RVing, Cat Style

We have two cats, Barnum and Bailey. Even though they do not like the actual moving part of RV'ing, they have adapted quite well to the full-timing lifestyle.

Since we have a 5th-wheel RV, when we started to travel full-time, we decided to have all our pets in the truck with us so we could keep an eye on them. We couldn't have the cats run free because it would be a danger to them and us if they crawled under the seats and got in the way, so we put our dog's crate in the back seat and put them in it. They are sisters who have never been apart, and we've learned it's best not to try to seperate them. This was a good way to travel from a safety perspective. They were where we could monitor them to make sure they were doing ok, and they were in a confined space so they couldn't get into any trouble. The bad part about that setup was that since our cats hate to be in a moving vehicle, we had to listen to them caterwaul the entire time. Let me tell you, that does not make for a peaceful drive. Phil and I were going nuts.

The alternative was to have them in the trailer instead of the truck. We don't let them loose back there either because we fear they may crawl into dangerous places, so we still crate them while we're in motion. They are probably still carrying on, but at least we don't have to hear it, and we know they can't get into any trouble. We let them out as soon as we're stopped for the night. We try not to be too unfair to their bladders by not driving for too many hours per day.

To make their lives while stopped more enjoyable, we've made a few cat concessions in our RV. We made alterations to their old cat tree to make it fit in our RV, and that's been working quite nicely. It's about time for a replacement cat tree, but this one's lasted for about four years, so they're pretty durable.

The cat tree leads to the top of one of our cabinets, and that's where the cats favorite place to sleep is. We gave up some storage space for them, but it makes a nice, safe haven for them where dogs can't reach. There's a nice, cushy cat bed up there for them.

As for the litter box, RV's are not all that big, and odor is a concern. What works well for us is a corner litter box with a lid. The lid helps with cutting down odor as well as making a nice place for the cats to stand and look out the window, which they just love. If they make such a beast, my next litter box will be a corner box with a higher step to it so that the cats don't bring litter out of the box with them. The box we have now has a low step, and we have quite a bit of litter being tracked outside the box that we have to vaccuum often. And since we have dogs who are interested in the litter box as well, it would be nice to get a box that is harder for dogs to get into. What we do with the one we have now is we turn the entryway towards the wall. The cats are good contorsionists, so they don't mind, and the dogs can't get into it.

Some ideas we have for the future are to make some window seats for the cats. They love looking out the windows, so we try to keep the blinds in the bedroom open so they can sit and stare all day. And if you have dogs and cats, and your dogs are like ours and can't seem to let the poor cats get any peace, we recommend a gate between rooms, like this:

This allows our cats to jump the gate and have their own space in the bedroom while the dogs are stuck in the living room.