eales

Transporting cats.
When we eventually get to Spain we will be bringing 3 cats. Has anyone taken cats to Spain by road. We will be in a caravan. I am so afraid they might run off when we stop. The are good escape artists. We have looked into flying them out (mind you it's along way and I'm sure their paws will get tired!!!!) and we have been quoted £900 incl. of a weeks cattery care, which we don't mind paying if it means they arrive safely. Any tips would be gratefully recieved.

lynnxa

I flew mine, but a neighbour of mine drove down with theirs in a huge cage which went in the back of their estate car.

Unexpat

Drove mine down, just recently. It was an experience, for sure, but in a good way. Buy a cat harness (although we had to buy a small dog harness, given the size of our cat) and then you can take it for walks when you stop.

In the end we let him roam inside the car, as we drove down and he spent most of the time on top of the soft furnishings covering the luggage in the back of the hatch-back, since that was where he got chucked around least and was mostly well hidden.

We drove him down, since he is 17 years old (but still very spritely) and had been advised by our vet that it would be less stressful. I believe it probably was. I have to say that we did the drive in less than two days, sleeping brief shifts in the car - even spending a night snowed-in in a French mountain range.

During the drive, he ate and drank very little and only went to the toilet a couple of times during our stops every three hours or so. We chose to stop at the quieter rest areas, throughout. He was quite happy to explore with the harness on. Took him about 6 hours to settle down into the journey.

We went through the channel tunnel, without problems. Had the passport, vaccs and chip, but no one looked at the paperwork, instead they laughed and pointed at this cat roaming around the car. I can imagine the comments; "Look, they've bought the kitchen sink AND the cat"!