Survived the trip!
Well guys, survived the trip down to Virginia. We got in about 7pm, left Rochester about 10am. Couple of spots of bad weather, and then traffic as we got into Virginia. The cats were interesting to say the least.
I had each of them in a seperate carrier: Kocha in a small black cloth/leather one, Haido in a medium size standard plastic one, and Nana in a small blue fake-leather one. Nana was silent and scared as always, but Kocha and Haido were HOWLING from when I was taking them to the car and onwards. So my dad and I make our way over to 15, fill up on gas, and then get onto 390. About 20-30 minutes on 390, Kocha and Haido are still freaking out. Haido is trying to claw through every surface of plastic, banging the door, and yowling. Kocha is flipping and turning and clawing all he can.
At this point I look down at Kocha's carrier (floorboard of the passenger side) and see HIS HEAD. He managed to punch right through the mesh side of the carrier, completely tearing the seams out, and had his frightened little head squeezing through. So I hit my hazard lights, pull over on the highway, and get to work. I opened up his carrier and let him get out, and he's panting like a grey hound after a race, and looking around everywhere. Haido is becoming even crazier, so I decided the open his carrier so he can calm down, and instantly he squeezes out (the carrier was on the pasenger seat facing forward, about 4 inches of clearance from the dashboard). Both cats and running around the small open space, pawing the windows, meowing a little bit, and Kocha is still panting.
After a minute or two the calm down, Haido is sitting in my lap and Kocha is sitting on top of the plastic carrier, panting, just looking at everything. Even trying to grab them and move them towards the entrance to their carriers illicits crazy behavior (Kocha cut my pinky finger T_T). Seeing as how I can't sit there all day on the shoulder of 390, I hafta just try driving with them free in the car.
This actually turned out to be soooo easy. Kocha was perfectly happy sitting and watching cars and scenery. Haido was more than happy just laying in my lap. So my dad and I keep driving (we had two cars, a mini-convoy if you will) until we stop for lunch @ noon. Kocha and Haido have been queit, changing positions occasionaly between my lap, on top of the carrier, and lying underneath my legs (which was much less trouble than I feared, they didn't interfere with my driving at all). So, I decided to move things around, I pulled out the metal rods keeping the black carrier in a box shape, foled it up, and stuffed in the back seat. The big plastic carrier I took the blanket out of, set the blanket in the passenger footwell, and stuck the plastic carrier upright so it was mostly out of the way. We kept on driving and the cats were perfectly calm and happy, sitting under my legs, in my lap, or on the blanket. Occasionally they would try to get up on the dashboard but a swift shove kept them down.
7 hours later we pull into my house at Manassas, I set up the cat's litter boxes in the basement, set up there beds, food, water etc, bring them inside and they're as happy as they can be (my basement is finished off and actually quite nice).
Oh, and where was Nana? Inside the small blue carrier, in the passenger seat, sleeping peacefully the entire trip. Right now I imagine she's hiding under the pool table.
I had each of them in a seperate carrier: Kocha in a small black cloth/leather one, Haido in a medium size standard plastic one, and Nana in a small blue fake-leather one. Nana was silent and scared as always, but Kocha and Haido were HOWLING from when I was taking them to the car and onwards. So my dad and I make our way over to 15, fill up on gas, and then get onto 390. About 20-30 minutes on 390, Kocha and Haido are still freaking out. Haido is trying to claw through every surface of plastic, banging the door, and yowling. Kocha is flipping and turning and clawing all he can.
At this point I look down at Kocha's carrier (floorboard of the passenger side) and see HIS HEAD. He managed to punch right through the mesh side of the carrier, completely tearing the seams out, and had his frightened little head squeezing through. So I hit my hazard lights, pull over on the highway, and get to work. I opened up his carrier and let him get out, and he's panting like a grey hound after a race, and looking around everywhere. Haido is becoming even crazier, so I decided the open his carrier so he can calm down, and instantly he squeezes out (the carrier was on the pasenger seat facing forward, about 4 inches of clearance from the dashboard). Both cats and running around the small open space, pawing the windows, meowing a little bit, and Kocha is still panting.
After a minute or two the calm down, Haido is sitting in my lap and Kocha is sitting on top of the plastic carrier, panting, just looking at everything. Even trying to grab them and move them towards the entrance to their carriers illicits crazy behavior (Kocha cut my pinky finger T_T). Seeing as how I can't sit there all day on the shoulder of 390, I hafta just try driving with them free in the car.
This actually turned out to be soooo easy. Kocha was perfectly happy sitting and watching cars and scenery. Haido was more than happy just laying in my lap. So my dad and I keep driving (we had two cars, a mini-convoy if you will) until we stop for lunch @ noon. Kocha and Haido have been queit, changing positions occasionaly between my lap, on top of the carrier, and lying underneath my legs (which was much less trouble than I feared, they didn't interfere with my driving at all). So, I decided to move things around, I pulled out the metal rods keeping the black carrier in a box shape, foled it up, and stuffed in the back seat. The big plastic carrier I took the blanket out of, set the blanket in the passenger footwell, and stuck the plastic carrier upright so it was mostly out of the way. We kept on driving and the cats were perfectly calm and happy, sitting under my legs, in my lap, or on the blanket. Occasionally they would try to get up on the dashboard but a swift shove kept them down.
7 hours later we pull into my house at Manassas, I set up the cat's litter boxes in the basement, set up there beds, food, water etc, bring them inside and they're as happy as they can be (my basement is finished off and actually quite nice).
Oh, and where was Nana? Inside the small blue carrier, in the passenger seat, sleeping peacefully the entire trip. Right now I imagine she's hiding under the pool table.