Has anyone moved cross country with a cat?

Sorry. this probably is not helpful..

Check with Lexica

Not cross country but up the west coast.

Years ago I moved from AZ to FL with three cats in carriers in a Penske truck (to clarify - they were up front with the three of us in the passenger section)...two of them were chill, the third cried pretty much the whole way across the country.

More recently my kids moved their cats from our house in FL to theirs in VA - again they were in carriers - softsided ones rather than our hard-sided - and it was a one day drive rather than several days. One of theirs was chill and napped. The other one complained for the first several hours - he was still a kitten...maybe 7months or so. They were both shelter kitties that we fostered for our kids for a couple of months until they could collect them.

Good luck with the move. I hope the pheromone spray helps and if you do try the sedative, see if your vet will let you test her with it in advance just to make sure she does okay with it. How long a flight will it be?

I moved my three cats and small dog from California to Oregon recently. Since I had multiple cats, I needed to drive rather than fly. Like you, I also deal with chronic pain when sitting in the car, both as a driver and passenger. Knowing how difficult it would be for me on my own, I paid for the flights for my son to come to California to get us and drive us to Oregon. To make the trip easier on me, I used my TENS unit for much longer than recommended, but it was worth it to me to lessen the pain. I also took more of my pain medication since I wasn’t going to be doing any of the driving. I had saved up some pain pills over many months to be able to have extra for the trip. And I told my doctor what I was doing, taking extra for the couple of days of driving, and he was fine with it.

I purchased two of these expanding, large cat carriers and put a small litter box at one end and put food and water in bowls that clipped to the metal door at the other end. I put sibling kitties in one carrier and the newest addition in his own carrier. Since the carriers were so big, I was able to easily fit two cat beds in the one housing the siblings, although they ended up smooshing together into one bed like they would do at home sometimes. At least they had the option of their own bed. Normally my cats would meow almost constantly in the car in their small pet carriers. I used to take them with me to visit my sister and they cried throughout the two-hour drive. But on the drive to Oregon, they didn’t make a sound. I attributed that to a few things. The bigger carrier with food, water, and litter box allowed them to move around. I also sprayed the inside of the carrier and their beds with Feliway spray to help them relax. And finally, I think having my son in the car was odd to them so they remained quiet and just watched him. My vet did prescribe something to make them drowsy, but I didn’t use it because they traveled so well.

Since I had three cats and the dog, I only brought the dog in the hotel rooms. I had my son park my car directly in front of the hotel room so I could check on the cats frequently. I was able to clean the cat boxes and refill their food and water from each end of the cage easily. And they didn’t try to get out when I opened the door to add food, so I was able to reach in and brush them and pet them a bit whenever we stopped. And every time I went outside to check on the cats during the night, they were all curled up asleep. It ended up being so much easier to transport them than I feared.

Do you have a friend or family member that would make the drive with you? Having my son drive us made the trip so much easier for me. I was anticipating me being in pain and the cats crying the whole trip. But it was all amazingly easy. I just cuddled my dog on my lap, which he could easily do 24/7 if he could. He had been taught to go potty on command, so I just had him go or at least try at every rest stop. I don’t know if any of this would work for your trip, but for us, it was so nice and peaceful.

www.chewy.com/sport-pet-dog-cat-car-seat-crate/dp/285735

I think I would choose flying. It is quicker and would be all over less traumatizing for the cat.

We drove from WA to CA over two days last summer, and used the same carrier Lexica used for our cat. I bought it from Amazon and it arrived with the plastic end pieces broken - so be sure to open it up before you go to use. The replacement arrived in time and unbroken, and worked well for the duration of the drive.

We brought our cat into the hotel room with us each night using our typical cat carrier that we transferred her into at the end of each day's drive. We let her "loose" in the hotel room each night. She typically hid under the bed (which made it fun to get her back into her crate when it was time to leave).

We had contemplated flying, but we thought her being in such close proximity to other people would have been harder for her. She doesn't like anyone but us, so driving with only our sounds/smells felt like it would be easier for her.

She was miserable and hated the entire experience. Even with anxiety meds provided by our vet. She spent a lot of time crying, and most of the drive laying in her cat box.  She has adjusted to her new home pretty quickly and is once again a very happy cat.

When my middle DD moved cross-country, she drove but there were way too many stops for her to consider taking her cat along on the drive. They took extra time to stop at places like Yellowstone, and she definitely didn't have the $$ to seek out pet-friendly hotel rooms all the way cross country (Northern VA to WA state). So after she was settled in, DS and I flew with her cat. I was very worried about it because her cat is pretty high-anxiety and has to be sedated just for regular vet visits. Things that helped were:

* Called the airline well ahead of time and got recommendations on rules & regs, what to expect when flying with a cat, the whole 9 yards. I lucked out and got a rep who was very knowledgeable and took the time to explain everything step by step. We had to get a new soft-side carrier, as our original one was too big (check your airline sizing rules). We also had to buy business class seats for extra room (required by our airline for flying with pet in carrier).

* One of the most important things (for us at least) to know in advance was that TSA WILL have you take the pet out of the carrier when going through security so they can scan & search the carrier by itself. It really helped us to prepare for this in advance because DD's cat is a runner and I had visions of being the crazy cat lady running through the airport after a loose black cat   (yeah, the cat was not the only one who was anxious about the trip LOL). Anyway, we asked if they could take us to an enclosed space to hold the cat while they scanned her carrier and they took us to a nearby storage closet (think janitor's/maintenance closet) and let us hold her there while they scanned the carrier. They were very quick about it and we each only got 1 scratch for our trouble of holding her in place and not letting her run around and hide under the boxes in the storage closet. 

* We had already been using the sedative (gabapentin (sp?)) for her vet visits so we knew she tolerated it well, how much to  give, etc. Highly recommend trying both the pheromone spray and the sedative (separately) to see how your cat tolerates each. DD's cat absolutely hated the pheromone spray and got extremely agitated around it ; she would not go anywhere near where it had been sprayed. But she was fine with the sedative, which we gave her just before leaving for the airport (10 min drive for us).

* We lined the carrier with a couple of doggie training pads just in case there were any accidents. Glad we did as she ended up with a tiny bit of "euphemistic tummy upset" near the very end of the flight and it contained/absorbed the little bit of mess.

* We were worried that she'd annoy other passengers around us with her loud meowing, which she tends to do when in new situations, or when agitated, or when in the carrier...you get the idea. She did that when we first boarded the plan and put her carrier under the seat, but as soon as the engines started the interior noise completely masked any cat yowling.

* As soon as the 3rd person in our row boarded we checked to make sure she had no cat allergies. She did not and it was fine.

* DD's cat did fine on the flight, settled in to drowse once we got going (and the sedative kicked in LOL), but had a little bit of tummy upset when there was some turbulence near the end of the flight. We took her to a "pet relief station" as soon as we deplaned and got things cleaned up (nothing major). 

We've done it twice, but I'm no help b/c we drove. Our cat did fine...a little bit of meowing for the first 30 min. or so, but then he'd settle down and sleep most of the day as we drove. He wouldn't eat or use a litter box until we got to our hotel each evening, though.

Practice with the cat in the carrier. get the cat in & out and move the carrier with them in it as often as you can.

You might find out that the cat will stress poo an explosive poo.

My DD took her cat out there in a vehicle in a crate and brought her back for Christmas in a carrier on a plane both went ok. She only had 1 over night.

In the car she needed a litter box inside the crate becase they found out on the test run the did she explosive stress poo’d so it was good to have done the test run.

DD had no issues after the test run. Thankfully

USE the sedative. Just do it. Don’t wait until your cat is too stressed to administer it. Administer it as directed when the vet says to.

If your cat is fussy or crying they will throw you off the plane. It varies by cabin crew. My DD was talking to her cat IN the gate seating area while seated thru the closed mesh with the carrier totally zippered shut with the zipper flaps on over the closed zippers & a crew member randomly came up to her & told her if the cat couldn’t handle it she would not be allowed on the airplane! The carrier was completely closed she was just speaking to the cat softly & quietly thru the mesh to reassure the cat she was there. They did let DD on the plane and everything went fine I guess this crew person wasn’t having a good day or something. But just be wary of 🤷‍♀️ I guess being too attentive to your cat at the gate or whatever? This did not happen on DD’s fight back so who knows what the issue was.

Good luck with your move.

@petscrapper....please of all the suggestions, please take the one about taking all precautions for your cat not getting loose ,the most seriously. I am not a cat person, but I am a person that wants NO pet to get lost. They rely on us to take care of them.

Did you read the Pea post about her cat that made a run for it in the middle of the US when their dad opened the crate to give food/water? YES. That cat was lost for about a week and was only found with the locals' help. Don't let that be your baby.

And as far as your cat meowing on the plane. Well honestly, we have to listen to children crying, we can listen to a cat, too. How is that any different? Good luck!