Should I get a cat?

August 12, 2010 8:05 AM

Should I get a cat? I'm planning on moving across the country in the next couple years.

Reasons to get a cat:

1. I want a cat (I've had cats before; I know what I'd be getting into).

Reasons not to get a cat:

1. My apartment isn't very big. I think this probably wouldn't be much of a problem--there's stuff to climb on and there are plenty of windows--but it might not be ideal.

2. I'm out of the house a lot, especially during the week. This seems more problematic, but I was thinking I could either adopt an older cat who doesn't mind hanging out alone or a pair of cats who like each other.

3. Sometime in the future--a year from now at the earliest and three years at the latest--I'm planning on moving from Wisconsin to Oregon. How traumatic would that be for a cat? I think I'd be driving, though flying (or taking a train?) might be possibilities. This is the one that I'm really hung up on. I don't want to be a jerk to my potential future cat.

posted by Vibrissa to Pets & Animals (32 answers total)

I lived in a studio apartment with a cat while I was working and attending school full time, so he was alone quite a lot. And then I moved across the country with him twice (driving). He was happy and healthy. It's great that you're thinking this through before committing, but I don't think any of the concerns you listed here are really anything to worry about.
posted by something something at 8:13 AM on August 12, 2010

i flew across the country with my three cats. they were pretty traumatized for a week or two because OMGNEWHOUSE (hiding under the blankets, freaking out at the paddle fans), but then settled down and have been fine since.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:14 AM on August 12, 2010

Driving that distance with a cat isn't ideal; my friends who've moved similar distances have generally driven their car to their new home, then done a quick round trip to fly pets. Cats can take a little while to adapt to a new place, but this really shouldn't be a problem - they are adaptable critters and within a couple of months, at most, generally have settled in just fine. And some are faster; I spent two weeks cat-sitting at my place once, and another time hosted a cat for three hours when my then-girlfriend was returning from her parents' with cat in tow, and in both cases, there was no hiding and no uncertainty and I had a cat happily asleep on the sofa in no time. Don't let a one-time relocation prevent you from getting a cat if you want one.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:15 AM on August 12, 2010

1. One cat in a small apartment - no big deal. I was in a studio when I got my first cat. However, two cats in a small apartment - expect territorial skirmishes.
2. Not a big deal. They're not puppies.
3. I wouldn't drive or take the train. Minimize the stress by flying. He'll get over it. The new place will be more stressful than the journey, but you weren't going to stay in your current apartment indefinitely anyway.
posted by desjardins at 8:15 AM on August 12, 2010

Nothing you've mentioned is problematic for a cat. Cats do hate travelling involuntarily, but they get over it.
posted by General Tonic at 8:15 AM on August 12, 2010

I don't see why any of this would matter minus the car trip.

If you wanted a dog, I could see how an apartment or being out of the house would matter. Cats are usually pretty independent and like small spaces, anyway.
I've lived with cats in apartments many times... and also in houses.

I would suggest getting an adult (jaded) cat if you're not around too much during the week or like you said, a pair of cats.

I have never traveled more than a couple of hours with my cats in the past - and most of them seemed to deal with it fine. One got nervous and went to the bathroom a few times within 10 minutes.
Here is another question asking about traveling with cats via car that may be of interest to you.
posted by KogeLiz at 8:16 AM on August 12, 2010

Our car trip from Chicago to Boston with our cat was pretty uneventful, done in 4 half-days. She made racket for the first half of every drive, then settled down. I wouldn't see a probable cross-country move as a dealbreaker for getting a kitty.
posted by aimedwander at 8:19 AM on August 12, 2010

Get yourself two baby kittens. Having grown up in a small place they will not know any different, and they will have each other to entertain themselves and you. They will be fine on the car trip.
posted by amethysts at 8:24 AM on August 12, 2010

Do it. Older cats are lower maintenance, though definitely. I have co-workers who routinely sedate and drive their felines from NYC to Michigan for the holidays, so I think you're okay. They use some sort of puppy pad thing to deal with accidents. They throw it in the back and they let the cats out to roam around.
posted by edbles at 8:27 AM on August 12, 2010

We just moved two cats & a (medium sized) dog from SC to CA (3000 miles exact). They had the back seat of a sedan to themselves. The cats weren't happy but they survived just fine. We didn't drive particularly hard - mainly just putting in 9-5 hours, getting into hotels early so the animals could relax and stretch out. No pet meds were involved.

YMMV of course.
posted by schwa at 8:30 AM on August 12, 2010

I've done lots of driving with cats (10-12 hrs at a time), and have never had a problem. Back when I just had two cats, I did this more often. They'd stay inside a large carrier that could fit multiple cats and snuggle. We'd take breaks every now and then and let the cats out of their carrier for a bit to stretch their legs. We had a litter box behind the seat on the floorboard, and lots of food, kitty treats and water for them for their breaks. It's not a picnic for them, but it wasn't that bad.

Also, fwiw I vote for getting two cats over getting one lone kitty. Lone kitties make me a little sad.
posted by Tooty McTootsalot at 8:39 AM on August 12, 2010

I've moved my cat via car twice now — 250 miles once, 1000 miles (two eight-hour days) just last week. Once you've lived with your cat for a year, you'll probably have a better idea of its personality and how it will react to a long driving trip. Personally, I could probably envision a 1500-mile driving trip with my cat, but not longer than that.

I would suggest one adult cat for your situation rather than any number of kittens, though. Some kittens will turn out to be skittish, aloof and/or unaffectionate towards humans if they don't get much human contact as youngsters, and it doesn't sound like you've got the time to devote to them. Plus, adult cats are harder for shelters to place than kittens are, so you can bask in knowing that you've done a good deed.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:42 AM on August 12, 2010

I'd get two as well, even in a small apartment - then they have each other when you're gone.

I drove my cat across the country (LA to KC) twice and flew with him twice. Flying was much harder on him. He was a good little car traveler. He adapted to his new places much more easily after the car trips than after the flight.
posted by annathea at 8:46 AM on August 12, 2010

I had a cat in a small apartment with no problems. We then moved her from North Carolina to Minnesota (driving). No problem at all. We used a pop-up dog kennel, put water and food on one end and a small litter box on the other. There was a blankie and some toys in there that she was familiar with. We propped up the kennel so she could look out the window and see us clearly where we were up front. The only thing she reacted badly to was the sedative the vet gave us to try. She had never been drugged before and fought it the entire first day. The second day, we skipped the sedative and she was fine. This is a cat that usually hates seven-block long car trips.

Also, finding a pet friendly hotel for any overnight stays is important.
posted by bristolcat at 8:47 AM on August 12, 2010

Get two adult cats who are already bonded - shelters get a lot of already-bonded-pairs of older cats whose owners gave them up for one reason or another. Cats can do really well in a small space if they have someplace to sleep, climb, scratch and eliminate. So a kitty condo is a great idea - increasing space vertically makes kitties happy, and they can look out a window at birds or whatever while you are gone.

Moving cross-country with cats is very do-able. If you're taking them in the car, get a large enough carrier (larger than the "taking them to the vet" carrier) that kitty can turn around and stand up in. Ask your vet about tranquilizers or Feliway spray for calming. Check ahead of time for pet-friendly hotels and when you get to the hotel/motel KEEP KITTY SHUT IN THE BATHROOM (with food and water and a litterbox, of course!) so he won't have an accident on the carpet or wedge himself behind the bedboard and refuse to come out.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:58 AM on August 12, 2010

NOT OREGON CATS HATE IT THERE!

Just kidding. Sounds like you'd be a great cat owner. My husband's cat just moved in our teeny apartment- and we have a small dog, too, and she seems to be having a great time, hiding under the bed, sneaking into the bathroom, taunting the dog, and begging me for food in the morning. We do have a cat tower for her, which is a good place for her to escape when she wants to be up in the air.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:58 AM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

My cat Al (the Best Cat Ever) moved from Vancouver to Alabama and had zero trouble adjusting. He arrived at 11 PM, and at 7 AM he was ready to go outside and check things out. No problem at all.

NB: not all cats are the Best Cat Ever.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:17 AM on August 12, 2010

My cats moved NC to IL with me on a two-day drive ... the one cat loves the car so he's a freak, but the other cat HATED the trip. He got over it as soon as we arrived at the hotel for the night (he slept on top of us and purred) and then got mad again when we got back in the car, and then got over it again as soon as we arrived at our destination and let him out. He had a few days of being squirrely because of all the boxes and upheaval, but he really wasn't MAD as soon as the trip was over. (The freak cat was like "NEW PLACE TO EXPLORE! WOOOOOO!")

We discovered later on that the cat who gets upset by the car would get far LESS upset if he was in a carrier with the freak cat. I don't know if that would be a general rule, and I don't know if it'd work if you had TWO scared cats, but my scared cat would snuggle against my freak cat as hard as he could, while freak cat would give me a look like, "what the hell is wrong with this other guy?" and they'd travel quite calmly in a slightly larger crate if they could travel together.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:37 AM on August 12, 2010

I also think you should get two bonded adult kitties from the shelter! It's really, really difficult to find homes willing to take two adults, so most often they get split up if they're even lucky enough to get adopted at all. How awesome for them if they came to live with you instead! You should totally do it! Cats don't love moving, but hell, neither do I. They'll adjust quickly enough. And any time you feel guilty for making them move, you can just think about how you saved them from the shelter and allowed them to stay together against the odds.
posted by troublewithwolves at 9:44 AM on August 12, 2010

Four months ago my husband and I drove from Atlanta to California with our two cats. We did the trip in four days, driving less than ten hours a day. We started with the cats in separate carriers and then let them out once we got going. They had food and water and a litter box that they fortunately only chose to pee in. They would generally wander around the car for a bit, sometimes lie down on top of a suitcase or climb into the lap of the person in the passenger seat for a while, but often just get in each other's carriers and go back to sleep. When we needed to stop, we were usually able to just close up the carrier they were already in. They were absolutely wonderful to travel with.

I'm sure they weren't happy and each morning when we got back in the car the female cat would yell at us for about half an hour, but then she would get over it and not make a sound for the rest of the day. I should add too that we had no idea what to expect. These are indoor only cats and they had only been to the vet once in the last few years, but they were wonderful.

I guess my point is that each cat is different. A car trip may be no big deal at all for your cat(s). Even if they are stressed they will recover. My sister regularly drives her cat four hours to our parents house when she is going to be out of town for a long time. He gets quite a bit more stressed out in the car than our cats did but as soon as he arrives at his destination he is absolutely fine.
posted by horses, of courses at 9:44 AM on August 12, 2010

Your cat(s) will (almost certainly) hate the trip and be freaked out for a little while until they consider their new home home. They'll get over it. It'd seem a shame for you to go without cats (or for them to go without a human) for two years in anticipation of some temporary freakout.
posted by Zed at 9:45 AM on August 12, 2010

I dont' think it would be a problem for you to get a cat now. I have driven 14 hour one way trips (all in one shot) to and from family members several times over a 4 year period with two cats. One cat thought it was fun to be in the car (specifically in the driver's lap), one cat didn't. I still take regular 5 hour trips with the cat who doesn't like the car. However, for the cat that didn't like the car she wasn't out of her mind stressed, just rather pissed about the whole thing. They both functioned much better in a carrier together (although car loving cat would have rather been in someone's lap). Even now, car hating cat protests for about 20 minutes before quieting down. She also has to be where she can see me driving...if she can't see me she gets upset (abandonment issues?).

When I moved 14 hours away from family for the first time, car hating cat hid in the new apartment for a few days and would come out at night when things were quiet. She settled in pretty well though. I had her for a couple of years before I moved so I knew that she was scared of strangers, and as long as she knew I was around and hadn't abandoned her she was fine. The car loving cat I got after I moved, and that cat was so social she should have been mayor or something. Everything was an adventure for her.

A bad picture of the kitties in question.
posted by MultiFaceted at 9:58 AM on August 12, 2010

Nthing that it'll all be fine. But definitely get two cats if you can swing it. It's really nice for them to have company if you're gone a lot.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:00 AM on August 12, 2010

I lived in a studio with cats for many years. They were very happy. In fact, in my experience, indoor cats are happier with smaller spaces. Maybe they feel like they own the whole space, whereas in a larger space, they feel like they own only a portion of it? I don't know, but I've seen this behavior in enough people's cats that I really believe it to be true.

My advice: get two cats, not one. Get two from the same litter. They provide each other with companionship, love, a playmate, and they're just plain happier that way.

Cheers!
posted by 2oh1 at 10:54 AM on August 12, 2010

Not all cats hate cars. Some cats quite like them. Others do fine with the drive because they are still with their people and that's all that counts.

I drove my cat cross country 10 years ago. I had no idea what I was doing. Amazingly he curled up and slept most of the day. We never left him alone in the car, did drivethrough or one person went out. I was worried he wasn't getting enough water so I would put water on his paws and he would lick it off. He used the litterbox when we got to our destination at night. I had to be careful to only feed him at night, if he ate in the morning he would yarf it up within an hour or two (and even then he only yarfed on the floor of the passenger side).

If I had to do it again I would have gotten a big-ass carrier (more like a dog crate), would have driven shorter distances so he was in the car for less time each day (we did 10-12 hour driving days), would not have done it in JULY without air conditioning.

But seriously, once we arrived all he did was drink a ton of water, curl up on the bed and go to sleep. He did better with a 3k drive then he did with putting him in the carrier and moving cross-town. However, my cat was also a candidate for Best Cat Ever.

As for two cats, my vet once said "Get a second cat if you want one." Not all cats want/need company. But don't hold off getting one b/c you might move in a year. What if you don't move?
posted by micawber at 11:31 AM on August 12, 2010

All the advice here is great.

I would add that cats seem to move better if you can move some of your stuff first -- that way the new place will smell like home when they get there. Mine hardly seemed to notice they'd moved, and were back to normal within a couple of days. I did this by leaving the cats at the old place as I moved, and then bringing them along with the last load of stuff. This might be more difficult for you if you're driving your stuff yourself, since it's a long way, but if you're hiring a moving van or having someone else drive some or all of your things, it could work.
posted by vorfeed at 11:55 AM on August 12, 2010

I also recommend getting two kittens who are littermates. They will be bonded already and keep each other company while you are out. I also like Rose M. Banks' suggestion to get two bonded adult cats. Adult cats will be less crazy, plus you'll

I have two cats who are littermates. We all moved across the country last summer and they were great. I also drive them 7-8 hours to visit their kittydaddy/my boyfriend fairly regularly. I bought a big carrier that they both fit in, which seems to be comforting. They're meow-y for the first 15 or so minutes then they just conk out and sleep the rest of the way.
posted by apricot at 1:01 PM on August 12, 2010

Of course you should get a cat because:

1. I want a cat

As long as you provide it with a safe and healthy environment, everything else is incidental. My cat's have a whole house to bounce around in, and they rarely want to be anywhere other than where I spend most of my time (even when I'm not there, in which case they will sleep; I've been gone for 10 hours and found my cat in exactly the same spot she was in when I left, with no indication that she'd left the bed.)

The move itself could prove slightly problematic, but as long as the cats are indoor kitties, it shouldn't be too traumatic once they are in the new place. Transporting them could be an issue, but you'll have to determine that based on the cat's personality. One of mine loves the car, one absolutely hates it.

As to more than one? Yeah, that'll probably happen on its own. They get into your brain and insist that they need a friend and suddenly, you've got yourself an embarrassment¹ of the little buggers underfoot.

1: in the absence of a better collective noun, I've decided that the best description for a house full of cats is an "embarrassment". This is mainly due to the fact that, if you have any visitors over, the cats will do whatever possible to make them uncomfortable; be it inappropriate affections, shedding, or terrorizing someone with allergies.

It's what they do.
posted by quin at 2:02 PM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you for your advice, everyone, and especially for sharing stories about moving with cat(s). I'll definitely be making a trip to the shelter soon. :)
posted by Vibrissa at 7:45 PM on August 12, 2010

One idea - talk to the shelter about volunteering there or becoming a foster parent to some kitties in need, and then get a permanent cat after you move? I'd do that instead. There is a massive need for foster parents and shelter volunteers to give some love to some cats who may not get any normally.

Because, otherwise, you're going to go to the shelter and fall in love with the 'noisy' cat, and adopt a Tonkinese. Then, you're going to travel in a car with that Tonkinese. Did you know that they can cry for hours on end, at the top of their lungs, in a frequency that usually shatters china? No? Neither did I! Until I bought that little yowling ball of fur, and drove cross country with her. Twice. Even 'quiet' cats can get agitated and sound like human infants being eaten by evil spirits when pissed off enough. And car rides can do that. Some cats tolerate the car just fine...and some do not. And it's impossible to know how your cat will react until that car ride begins.
posted by spinifex23 at 2:09 AM on August 13, 2010

I drove three cats from Southern California to Houston, TX. While at times noisy and stinky they survived (as did I!) and settled in without a problem. I also had a cat (one of the three from SoCal) flown to Washington (state) and, a few months later, driven to British Columbia. He settled into both places without a problem.

I adopted two kittens while living in a 385 sq. foot RV. They didn't know it was small.

Overall, cats love to bitch 'n' moan, but they're quite adaptable.

PS: If you can afford it, I recommend getting kittens in pairs. I've had a single cat and I'd never do that to one again.
posted by deborah at 7:18 PM on August 13, 2010

Response by poster: This is rather belated, but I realized I was breaking one of the fundamental rules of AskMe. These are the cats (known affectionately at four a.m. as "those goddamned cats" (no, but really, they make my life so much better)).
posted by Vibrissa at 7:53 PM on August 11, 2011