Car Luggage Carriers - Is it ok to let my two cats roam in the car instead of being in carriers?

Is it ok to let my two cats roam in the car instead of being in carriers?

I have two cats who have anxiety attacks when traveling in their crates. Then never travel more than an hour in the car because its between school and home. The drivers side is separated by drink holders and the center console type things. If i just block off the opening under the passenger side dash with blankets or luggage will they be ok to let them just wander in the car? Please don't give nasty, rude or sarcastic comments i just want decent opinions. Thank you ps. my cats are well mannered and only have problems when placed in the crates. they breath heavy and get sweaty paws. If their is something i can do to make them calm in the crate...(i know they have things you can get from the vet) but i'm not near the home vet and i really don't have the extra money to spend at the moment. They have been traveling in the car with me frequently (usually go home every weekend) so its not a new place to them. I had one occasion when i wasn't driving and i held one and all he wanted to do was look out the window...i donno if any of the extra info will help with a decent answer. (please dont tell me about the pedal issue i understand that that can be an issue and i love my cats and wouldn't be foolish to harm them but like i said the driver and passenger side is divided buy compartments in the center. so keeping them off my side isn't an issue.) to the person that said about trying a dog crate, i have but its not a plastic one its all metal and they just climbed up the sides...which i was not comfortable with. And the plastic ones i know are a bit pricey with i can't afford at the moment (college student)

Public Comments

yupp
I would put them in crates unless you can sort of watch them while you are driving.
My cats have always had anxiety when placed in a cat carrier, but they are fine when near me in the car, free. I usually hold them with a towel wrapped around them in one of my arms, and they feel safe. You want to be careful that they will be OK in the car without being in a carrier before you drive, though, because if they panic, they could get you to crash. I carry my cats into the vet cradled in my arms with a towel, too.
It should be fine as long as you do not let them crawl into the drivers side floor board. If you have a problem with them you can always pull over to fix it. I would take a crate in case though.
no, because cats are not smart like a dog, who will sit quietly an so forth.....a cat might just jump on the dashboard for no damn reason, and other unexpected moronic things that cats do without rhyme or reason out of the blue.
It's not the best idea. In the event of an accident, the cats will fly right into/through the windshield or dashboard.
I wouldn't recommend it, unless your cats are very used to riding in the car and you can say with confidence that they won't experience something during the ride that will freak them out. What if one or both of the cats sees or hears something outside the car that scares it (a siren from a police car, a barking dog, another car racing by, someone shouting, etc) and tries to find a place to hide - and that place happens to be under your brake pedal? Not only are you and your cats now in danger of a car accident, but everyone else on the road around you is too. For your safety and theirs, I would keep them in their crates. The only way I would recommend letting them out of the crates in the car is if you have a divider between the front and back seats that they cannot get through, and let them have free reign of the back seats of the car but not the front so they cannot interfere with your driving.
While I hate to see animals have anxiety, I personally think you should avoid doing this. Any number of things could go wrong, distracting you from the responsibility of driving attentively and possibly causing an accident harming not only you, other vehicle occupants but also your beloved cats! (I mean, look at writer Stephen King--he was nearly killed walking down the street by a van driver who got distracted by his dog!) I advise against it.
Absolutely no way. In an accident, if you're lucky they'll run away, but more likely they'll get smashed through a window and die. A scared cat is not going to be stopped by blankets or luggage anyway, they will be under your feet and in your face. It would be one thing if they had been trained from kittenhood to behave in a car, it's another to just let them loose and hope for the best. The fact is that most cats don't like traveling in crates, but it's for their own safety, and for yours. You wouldn't just let a toddler wander around a moving car because they were anxious about their carseat, would you? **Added** You can get Feliway or Rescue Remedy at most pet supply stores, that's probably what you would buy from a vet anyway. Your cats may be well-mannered in the house, but you never know how an animal is going to behave in a novel situation, such as being loose in a car going 65MPH down a freeway. As I see it, the bigger issue here is that if anything were to happen, the cats would be goners. An hour of heavy breathing and sweaty paws is nothing next to smashing through a window and dying a slow, painful death on the side of the road.
No. If they are capable of getting under the pedal or on the dash or on you I think that would be dangerous. It would be difficult to keep an eye on them while you are driving and they could get out when you open the door. I've heard of people getting into accidents and their dog gets loose in all the excitement when someone tries to help. Besides what if they go flying when you brake too hard. I think that could be more stressful.
I'd keep them in the carriers.I tried to let mine roam once and it ended up sitting on top of my head with it's claws buried in my scalp. Even after I stopped the car and got out, the cat was still perched on me like a hat. It wasn't a pretty sight since I had blood running down my face and a petrified cat on my head. I honestly would never take the chance of letting my cat loose in the car again. Ask your vet for some anxiety medication for your cat. I've given my dog benedryl so it will sleep while I drive but I don't know what the dosage would be for a cat.
I wouldn't. I tried this once when taking a cat from a friend. Her new husband hated her cats so I agreed to take them both, one at a time. Well, the cat tried to get under my brake pedal while I was driving! It was a 45-minute drive and was one of the most nerve-wracking 45 minutes I've ever spent. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of traffic but omg - she was flipping out and it was all I could to keep her away from me and the brake and gas pedals the whole way home. For the second cat I said I wouldn't take him unless she had a carrier I could borrow. After that I got my own carriers. I line them with a towel and always use them.
In the event of an accident, any loose items (not tied, fastened or secured) can fly around the car and even be ejected through the windshield or other windows. It seems like you love you animals very much but would you want this to happen? Not to mention broken glass can cut them if it's flying around during an accident. If anxiety is an issue, may try getting a larger carrier (dog size) and try putting them in together. Then they will be more secure and have a buddy.
As long as they don't get around the drivers side I feel it should be totally fine.
Sorry to say, but the metal kennel thing is a really good idea, i have four cats that are mine, and i have a boyfriend that lives only 10 minutes away, but for my piece of mind, i tote the cats back and forth with me from my place to his. I stay there at his place for a week or whichever and then come back here. Two of mine would flip when i would put them in the plastic carriers, cry the whole way to and from and would pant heavily, but once i put them all into the same kennel in the back of the car, they were fine, you could try puttin a blanket over whatever you have them in, cuz that's worked as well for me. i also keep the back window open a tiny smidge, so air flow is goin around.
I don't believe it's ever a good idea to allow animals to travel without their carriers. It's simply a safety issue, both for them AND for you. If another driver caused an accident, your two feline family members could be seriously injured, maimed, killed or lost. Presented another way, even though I know you would take every precaution when blocking off the opening under the passenger side dash, if something un~nerved Fluffy enough and he/she really felt that under Mama's feet was the best place to be, there aren't many drivers who could drive a straight, secure path while dealing with that! In short.....the cats need to be in their carriers. We wouldn't let a two year old ride without a car seat just because he didn't like it. If you're doggedly consistent about it, your cats will come to know that complaining does no good. That said, there are some ways to help ease their anxiety. My cat travels with me a lot, even on airplanes and subways but it is,as one might call it, "an acquired taste". First of all, cats feel a need to see what is going on, while feeling like they're hiding from everyone else in an unfamiliar setting. Most pet stores now carry pet carriers by the name brand, "Sherpa". The gym bag style carrier, by Sherpa, is the one I have because the 2 sides and the front are mesh so that my cat can see out. The back is solid so if he wants to hide, he feels he can. "Sherpa" is considered one of the best brands on the market because of the comfort and durability. It is also accepted for cabin travel on every major airline. You can get a lot of travel advice from a book called "No Pet Left Behind", by Gayle Martz, $16.99 Also, a few products I used to help ease my kitty into world travel were "Calmant pour chats/Calm Down for cats" and "Cat Allure". Both product are found at Pet Smart. My cat especially loves the "Cat Allure" (contains catnip)so I spray it on anything new. The "Calm Down" stuff is a liquid that you can either give the cat in a dropper or put in their water. it contains mostly organic, homeopathic products. The 'inactive' ingredient is a trace amount of alcohol but my vet said it's not enough to be concerned about. All of these products can be found at Pet Smart. P.S. I just read your ps. My current cat, Baghera, had that exact problem at first. He didn't complain verbally when in the car, but when I arrived at the vet, this otherwise perfectly healthy cat had a temperature of 104*! Panting and sweaty paws are signs that your cats' way of dealing with anxiety is to run a high fever. I understand your concern even more now. I thought that they were just being verbal and having behavior problems. My advice would be this...starting at first with just one at a time, give the cats a ride in the car, IN the crate, for about 5 minutes. When you get back home, treats and love all around. Just as you would walk the dog every day, you must "Car the Cats" every day. each time extending the time. If Fluffy gets over heated, put a cold gel pack under his arm pits to help cool him down. You'll have to really be diligent, but I Do believe that these two can gradually become acclimated to traveling properly.
SAFETY FIRST. For now, sorry but no roaming, there are some spectacular accidents caused by roaming cats. Sorry but they need to be in a crate - and well-mannered isn't going to help them if you get hit by another car while driving either, the crate will at least offer them some protection. It's your responsibillity to normalise crates for them. I had a few ferals who were like your cats, and how I did it was by one day putting them into the crates, and leaving them in there for an hour - just in the room they were in. Did this for about two weeks every day. Feliway spray helped. Then started taking them to other places, inside the house or outside (under my watchfull eye) but I would stay out of sight. Again, two weeks. You get the idea. The next step beyond leaving the crate all over the place was carrying it for ages, which is tiring but good therapy for them. That was a few weeks too. Then in the car with the car off - another few weeks. Drive around the block was after that - and that one was twice a day, cause that one is the big one. Then off to the vet - and there was not one freak-out, at all, they didn't freak out, and were fine. The cats, may I mention, were completely feral when I found them, hated humans. Any rehab of cats can be done with enough time and patience, and you can teach them in such a way so that there isn't just "getting past this one time" - but every time after that without major prep and hassle as well.
The main concern is not just that they might get into the front of the car, but the very motion of driving and turning corners will knock them about and they could really hurt themselves. I know it's a horrible catch-22 because they hate the carriers so much but it really is safer for them. In terms of their anxiety you can buy a product called Feliway (not sure if there's a different brand in the US) which is a pheromone that helps calm the cat down by making it feel like it is in its own safe territory. It is a widely-used product especially when moving home or bringing cats home from a rescue centre. A little sptriz on a blanket in the carrier might be the answer to your problems... even if it just calms them down and helps them relax. It's much safer to keep them in a carrier while driving.
I'm not a fan of allowing cats to be running loose in a car when you are driving. I'll relate a true story of what can happen in a min. You need to get a larger carrier for them to ride in. And at home, leave the carrier out and feed them at least one meal in the carrier so they associate the carrier with good things. Cats usually are only taken in the car/carrier when going to the vet and that's why many hate it. You can try Bach's Remedy which is a calming liquid before they go in the carrier. I show cats, mine are happy to get in the carrier when I bring them up for shows - they beg to get in and go have fun. But they are not allowed to be riding loose at all. When we stop for lunch/supper, they can get out and stretch for the time we are eating - that's the only time they are loose in the car. Here's my true story - take it for what its worth to you and your cat. A friend of mine was taking a neighbor and her cat to the vet. My friend tried to get her to use a carrier, but the neighbor insisted that her cat was fine riding in the car loose and in her lap in the front seat. The vet's office was not very far (a few miles) from the house. So against my friend's wishes, they set off with the neighbor holding the cat in her lap in the front set. Things were fine..........until a few blocks from the vet a screaming fire engine and cop cars went thru the light. The cat freaked out - jumped straight into the front windshield and was knocked out - they got to the vet's office but the cat died of brain injury. Had the cat been IN the carrier in the back seat at the time, the cat would have lived.
What if you got into an accident? If you have to suddenly slam on the breaks or have a collision, your cats won't be protected by seat belts!