Driving from San Francisco to Houston

[zoebartlett]

Oh good, I''m glad you were able to find something helpful about my post.


About the cats: we have two and they were in the car with me while my husband drove the truck. Before we left, we went to PetCo or Pet Smart and bought a dog crate. We kept the crate opened and out at home for a few days so they cats would be used to it before we left. When it was time to go, we lined the crate with an old towel and in the back end of the crate, we put a make shift litter box. We just used a fairly shallow piece of cardboard with sides that the pet store had on hand from when they stocked the shelves with canned food. We put a little food and water in the front end of the crate. Actually, we may have skipped the water and just filled their bowl up when we got to the hotel. It took a while

We used the valet cart at the hotel to wheel the crate in and we kept the (opened) crate in the bathroom. We didn''t want to have to chase the cats around the room to get them back in the carrier when it was time to go, so this worked well for us. We just kept the bathroom door closed and visited them every hour or so so they wouldn''t get lonely.

Sorry for being so long-winded! I have a bad habit of doing that.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Thanks Gypsy - we will be wired to the gills, so I think that will help - we''ll have two iPhones and two apple notebooks, so I''m sure that one way and another we can always look things up on the road, which is a huge plus, IMO. The iPhone map function is probably one of the most helpful device/application combos I''ve ever used.

I hear you on the cats being freaked. Oliver can''t even handle when we have people over for dinner, so I''m sure he''s going to take it the hardest. I''m really struggling with whether I want to try giving him something like acepromazine or even just benadryl to try to calm him down a little bit. But then I worry about having him on anything while we''re traveling and away from a vet we can contact easily. Sigh...

Good tip on the bed bugs - we will for sure be conscious of that, and be careful.

I''ll miss you too, and all the sweet Bay Area PSers. But who knows where we''ll all be in a few more years, you know?

 

[AmberGretchen]

Date: 7/31/2009 7:43:20 AM
Author: appletini

AG, Tracey (the owner) and Amanda (Tracey''s sister) at Kai Spa are excellent for facials and waxing. This is my regular day spa. everything is very clean and the staff is very friendly and fun. www.kaispa.com

OMG a day spa sounds like heaven right now. I think I might have to book myself a half-day or maybe just a massage after this drive

 

[AmberGretchen]

Date: 7/31/2009 1:50:11 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett
Oh good, I''m glad you were able to find something helpful about my post.



About the cats: we have two and they were in the car with me while my husband drove the truck. Before we left, we went to PetCo or Pet Smart and bought a dog crate. We kept the crate opened and out at home for a few days so they cats would be used to it before we left. When it was time to go, we lined the crate with an old towel and in the back end of the crate, we put a make shift litter box. We just used a fairly shallow piece of cardboard with sides that the pet store had on hand from when they stocked the shelves with canned food. We put a little food and water in the front end of the crate. Actually, we may have skipped the water and just filled their bowl up when we got to the hotel. It took a while


We used the valet cart at the hotel to wheel the crate in and we kept the (opened) crate in the bathroom. We didn''t want to have to chase the cats around the room to get them back in the carrier when it was time to go, so this worked well for us. We just kept the bathroom door closed and visited them every hour or so so they wouldn''t get lonely.

Sorry for being so long-winded! I have a bad habit of doing that.

Zoe - that was super helpful. I''m with you on keeping them confined to a small space as much as possible, I think we''ll definitely aim to do that at each stop, although sometimes they get even more stressed out when they can''t be with us, so if that''s the case its probably worth the hassle of letting them out. I guess we''ll just play it by ear...