Herd your cats here

[ktmkwk]

Slimming down cats--if you have the room and motivation, kittens can help a lot.  Charlie, who is a large cat by frame, has lost two pounds in the last year due to chasing, being chased, and wrestling with the devil boys.  He now looks positively svelte, although he still weighs 18 lbs, but is 42 inches from nose to tail--as I said he is a big boy.

[drbrt]

I'm having cat drama. Gus has decided that he likes to pee on the bed to punish me for traveling and is banished from the bedroom.

[the_geneticist]

I'm having cat drama. Gus has decided that he likes to pee on the bed to punish me for traveling and is banished from the bedroom.

Ewww!  So glad that none of my cats is a revenge pee-er/puker/etc.  Buddycat did poop in my ex's shoes after the ex shoved Buddycat off the bed. 
Gus will have to re-earn the privilege of being in your bedroom.  Any good recommendations for products to clean up the mess?

[Conjugate]

I'm having cat drama. Gus has decided that he likes to pee on the bed to punish me for traveling and is banished from the bedroom.

Ewww!  So glad that none of my cats is a revenge pee-er/puker/etc.  Buddycat did poop in my ex's shoes after the ex shoved Buddycat off the bed. 
Gus will have to re-earn the privilege of being in your bedroom.  Any good recommendations for products to clean up the mess?

Cleanup recommendations: The aptly-named Nature's Miracle is good. I was recommended Feliway diffusers back in The Old Fora, and they prevented conflicts (I think) as I introduced two of them. They aren't cleaners, but may prevent the kind of conflicts that lead to the need to clean up.

Now, with regard to soft vs. hard (dry) foods, the soft food might be good for weight control, but according to my vet, may lead to tooth decay. Consult your vet about suggested tooth cleaning.

[the_geneticist]

The hard vs. soft food and tooth health does assume that your cat will actually chew the hard kibble.  Buddycat thought chewing was entirely optional.  He was happily gumming down dry food after most of his back teeth fell out.

[KafkasCat]

Any tips on moving with cats? Multiple cats, long time in the car. I've been thinking that getting some kitty-equivalent of valium from the vet might be the kind thing to do. Also, how do I let them go to the bathroom? NOT looking forward to this move. Neither are they, although they are excited about all the boxes.

[ursula]

Any tips on moving with cats? Multiple cats, long time in the car. I've been thinking that getting some kitty-equivalent of valium from the vet might be the kind thing to do. Also, how do I let them go to the bathroom? NOT looking forward to this move. Neither are they, although they are excited about all the boxes.

Following, because we'll be doing this in a few years.

[mamselle]

There are lots of discussions of moving cats (as opposed to herding them) on the old forum's cats' thread.

I can't link to it right now but if someone else can, it would be worth a re-read, I suspect.

M.

[KafkasCat]

Thanks, mamselle! I'll see if I can find the threads and if I do, I'll link them.

[tuxedo_cat]

Any tips on moving with cats? Multiple cats, long time in the car. I've been thinking that getting some kitty-equivalent of valium from the vet might be the kind thing to do. Also, how do I let them go to the bathroom? NOT looking forward to this move. Neither are they, although they are excited about all the boxes.

I was going to post a similar request for advice, but instead about taking a cat on a plane, which is a new sort of challenge for me.

Here's how I handled driving with two cats in a rather small (2-door) Honda Civic:  each cat had their own carrier with a pet bed, and I also packed a litter box with some kind of cover, or housed in a large enough cardboard box to allow the cats to crawl in and use the litter.  I also put a small pet harness on each cat (ones designed for toy dogs) -- they didn't like it, but it didn't hurt them.

After a few hours on the road, I parked someplace shady and I would let one of the cats out of a carrier into the car so that she could have access to the litter.  I might take that time to go find a restroom myself, get some fast food.  If the cat needed to use the litter she would find it and do her business.  If not then, ok. 

The tricky part was getting the cat back into her carrier after that.  This is where the harnesses are helpful, especially if the cat decides to burrow her way under one of the front seats -- this just gives you something to grab onto.  I think with one Houdini cat who I was worried might try to bolt from the car, I also attached a long leash to the harness, but none of them ever escaped from the car.

The fluffy pet beds are helpful because if the cat doesn't make it to her litter in time, at least you don't have cat pee sloshing around in the carrier and possibly all over the car.  You just have a very angry, pee-covered cat to bathe once you get to your destination 😃  But I had two cats who were on the road with me once for 8 hours and they just waited until we got to the destination.

I honestly don't quite know what I'm going to do with taking the cat onto the plane and then, I guess a Lyft car.  The flight, fortunately, isn't that long, so I'm hoping she'll be ok until we get to my new apt.  I'm planning to mail myself a small litter box and some litter that will be waiting for me when I arrive.  That's about all I've got figured out for the moment!

[drbrt]

I moved cats 1,000 miles twice. I had them in harnesses on leashes clipped to a loop on their carrier. The carriers were belted to the backseat. The litterbox was on the floor. I like the cardboard box idea. I had old clothing sprayed with Feliway in the carriers. I used cat valium the first move, but one of my cats turned out to be a howler, so that only lasted a day. I moved in a Toyota Corolla both times.

[KafkasCat]

I found the old fora thread on moving cats: https://www.chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,34002.0.html
Also, apparently there are pet moving companies that will do this for you. I might have to talk to Mr.Kafkascat about this, since we're also moving with dogs. In small car. Oy.

[KafkasCat]

And another old thread on moving with cats:https://www.chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,19886.0.html

[mamselle]

Yea, thanks!

When I'm on my phone, I can't copy and paste stuff.

Glad they turned up!

M.

[Conjugate]

Big hint: Line the bottom of the cat carriers with absorbent pet pads. If/when there is fluid, it will make clean-up possible with a minimum of grief.