Moving personal belongings....

[bradybunchmom]

I drove from California to Calgary with my pets all at once. We stayed in hotels without issues. The cats meowed a lot but other than that it went fine. If you drive you only need proof of rabies shot I believe. They didn't ask for anything at crossing though. I told them I had them and they never asked for any papers or to see them at all.

 

[canusa13]

I drove with my dog from Canada to the US and back at least 5 times over the years and I haven't been questioned while entering either country even once. Nobody ever asked if the dog was up to date on shots or anything. Totally ignored the dog haha

 

[steaky]

I drove with my dog from Canada to the US and back at least 5 times over the years and I haven't been questioned while entering either country even once. Nobody ever asked if the dog was up to date on shots or anything. Totally ignored the dog haha

You were lucky.

At one time, a CBP opened the car hatchback and asked me why my dog didn't look at him!!!

 

[Snowisland]

I drove from California to Calgary with my pets all at once. We stayed in hotels without issues. The cats meowed a lot but other than that it went fine. If you drive you only need proof of rabies shot I believe. They didn't ask for anything at crossing though. I told them I had them and they never asked for any papers or to see them at all.

I have two indoor only cats that weigh 12 pounds each and one is tall...36 inches from head to tail when laying down stretched out. I live in Texas way down on the gulf south of Houston. It takes three flights to get to northern BC in the north Peace region. Flying won't work for cats due to three flight changes, two large cats and probably be moving in summer so too hot in cargo. 4500 kilometres driving shortest route. We plan to drive them but very nervous about how to make stops along the way and worried they will get out of car and lost. Advice please..do we put them in carrier and how could they use litter box and eat and drink if we drive six to eight hours a day for a week? Hotels at night, but concerned about them while driving so long. Husband says loose in car cause would be mean to leave in carrier, but this is why I worry that they will get out of car and get lost. Driving a two door Honda Civic. Cats and their cat stuff are pretty much all we are bringing.

 

[TracyCa64]

I have two indoor only cats that weigh 12 pounds each and one is tall...36 inches from head to tail when laying down stretched out. I live in Texas way down on the gulf south of Houston. It takes three flights to get to northern BC in the north Peace region. Flying won't work for cats due to three flight changes, two large cats and probably be moving in summer so too hot in cargo. 4500 kilometres driving shortest route. We plan to drive them but very nervous about how to make stops along the way and worried they will get out of car and lost. Advice please..do we put them in carrier and how could they use litter box and eat and drink if we drive six to eight hours a day for a week? Hotels at night, but concerned about them while driving so long. Husband says loose in car cause would be mean to leave in carrier, but this is why I worry that they will get out of car and get lost. Driving a two door Honda Civic. Cats and their cat stuff are pretty much all we are bringing.

I don't have any experience driving with my cats, but I know one thing for sure....I would have them in carriers. You can get those snap on food & water trays that go inside the carrier. I had that on mine when they flew on the plane. I put down those dog trainer pads down too. Cats sleep a lot, I feel like the carrier might make them feel safer. If they have room to stand up and stretch that would help. I guess it depends on your cats. My cats would not be able to be free in the car. They have cat leashes, I wonder if that would be helpful. You.could bring a Iitter box with you for the hotel. I wish I had more advice. I can imagine it would not be easy.

 

[Sunset0505]

I have two indoor only cats that weigh 12 pounds each and one is tall...36 inches from head to tail when laying down stretched out. I live in Texas way down on the gulf south of Houston. It takes three flights to get to northern BC in the north Peace region. Flying won't work for cats due to three flight changes, two large cats and probably be moving in summer so too hot in cargo. 4500 kilometres driving shortest route. We plan to drive them but very nervous about how to make stops along the way and worried they will get out of car and lost. Advice please..do we put them in carrier and how could they use litter box and eat and drink if we drive six to eight hours a day for a week? Hotels at night, but concerned about them while driving so long. Husband says loose in car cause would be mean to leave in carrier, but this is why I worry that they will get out of car and get lost. Driving a two door Honda Civic. Cats and their cat stuff are pretty much all we are bringing.

We are going to be driving....Virginia to BC...two indoor cats 14 and 15 pounds and a 90 pound dog....for the cats we are getting a cat play pen for driving...if you google you can see what I am talking about..we have seen them in person and a little cat tray will fit in it too....they will be travelling a 4 Runner and we will have the cat carriers too...Hubby is stressing but I am all for it!!!

 

[Snowisland]

I don't have any experience driving with my cats, but I know one thing for sure....I would have them in carriers. You can get those snap on food & water trays that go inside the carrier. I had that on mine when they flew on the plane. I put down those dog trainer pads down too. Cats sleep a lot, I feel like the carrier might make them feel safer. If they have room to stand up and stretch that would help. I guess it depends on your cats. My cats would not be able to be free in the car. They have cat leashes, I wonder if that would be helpful. You.could bring a Iitter box with you for the hotel. I wish I had more advice. I can imagine it would not be easy.

Ty. Ther carriers are large, they can stand and move around in them. I bought leashes recently but have not got them on leash yet, trying to do it without stressing them. They are rescue cats so they had been in carrier several hours every weekend at pet stores to be viewed for adoption. I got them five years ago and they have only been in carrier since for vet trips annually.
My husband got SA in December so we have some time to prepare for the move this summer if I get PR by then.

 

[Snowisland]

We are going to be driving....Virginia to BC...two indoor cats 14 and 15 pounds and a 90 pound dog....for the cats we are getting a cat play pen for driving...if you google you can see what I am talking about..we have seen them in person and a little cat tray will fit in it too....they will be travelling a 4 Runner and we will have the cat carriers too...Hubby is stressing but I am all for it!!!

That sounds good if I can find one to fit.
I had bought a pen for hurricane season in case I had to go to The attic during hurricane so the cats would both fit in and a tray too. its around four feet high and three feet wide. Guessing on size cause I am not home now. Has a ledge built in.
No way to fit in Honda but maybe I should rent 4 Runner. Wonder if possible to do crossing borders?

 

[TracyCa64]

We are going to be driving....Virginia to BC...two indoor cats 14 and 15 pounds and a 90 pound dog....for the cats we are getting a cat play pen for driving...if you google you can see what I am talking about..we have seen them in person and a little cat tray will fit in it too....they will be travelling a 4 Runner and we will have the cat carriers too...Hubby is stressing but I am all for it!!!

That sounds like a great idea. It will be good for the hotel too. Can you fit a litter box?

 

[Snowisland]

That sounds like a great idea. It will be good for the hotel too. Can you fit a litter box?

Yes litter box, food and water can clip on sides. It's 36 x 23 and 50 inches tall.

 

[bradybunchmom]

We drove with cats from California to Calgary and because of car trouble it took 5 days. So almost a week. I had my cats in cat carriers always during the car ride. I used good sized carriers so they could move around a bit. I didn't give them food or water during the daily driving. I was trying to avoid them needing to go to bathroom during the drive. At night in the hotels we let them out of their carriers and fed/water them. I brought a plastic container with a lid at Target to use as a litter box. It was small enough for easy travel but big enough for them to use. So each night it would be in the hotel bathroom and then I would pack up by scooping it and putting the lid back on. Kept the smell at minimum. I am a little OCD so I also used a lint roller to clean up any litter on the hotel floor from the cats. We only had one urine accident during the drives and besides some meowing the cats did fine. I would recommend don't forget a few extra towels for their carriers just in case.

the box I got was like this one:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-6.2-Quart-Modular-Latch-Box-Bamboo-Grass-6pk/44785779?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=44785779&placement_id=irs-2-m2&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id&category=&client_guid=a0fba85b-51ad-4a64-992e-9ed68e87a2f6&customer_id_enc&config_id=2&parent_item_id=44785774&parent_anchor_item_id=44785774&guid=99dd447e-4f92-485a-a112-ce4517179434&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

 

[TracyCa64]

We drove with cats from California to Calgary and because of car trouble it took 5 days. So almost a week. I had my cats in cat carriers always during the car ride. I used good sized carriers so they could move around a bit. I didn't give them food or water during the daily driving. I was trying to avoid them needing to go to bathroom during the drive. At night in the hotels we let them out of their carriers and fed/water them. I brought a plastic container with a lid at Target to use as a litter box. It was small enough for easy travel but big enough for them to use. So each night it would be in the hotel bathroom and then I would pack up by scooping it and putting the lid back on. Kept the smell at minimum. I am a little OCD so I also used a lint roller to clean up any litter on the hotel floor from the cats. We only had one urine accident during the drives and besides some meowing the cats did fine. I would recommend don't forget a few extra towels for their carriers just in case.

That sounds perfect!! I knew someone would have good ideas and experience with this. It makes me happy when we can help each other and make us feel better during this process. Yay!!

 

[Snowisland]

We drove with cats from California to Calgary and because of car trouble it took 5 days. So almost a week. I had my cats in cat carriers always during the car ride. I used good sized carriers so they could move around a bit. I didn't give them food or water during the daily driving. I was trying to avoid them needing to go to bathroom during the drive. At night in the hotels we let them out of their carriers and fed/water them. I brought a plastic container with a lid at Target to use as a litter box. It was small enough for easy travel but big enough for them to use. So each night it would be in the hotel bathroom and then I would pack up by scooping it and putting the lid back on. Kept the smell at minimum. I am a little OCD so I also used a lint roller to clean up any litter on the hotel floor from the cats. We only had one urine accident during the drives and besides some meowing the cats did fine. I would recommend don't forget a few extra towels for their carriers just in case.

the box I got was like this one:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-6.2-Quart-Modular-Latch-Box-Bamboo-Grass-6pk/44785779?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=44785779&placement_id=irs-2-m2&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id&category=&client_guid=a0fba85b-51ad-4a64-992e-9ed68e87a2f6&customer_id_enc&config_id=2&parent_item_id=44785774&parent_anchor_item_id=44785774&guid=99dd447e-4f92-485a-a112-ce4517179434&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

How many hours a day did you drive? My husband really wants to bring my Honda and my carriers fit in the backseat. Ty for the link to the plastic box.