small pan of litter in each crate with them. And possibly one of those rabbit water bottles in each crate to keep them hydrated on the way.

But definitely crate the dogs in the canopy, or at least most of the dogs. They can get a little stir-crazy if cooped up together for the long haul, leading to fights, plus there are the safety concerns I mentioned. Oh, and I tend to stop and potty mine every 4 hours or so. It's good for them and keeps me from going cross-eyed from too long staring at the road. ;)

Best of luck in the move! Sounds a little sad but hopefully you're looking forward to happy new beginnings. :)

~ Gloria

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I also recommend harness, snugly fitted to each dog with name,phone numbers on harness. Lots of leashes in the vehicle, so when you are doing a rest stop they are easy to find. Dogs trained to wait until release command to jump out of the car. Water containers filled with water from "home". Water containers that can be re-sealed...or at the minimum pouring water back into container. Toys, bones, or items of interest to keep them happy. Train them to do their business on command.....makes stops more manageable. Feed only in evening, limits car sickness issue.

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Dunno about cats, but I moved form SoCal to Nebraska with 8 border collies and 2 LGDs, plus sheep. The border collies were used to riding in the back seat of the pickup, so that's where they were. The LGDs were in the stock trailer with the sheep. All made the trip just fine. Now I'm back in SoCal for 10 days, and brought 7 of the border collies with, again, in the back seat of the pickup. But as I said, they are used to riding the the pickup a LOT,

A

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One warning about travelling with cats in crates with the litter box in the crate. If your litter is the clumping kind and there's a dish of water in there, the two may get mixed if the water sloshes, and the result might be a nasty clump of hardened kitty litter on the cat. This happened to me (or, more to the point, to my cat) once, and since then I always leave the litter box outside the crate. Even if no water in the crate (which there should be), there's not usually enough room in there, unless it is a large crate, for the cat to stay completely away from the litter. When I stop to let the dogs pee, I take the water dish out of the crate and put the litter box in. I found that the cat(s) are more likely to use the litter box when the car is not moving, in any case.

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