When my cat had to go to the vet, someone else would drive while I held the carrier open and pet the cat and let her look out the window. She would still cry, but not constantly.
this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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I always feel bad that I can’t explain to them why this is happening.
One cat would yell for a while, then settle down. When she was older, it took longer for her to settle down, until she was just yelling constantly for hours. I finally gave up and let her out of the carrier - the only time I've ever done that, and we were an hour from home with no traffic and no stops needed - and she stopped yelling immediately, just stood on my lap, panting.
At which point I realized that, as large as our car carrier was (it's one of the largest 'carryable' ones I've seen), it wasn't quite tall enough for the cat to stand completely upright and she was in pain because of her arthritis. We'd been torturing her, for hours! We made some changes after that!
For people who have carriers with a smooth or only slightly rough bottom: your cat may be yelling because they can't keep traction and are unexpectedly sliding a bit on curves and turns. We got one of those non-slip shower mats and cut it down to size, to reduce slipping, then added a beach towel for comfort. Everything is still washable (use white vinegar to get rid of the smell of cat urine), but the cat is much happier!
I'm going to add a bath mat or one of those drawer grippy pads to ours, that's a really good idea I never thought of.
My old girl vomits in the car. We took her to the vet the other day and it's literally a 5 minute drive just around the corner and she puked.
Luckily I angled the carrier so she didn't get any puke on her and none in the car.
She also has arthritis but the motion sickness is the worst part of driving her anywhere. Keeping her angled forward towards the road helps with it.
I was told a cat carrier should be large enough the cat can stand fully upright, and wide enough they can turn around without too much difficulty! I usually put a towel in the bottom for grip, but bath mat and towel sounds even better!
Ours is an old carrier. The interior dimensions are 16 inches tall, 14 inches wide, and 24 inches long. Our cat was maybe 14 inches tall, but of course she wouldn't want to stand fully upright and either bang her head on the roof, or constantly brushing her ears against it. Plus the bath mat and towel 'raised' the floor a bit. And sometimes when you scream, you just want to throw your head back and let go!
I like the bath mat because I can suction it to the bottom of the carrier, so neither she nor the towel slide around like they would on plain plastic or metal.
What would you say if some kind alien drags you out of your house, puts you in a cage, into a vehicle that you can't even comprehend?
God we had to take my buddies kitten to get it’s shots in my POS 92 ford escort with broken AC and the poor thing got so hot and stressed out that she just stopped crying and was just panting. Thank god it was a short drive. Must have been so traumatic for her. “Okay we’re gonna put you in a cage, drive you in a hot torture box to a place your gonna get stabbed, and then back into the torture box!”
From their point of view, something they have absolutely no control over, for what might be the rest of their lives, is now happening. Maybe if we scream the horrors will stop?
Sometimes they just accept their horrible new reality and go quietly. Some scream the entire way.
One of our cats screams the whole time, the other pees himself and huddles in a corner of the carrier.
If my alien overlord plucked me out of my suburban castle, packed me into a coffin, and shot me out into space, I would be screaming “fuuuuck!” as well. Even if he was taking me for a well-intentioned colonoscopy or quantum field attunement or something.
IMHO it's being in the carrier, since they start complaining before they're even in the car. As a young college idiot I drove 3 days with a cat and a friend, and we didn't have a carrier. The cat found herself a "safe spot under a seat, and since it wasn't the driver's seat we let her stay there. She was quiet, seemed pretty calm, even slept. If I knew my cat would stay in a safe spot like that, and would get back in the carrier to go into the vet's office, I might let her out for the drive. But that's not gonna happen.
Depends on the cat. One cat we had was very noisy, but he eventually settled down into a good traveler.
One we have now usually throws up in the car, but he's generally okay after that. In his younger days he was pretty vocal and would try to escape his carrier, but he has mellowed some as he's gotten older. I doubt he'll ever be truly comfortable with it, but he can at least tolerate it.
The other three we've had or currently have all travel pretty well. One is difficult to get into the carrier, but after that he's fine.
Depends on the cat. One cat we had was very noisy, but he eventually settled down into a good traveler.
He just resigned to his fate.
Pretty much! He even survived being in a car crash later in his life. Just went back to sleep.
Very much not an expert, but I have been around pet cats for the majority of my life and have one keeping me good company just now. They're very much high-strung creatures of habit; they don't like change, and they don't like situations they don't understand. Car trips are things that happen too rarely for them to be used to, which are noisy, which involve them being shut in a small box, and which mess with their balance because they have no idea why the ground keeps moving. It's really stressful and they don't know what to do about any of it, so they want your help
I had the feeling it was the cats sense of speed that was bothering it. Like, "I'm going 60 miles an hour, what's going to happen when I stop?" It did seem to be better when I was at a red light or driving slower.
It reminded me of this
Iirc it's an echo location thing.
Cat scan