Having your cat car-trained can be super useful as it opens many new opportunities for you and your feline friend. You can drive to nearby woods for a hike or enjoy a weekend trip without worrying about what to do with your kitty while you’re away. It gives you much more flexibility and peace of mind if you plan to move to another destination. Lastly, let’s not forget about different emergencies and dreaded vet appointments. Wouldn’t it be amazing if your cat tolerated, or even enjoyed, the rides?
Keep reading if you’d like some tips on training your cat to drive in a car. As we are about three months into intermittent car training, we will share with you how it is going, what worked well so far, and how we are adjusting our car training. Let’s go for this ride together!
How to Drive with a Cat: Work in Progress
We started about three months ago, but I must admit, I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted. Anyway, things are moving forward, and I hope you can learn from our experience.
Starting with Leash and Carrier Training
I believe that’s a prerequisite for car-training your cat. Cats need to drive in their carrier bags. I’ve seen some content published by people who let their cats loose while driving, but this seems extremely reckless. I don’t want cats roaming around when I drive for everyone’s safety, especially since I would be the only person in the car. As for the leash, it gives me more control in case we want to stop and have a stroll around.
What I would do differently: I would start by having my cats not only accustomed to their carriers but also knowing a command to go inside. We’re still working on it, and it is not the end of the world. Still, I think our early session would have been way nicer if I could have just told the cats to get inside instead of trying to coax them with treats every time.
Assessing Cat’s Initial Reactions to Car Rides
We started our training with a little assessment. I packed both of my cats in their carrier bags, took them in a car and let them out. Then, I sat there for about 15 minutes, just observing them. Kala was much more interested; she immediately left the carrier and started exploring. On the other hand, I saw Oscar was pissed. He didn’t want to leave his bag and even started growling. I tried to avoid eye contact and talking to minimise further distractions. After some time, I took them home and gave them plenty of treats.
What I would do differently: In terms of learning from my mistakes, I wish I had taken the cats to the car individually. I didn’t expect Oscar to react so strongly. It would have been better if each of them could have explored on their own without disturbing each other.
Exposing Cats to the Car and Building Positive Association
So far, a major part of our work was just getting the cats used to the new environment. I took them individually for sessions lasting about 15-20 minutes. During that time, I just let them explore the car while giving them some treats. At first, they were too stressed to accept them, but soon enough, they started eating their tasty snacks. I lured them around with treats and encouraged them to explore as much as possible. Rubbing and even some scratching were more than welcome, as I wanted them to mark the car with their scent.
I made sure we went to the car only when the weather was good and had my car parked in a sunny spot. At some point, the cats started sitting or even lying down on the rear deck and enjoying sunbathing. As a next step, I opened the windows slightly to let all the new scents in. I don’t have an AC in my car, and I want to make sure they get used to some wind. At the same time, I am now very weary of windy days. I literally had Kala freaking out once only because the wind was blowing too loudly.
Switching the Engine On For the First Time And Watching Cats’ Reactions
As the next step, as the cats started feeling more confident, I switched the engine on and off. I thought they could get scared with the noise, but they hardly noticed. Then, I started slowly moving the car. Driving one metre, then driving back. Again, they hardly noticed.
Going for Short Rides and Gradually Increasing the Time Spent in Car
Since Kala was adjusting to the car much more quickly, I started driving with her after only a couple of sessions in the car. As she likes walking on a leash, I use it to build a positive association. Now, we go to a car, and I let her out of the carrier so she can sniff around. After a few minutes, I get her back into her bag, and we drive for 10-15 minutes. Then, we go for a short walk in a nearby forest.
I try to make these outings as nice as possible, and plenty of treats are obviously involved. We also use the walk as a training opportunity. We do some “come here” and “inside the carrier” commands. Kala is still not overly happy driving, but she’s clearly excited every time I show her a leash and a carrier.
On the other hand, Oscar needed much more time to adjust to the car, and I wasn’t pushing him too much. However, we had our first short drive not long ago, and he was very brave. Since he doesn’t like walking, I find training him a bit trickier as I can use fewer things to build positive associations. Because of his past problems with territorial anxiety, my main focus for him is to really make sure he treats my car as a safe and comfy space.
Driving with my Cats: Next Steps
Now, my priority is testing if Kala would react well to motion sickness pills. She vomited a couple of times in various modes of transportation, and she did it twice during our recent drives. On the other hand, I noticed that if I don’t let her nibble on the grass during our mid-driving walk and limit her treats, she is OK. While I’m still not sure if this is one or the other, I’m definitely going to get her some mild herbal pills and see if it changes anything,
Secondly, we are yet to go for a drive all together. I’m postponing this moment as I still think both cats are in quite different places regarding how confident they feel about the environment and driving. It is also because Kala’s brightest point of any driving session is a walk, which will not work for Oscar. Therefore, I am still focusing on training them separately and making the experience as customised and pleasant as possible. Yet, I know the moment will eventually come.
Three Months into Car Training My Cats
We are not there yet. However, I can see the cats have made a lot of progress. Most importantly, they started feeling more comfortable in the car, and they explored it happily. That’s good, as I would like this space to be their home away from home. As we plan to relocate to Italy sometime, we have a really long drive ahead of us.
I am being realistic in my approach. I know my cats will probably not be overly happy driving for so many hours inside carriers. I don’t strive to make my cats love this part; I just want it to be as comfortable and stress-free as possible. But I want them to really love my car. My goal is to train them to the point where they can fully relax there during breaks. With this, I feel we are going in the right direction.
Finally, my biggest goal for the coming weeks is to make our sessions more consistent. I could generally see the cats progressing nicely, but after every longer break, we take a step or two back. It is not the end of the world, but I am sure more regular sessions would be more effective.
We will update you on our progress in a couple of weeks. I hope we will also have some tips for driving long distances by then. For now, I hope you find this blog post insightful and useful. Let us know if you have any suggestions or tips you discovered while driving with your own cat. We’d love to check them out!