Cats and Cars

Cats and cars don’t mix. Cats definitely don’t like riding in anything that moves. Our cats were no exception!

I pulled the lucky straw and began the trip with both cats in my car. Stu had already let us know on the way to signing the house closing papers that he didn’t like this adventure at all. He voiced his opinion rather loudly. After dropping Jack off at the truck and moving the cats in their carriers to the front seat of the car, we started out on our journey south. Stu was not any happier in the front seat than he was in the back of the car. I let him out first.

For the first hour Stu crawled around my lap and behind my legs – voicing his opinion as loudly as possible. There was no way I could slip into my thoughts and feel sad about leaving – I had an unhappy cat on my lap and he wasn’t letting me forget! I finally pulled out my i pod and turned on Celtic Woman music. I played Celtic Woman music all the time at home so I knew the cats were used to it! Immediately, Stu quieted down. Still behind my ankles on the floor; he proceeded to go to sleep. I let Jool out next.

Jool wasn’t quite as upset as Stu, she voiced her opinion much less frequently. She came out, circled around in the car and settled on my lap to sleep. After a while she awoke and went to check on Stu – I wasn’t comfortable with two cats in my foot area so I moved her out and she settled on my lap again. About that time, Stu decided he didn’t like the floor anymore, and he wanted to be on my lap. Jool moved back into her carrier. This circulating movement from floor to lap to carrier continued for several hours. At no point did I have trouble driving, it was just awkward with the cats moving around.

I noticed the cats were oblivious of each other in their attempts to get my attention. At our second rest stop I asked Jack if he would like a traveling companion. I offered him Jool as she was the happier of the two. He accepted and from that point forward, the cats kept us each company. At the beginning of each day, Stu would let me know how unhappy he was about riding in the moving vehicle. Then, he would settle in behind my ankles and quiet down. Jool would crawl under Jack’s seat as there was a huge open space in the truck! We would hear from them occasionally when the mood struck them. And sporadically they would surface and climb on our laps for attention. Jack had a tough time on the last day. Jool didn’t like the mountains and was very vocal about her discomfort – and she wasn’t even driving!!! We believe the pressure change in the mountains was bothering her ears. Stu sort of shut down and played dead – he accepted his fate.

They were both very happy cats when we pulled up to the house and unloaded them inside. We quickly added possessions from the trailer to make them feel more at home. We were happier too!