How to do a long distance road trip with a cat and dog
Long-distance travel with pets requires managing lodging, confinement, and bathroom breaks over multiple days. Animals often refuse to eat, drink, or use a litter box until arriving at a hotel, making it difficult to maintain their normal routine during the journey.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using a large dog crate or mesh pet tent in the car equipped with a small or disposable litter box
- 2Administering sedatives or calming medications like gabapentin or trazodone prescribed by a vet
- 3Staying exclusively at national pet-friendly hotel chains like La Quinta or Best Western
- 4Leaving cats secured in their carriers during driving segments and letting them roam only inside hotel rooms at night
- 5Using sedatives from a vet
- 6Over-the-counter pheromone products
- 7Letting the pet out of the carrier during the drive
- 8driving solo over multiple days
- 9using a pet sitter or boarding service
- 10using private charter pet airlines
- 11giving the dog sedatives or calming medication
- 12getting updated vaccine records and a health certificate from a vet
- 13using a good carrier and a collar or harness with ID tags
- 14updating microchip information
- 15Bring a travel litter box
- 16Use a garbage bag with a cardboard box and a plastic bag underneath
- 17Getting medication from a veterinarian
- 18Turning the seat extender into a full bed with a zip-tied memory foam pad
- 19Using imitation leather materials for easy cleaning
- 20Placing bathroom floor mats over the seat to catch mud and moisture
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“It’s a 24 hour drive so I’ll need to stop in at least 1 hotel. Dog is 13 years old and 80 pounds so obviously the only choice is to drive there with him and find pet friendly motels or whatever. But I’m not sure what to do with the cat. Let’s say I took her, how would I let her relieve herself?”source ↗
“Had anybody done long haul drives with their cat and if so how’d you go about it?”source ↗
“soooo my question is how do cats potty on roadtrips?? Do I just bring extra blankets and deal with the smell? I’ve never OWNED a cat myself”source ↗
“So what’s in store for a 30hr drive with a cat? IME they do NOT like car rides”source ↗
“Our cat cried the full six hours. Tried letting her out of the carrier, he cried more, while climbing over seats, on the dash, etc.”source ↗
“Mine doesn’t like the car so I wonder if it’s worth trying but they’re not particularly cheap”source ↗
“They refused to eat, drink, or use the litterbox until we were settled in the hotel room at night.”source ↗
“I was a wreck for the weeks before the move though.”source ↗
“He struggles really bad with car sickness right now which I'm getting him meds for at his next appointment to hopefully help it out.”source ↗
“i (21 f) want to travel with my 50 pound dog and hopefully bring him with me to visit family for christmas. he’s obviously too big for the cabin in an airplane, but i have no idea what the logistics and procedure is for having him underneath as cargo”source ↗
“yes i could drive with him, but that is a 14-15 hour drive which i would be doing solo with him (i’ve never done a long trip like that alone).”source ↗
“I'm moving from Texas to Colorado, the problem is that I don't want to move without my cat? Is there a way I can move her with me?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 3How to make sure your pet doesn't get denied boarding
- 8How to find reliable long distance movers without getting scammed
- 4Are full service moving quotes really this expensive?