And Then There Were Five: Adventure Cat Amelia Joins Our Pet Friendly Travels

A traveling cat is born of this "don't you dare leave without me" face.

Typist: Bethany
Having shared my entire life with dogs, much of that time exercising and adventuring outdoors, camping and backpacking, as well as road tripping all over North America, I consider myself quite knowledgeable about canine companions. I am comparatively very new to cats. My mom is allergic to felines so I wasn't lucky enough to share my life with a kitty until I adopted Emily. I didn't even plan on cats being a part of this blog since it is based on pet travel and adventures. Not all cats are cut out for travel. Emily, for example, would have hated it. She never ventured farther than a sunny spot on the front porch. However, it turns out Amelia is an adventure cat. She leaps into her stroller for epic neighborhood excursions, begs for comfortable rides in her front pack and walks nicely on her leash. I have even taken her on a few long car rides. Last weekend I took the giant leap of bringing her along on a four night road trip to Oregon. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing even though I had been sort of planning to take her on some sort of trip since last summer. My policy with Amelia is usually to let her decide whether or not she wants to come along. When getting ready for a Seattle adventure, I set up her stroller or get out her front pack and let her jump in. So when I was trying out the travel set up and Amelia first used the litter box then curled up for a nap, I knew she had made her choice.

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Amelia's first Cascadian Nomads trip to the shore of the Pacific Ocean, Long Beach, Washington, Cascadia.

Packing for a weekend getaway with a traveling cat proved to be relatively easy. Amelia needed less stuff in tow than an adventure cockatoo! As always, I brought along my complete K9 first aid kit but for future cat road trips, I am going to look into what needs to be added to keep Amelia safe too. Here is my list of what I brought for Amelia's first weekend getaway:

• Car travel crate: this crate is smaller and more sturdy than the more spacious two room crate but still has space for the litter box (as needed) as well as food and water dishes.
• Cat: Not all cats want to travel. Amelia does not dart at doors, hide under beds or fail to use her litter box. She is very comfortable in her harness, on her leash, in her front pack and in her enclosures. My only concern was the car ride since I have only taken her on one two hour car trip and this trip was over three hours. I planned to stop as much as needed to keep Amelia content but she acclimated wonderfully and didn't need any extra time.
• Padded bed and fleece blanket: these were for both crates, kept Amelia comfortable and helped control litter mess.
• Toys and scratcher: I brought a few of Amelia's favorite toys including a fresh catnip ball and her door knob hanger sisal scratcher.
• Mesh tunnel:Amelia loves her tunnel. I brought this so she could safely enjoy sniffing around places we visit without her harness and leash.
• Two room crate: This larger crate was for safety in the motel room and when Amelia needed to be left alone in the parked car.
• Front carrier pack: For hikes and excursions.
• Harness & Leash: Amelia always wears her harness and leash while in her front pack and, obviously, on walks.
• Treats, food, dishes & water: I was very concerned about Amelia becoming dehydrated on this trip. I added extra water to her food. Just like with dogs, I brought plenty of water from home so it was what she was used to.
• Disposable litter boxes: Having never used these boxes before, I wasn't sure how it would go so I brought three of them. I ended up scooping up after Amelia often enough that one box lasted the entire trip.
• Cat litter, bags and scoop: Next time I will put the extra, clean litter in a more spill proof plastic carrier and bring more plastic bags.
• Absorbing pet pads: Just like with dog travel, I don't use these "pee pads" for pee but for other mess control. On Amelia's trip I always kept the pads under her water, food and cat litter.
  

The two room travel crate complete with litter box, food and water dishes and cat.

Amelia makes herself comfortable atop the dog crates in the motel.

Amelia views the Fort Stevens State Park beach from her front pack, Hammond, Oregon, Cascadia.

Considering all that could have gone wrong with my first attempt at traveling with a cat in tow I think the trip went really, really well. Once I got good at controlling the cat litter mess, I realized I could probably have Amelia along more often and on longer trips. The pets seemed very at peace when all traveling together and I felt the same way. This trip was one of the most relaxed and restful vacations I have had in a long time because a piece of my heart wasn't left at home. Best of all, Amelia had a wonderful time. Just like when touring the Southwest with Leo last year, it seemed Amelia honestly appreciated her great fortune in getting to experience seeing parts of the world even many wishful humans will never see. Having a travel partner, be they human, canine, psittacine or feline, that genuinely recognizes the wonder of wandering, is all we ever need from each other.

Traveling cat Amelia admires the view of Young's Bay and the Columbia River from Astor Column Park, Astoria, Oregon, Cascadia.

Any cat travel suggestions would be greatly appreciated by us traveling cat newbies. Please leave a comment!

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