How To Accustom Your Cat To The Car
The habit of accustoming your cat to the car will require patience, training and, above all, practice. Unlike dogs, cats need to be in stable environments and the car is perhaps the furthest thing from it. The vibrations, noises and movements will make the road trip a hardship for the felines.
Despite this, owners can train their pets to get used to these types of environments. This will facilitate transport when we have to go to the vet, and even allow not to leave the animal alone at home.
Some cats can tolerate long trips, so they can join us on vacation. For all this, below we will see some tips for you to start training your cat for car trips.
Get him familiar with the car
Something similar happens with the car to what cats experience with water. The ideal thing is to introduce them slowly and generate a series of conditions that allow them to adapt to change. The first thing you should do to get your cat used to the car is to get into the vehicle with it, without starting it.
We can do this two or three times as a kind of test, without starting the engine or starting. In this way, the animal will adapt to this new closed space; keep in mind that the owner must always be accompanying the pet.
In addition, we must always place our animal in a carrier cage. The other option is to put on the leash and the muzzle, for which a previous training must be carried out. As we all know, these animals are very sensitive to the types of contacts and environments to which we subject them.
Getting your cat used to the car : raising the bar
After a few sessions with the car stopped, it will be time to introduce the elements that could disturb the cat. We refer to the noise of the engine and the start-up ; both elements can produce feelings of anguish and fear in these pets.
The first thing is to try to start the engine while the car is not running yet. In this case, the animal must be kept under control, very close, so that it feels accompanied. The reaction could change depending on the depth of the sound. We can do this exercise two or three times before taking the first walk.
After this first test, it will be time to take the first tours. These will be short and at a moderate speed. The logical thing is to keep the windows closed so that the cat does not try to escape.
Positive reinforcement: rewards
Once we start with the hardest part, which is the car journey itself, we must reward good behavior. For this reason, and once the journey is completed, we must offer a prize to the animal. In this way, our mascot will associate the car with something positive, which will be the prize.
At first, the best rewards for the cat are two: give him a toy with which he loves to play or food. The problem with food is that we will have to wait to finish the tour so that the cat does not get dizzy.
If our feline gets dizzy, or has eating disorders, giving him a toy that he likes will be more than enough to reinforce the positive attitude. At first, the pet will accept the trips to seek this prize, but then it will simply get used to it.
Recommendations for taking a feline by car
The fact of taking the highway with our little pussy friend will force us to take some preventive measures. The following should be considered a routine process:
- No food before the trip: the correct thing is not to feed the animal two hours before the trip. The same should happen on long trips and we can only feed it during long stops.
- Always use the carrier: even when the cat is used to it, it is advisable to use this device. The animal must be locked up because, if a braking or incident occurs, the carrier can overturn and damage the animal.
- Interact with the animal when you can: if the carrier has enough space, put its blanket and maybe even a toy. Pet the feline and make contact with him at every stoplight.
