Pet Proofing Your RV

Even with the best behaved pets, it’s best to take some precautions.

We let our pets get away with a lot, so we don't do as much pet-proofing to our RV as some may want to do. Our dogs and cats are pretty much allowed anywhere - on the couch, chairs, bed, etc... But we've learned some easy pet-proofing things you can do to cut down on some costly repairs.

One thing we did right away was to put a thin sheet of plexi-glass on the inside of our front door to protect our screen from our dogs and cats scratching at it. We can still have the cool breezes coming through on hot days through the top half while having the protection from damage on the bottom half. This works great! Just watch out for the outside of your door if your dog gets there first. We have some pretty ugly scratches on the outside of our rig because our little boy can't wait sometimes to get back inside. Yikes!

Window screens aren't as easy, however, and we already have one that needs to be replaced. We had left both our dogs out and about while we were outside, and the blinds to that window were up, making the screen an easy target. When we got back inside, the screen was toast. Since then, when we're not at home, we leave our blinds that are in reach of our dogs closed, and so far that seems to have worked.

Cats are wiley, and they can get to places in your RV you may not expect. We've seen our cats get on the ledge above our slideout in the living room. We've found our cats hiding behind the DVD player. We found our cats in high cubbies filled with other stuff. All we can do is pick our battles. We're pretty lucky with our cats. They do scratch at our carpets, but the damage has been minimal so far. They mostly use their cat tree for scratching, like they're supposed to. They have been known to chew computer cords, so we have to be conscious about those.

For dogs, as I've said, we use a crate when we're not home. And we also have a baby gate that separates the living room and bedroom. We use that even when we're home to keep the dogs in our sights. It's also a nice addition for our cats, because they can get away from our dogs and have some peace and quiet.

The main thing about keeping your RV pet-proof is to remove the temptations. You know your pet and what they can't resist. When they are going to be home alone, we tidy up the place and put things out of their reach.