Since we are moving to Florida with 5 cats and since my mother has one cat (C2 age 14+), I thought it might be a good idea to take a couple down at Christmas. We don't want the poor old man to have a nervous breakdown by having to deal with all 5 at once.
This is the old man. Can you tell C2 rules the roost? I didn't think so. The headless lap he is sitting on belongs to my mother. Isn't she beautiful?
We decided to take the two most social cats, Neko and Chloe. I've traveled with a cat before so I was prepared for 4.5 hours of non-stop complaining. Neko didn't let me down. As soon as the car started, he started. He howled and he yowled. He meowed. It was pitiful. My heart was like pharaoh's - hardened. Sorry Neko, you're not getting out of your carrier yet.
This is Neko aka "Big Boy" or "Big Orange Kitty". He's just a tiny little thing at 15 lbs. He's not fat, he's just huge. The span between his ears is wider than the width of my hand. He is really a sweet, big old lug of a cat. I don't know how many "homes" he has in Columbus. I do know that across the street he is known as "George". Miss Pam feeds "George" nice cans of cat food. Here he only gets that nasty dried food.
Chloe is my "sweet" kitty. She always wants to sit on me, next to me or on my computer keyboard. This is Chloe.
She was such a good girl. Not a sound out of her.
Just a little geography. Heading south down Hwy 231 there's 16 miles of 2 lane hwy. It begins about 15 - 20 miles from my front door. This 16 miles is pretty desolate. No stops, no stores, no wide spots in the road. I also forgot to tell you - I'm dragging a trailer. I've done this exactly once before - with my father riding shotgun and telling me exactly what to do and when to do it. I do pretty good going forward. Reverse is not an option! Just remove that "R" from the gear shifter.
Back to sweet Chloe -- About 5 miles into no-man's land, Chloe begins to meow. Softly at first but the volume and intensity increase rapidly --- along with an aroma that is not exactly rosebuds. Suddenly, we are in desparate need of gas masks. I blame it on Lucy who is well known for her ability to clear a room in less than 10 seconds.
This is Lucy and Louie. Lucy is the Boston Terrier.
The "aroma" dissipates for a moment but soon is back -- just as big and stinky than ever. Eric decides that someone has had a accident. I'm determined that it is Lucy having a Gas-X moment. (Can you give dogs Beano?)
Eric can't see into Chloe's crate. There is no place to pull over with a trailer. No gas stations (pun not intentional), no wide spots. There are a couple of mobile homes that look like Norman Bates' cousin might inhabit. Not an option in my humble opinion. We drive, and we drive. Do you know how long 16 miles is with a stink bomb in the back seat and two very unhappy cats?
We finally come to a gas station (Pun still not intented) that I can pull into. We quickly determine that Chloe has soiled her crate.
Let me set the scene. I am driving a Buick Rendevous with 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 14yo boy, Christmas presents and enough luggage to last for at least 2 weeks. There is no place to clean up without displacing someone or something. How do I solve dilemma of cleaning up a cat, the crate, and not letting the cat escape into rural Alabama.
Poor Chloe not only soiled the crate, but her hind quarters were pretty nasty too. I told Eric to get out of the car and do NOT, under any circumstances, open the door while the cat is loose.
Poor Chloe. I had some windex window wipes. The did great on the crate. But how to clean a dirty cat hieny? Windex wipes of course. They might not be gentle on delicate heiny parts but at this point I'm only interested in getting rid of the stench.
Fortunately, the gas station has air freshener (needed desparately) and hand sanitizer (needed even more desparately!). The rest of the trip was uneventful except that Chloe was car sick for the next 20 miles (and she had a bath when we got to Mom's).
Only three more cats to go. I can do it. Yes, I can. I'm sure I can. Maybe I should rent a trailer for the cats. That's an idea. Or make Michael take them in his car. That's an even better idea. Hummmmm. Where ever they travel, I think I need to have a 'Traveling Cat Emergency Kit' consisting of baby wipes, air freshener, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and nose plugs.
