Most of the cats that live with us at home almost never leave the walls of our home in their entire lives. Even so, we can get the animal to adapt to going outside, even in a circumstantial way and for activities that are not going to be comfortable, with a series of guidelines.
If we stop to think about it for a second, for most of the felines who do not enjoy the opportunity to experience the street in their entire life or at least in one stage of it, the exits from the family home are quite rare: we will reduce the number of trips to visits to the veterinary clinic or when we take him with us on vacation.
Both situations are not usually pleasant for our furry friend. If it is a question of going to visit the health professional, the cat relates the carrier and the movements generated by the movement in it with a negative experience: it is going to a place where it smells of many animals that it does not know. In addition, these smells will have the signs of stress, we will have taken him to a space, to a room with an unknown person (or one who brings back bad memories), who wears a uniform with many other smells and who begins to touch him, observe him closely , to manipulate him and even to inject him with some substance. We can imagine the anxiety that can arise in a moment …
Taking into account this example, which is one of many, it is clear that the feline will associate the transport with something not very pleasant. We are going to help you change your mind.
As a general rule, we do not ask our four-legged friend where he wants to go on vacation, nor do we inform him of the way we will go, what day, the stops we will make during the trip … He or she will have to adapt to the decisions that we have taken and pass the way in his carrier the number of hours that are necessary.
In the best of cases, our cat will go all the trip quiet, surprised by the circumstances. In the worst case, and even if we have administered special relaxants for felines, it will complain and meow all the time. Apart from that he can salivate, vomit from dizziness or excrete from fear.
How can we avoid the bad time of the movements of our animal?
In an easy way but from the beginning, from the moment the pussy steps on our house.
Nobody says that this is an easy task, it will be a long process and in which we must have patience, but it must be done for the well-being of our cat and also for our own nerves.
It is so simple to get the feline to associate the carrier with something positive … To get there you have to leave it accessible and with the little door open, we will spray it with pheromones and we will make that corner become appreciated as a safe and comfortable place where take refuge.
It is essential to do this before we get going, whether it is going on vacation or to the vet . We will do it for a few days, a week …
Later, we will get our friend used to the car. For this, the first route will be short, very short, what it takes us to leave and re-park the car. It is clear that the animal will accept with a better degree that small trip to a first trip from Madrid to Cádiz.
The best thing is that on a first visit we only go for a review or to buy something, a trip in which they do not get any vaccines or be manipulated in excess. So you can recognize and accept this territory.
All these guidelines can be boring and tedious but they will be effective for the rest of the cat’s life.
