How To Prepare A Cat For Travel: Training Tips & More

Travel with a cat isn’t easy. But if it’s something you want to do with your cat, the best thing you can do is to start preparing them as much as you can before you leave.

So how to prepare a cat for travel? You need to train them to get used to the elements that are a part of travelling with a cat. So that means training a cat to get them used to their carrier, the car, and staying in new locations…etc. You can also pick up these useful cat travel accessories I recommend to make travel with a cat easier.

It’s also important to remember to listen to your cat wants and needs- not all cats will like to travel.

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

Important Things To Know!

These tips are based on training and travelling with my cat, Percy. I tried to do a lot with my cat at a young age, but there’s always things that slip through the cracks as well.

Or things I didn’t realize were important until after travelling with him a few times. So it’s important to learn from your cat. So keep in mind that travelling with a cat is a huge learning curve – every cat is different! And some things you just won’t know how they’re gong to react until you’re there (like flying on an airplane…).

Don’t Force Your Cat To Be A Travel Cat

With that in mind, if your cat clearly doesn’t like to travel, don’t force it. Every cat is different and they definitely won’t all like travelling.

We noticed that our cat was happiest when he was with us. We noticed he was miserable staying with other people, they would describe such a different cat than we were used to.

So, instead of dropping him off at a friends house when we went away, we noticed he preferred to tolerate the bad parts of travelling because at least he was with us.

Starting Out Young Is Nice But Not Always Possible

Everyone says that training a cat is easiest when they’re young. Although this may be true, I don’t want to discourage you from starting now even if your cat is older. It may just take more time.

Sometimes you aren’t lucky with timing of things either and you might just have to rush it. Of course it’s always nice to have time, but that isn’t always possible and you have to remember that that’s okay too.

For us, we realized we needed a new type of carrier to take with us about a week before we were leaving. I trained him with it every day as much as I could, and we just had to roll with it. You know what, Percy survived!

Not Just You Training Your Cat But Your Cat Is Also Training You!

All these steps for how to prepare a cat for travel also prepares you for travelling with a cat. You think you’re training a cat but really they’re training you. These steps for how to make cats travel better also better prepares you for how to deal with your cat while travelling.

It gets you to know your cat in different situations to know how to react, and ultimately, get used to what your cat is like while travelling. The first few times I took my cat out of the house, I was on top of him all the time! I was so nervous with what he might do or find.

Now I know what his routines are and where he’s going to go (i.e. what I have to move/ remove). So once I remove all those items, I can relax and enjoy my time.

Training A Cat For Travel – Start With The Basics

Before training your cat to do anything, I would start off small. You want give them the building blocks to be trained for travel later.

Training your cat is like training a dog. They’re smart! So use that to their advantage. Training your cat is also a good way to build a stronger connection and teach them how to listen to you.

The best way to train your cat is with a clicker…

Clicker Training A Cat…

Clicker training is when you have a clicker (like this one on Amazon) to train your cat. The clicker replaces the treat right away. The idea is that you can click faster than you can give them a treat.

You want them to associate the click with doing something good and then getting a treat afterwards. So when they do something good, you click, and then give them a treat.

As I said, you don’t have to teach them anything complicated. Have them give you their paw, click, then give them a treat.

Clicker training a cat is a necessity if you plan on travelling with your furry friend. I clicker train him for everything I need now. Continue reading to find out how…

P.S.Training trick! If you’re planning on training them a lot, give them special food instead of a treat. I give my cat Oven Baked food as his treats, very expensive food, but very cheap (and healthier) as treats!

Key Tricks To Training A Cat For Travel

Once your cat understands the clicker, there are a few key tricks to training a cat before travelling.

I trained my cat to sit and stay which has been useful countless times on the road.
Another good trick is to teach your cat is to ‘leave it‘ or to ‘drop it‘.

If you’re taking your cat outside, or even to a hotel, they always manage to find the strangest things. This way I can tell him to leave it and he won’t touch it before I get there. I’ll admit we’re still working the drop it command once he’s already picked it up…

But the most important trick to training a cat before you travel is to come on command. This is called a recall…

Have A Special Recall!

This is probably THE MOST important trick you can teach your cat before travelling. It will also most likely take the longest to train.

A recall word is a special word that you’ll only use for necessary situations when you want them to come (i.e. when you don’t know where they are in a new place!). It should be an uncommon word, that you wouldn’t normally use (so not their name!). I don’t know how it happened, but for me the word(s) are Percy! Salmon! in a very high pitched tone and he comes running!

So how do you train them to come? To make this recall special and to make sure they always want to come when you call is to give them an extra special treat. For Percy, he gets his favourite freeze dried chicken (see it on Amazon from Purebites), or tuna in water (see it on Amazon from Purebites). He will always comes running now.

Start small. Clicker train them to come when you’re in the same room. Then maybe change rooms, or move a bit further. Always giving them that special treat! I like to slowly increase the difficulty of the recall. So I would start to use it when the fire alarm went off, then I would bring him to my parents house and call him.

It’s important to find something they really like. I started off with salmon (hence the recall words) but it was never a huge draw for him. Once I switched to chicken that was a game changer! So try a few treats until you find THE ONE. Also, don’t be afraid to change the treat every once in a while.

How To Prepare A Cat For Travel

How to make cats travel better is just to prepare them as much as possible before you leave. So there are a few ways to train a cat for travel.

Mainly, to travel with a cat you want them to be used to their carrier, the car, being in new locations, comfortable on a harness and leash, and if you can, to use the litter box on command.

How To Make Cats Travel Better – Get Them Used To Their Carrier

Their carrier is their safe space while travelling. This is the only thing that will stay constant for them so you want them to be used to it as much as possible for their happiness (and yours!).

When you get the carrier, keep it out and open for your cat to wander in and out of. This is where our cat sleeps – he knows it’s his place in the house.

But just because your cat is used to their carrier when it’s open, does not mean they’ll be comfortable when you close it. Our cat freaked out and even tried to escape it up when we left him in there once. So this is where clicker training will come in handy…

Put your cat in their carrier and teach them to stay calm when you close the door. Start with a few seconds at a time and continuously increase how long the carrier is closed for. You’ll close it, click, and open it and give them a treat.

Keep increasing the amount of time the carrier is closed. Once your cat is comfortable with the door closed, start walking away with them inside, and even closing them in a room with them locked inside the carrier. It’s really important to get them to that level of comfort because a lot of hotels require that if you leave the hotel room, your pet has to be in their carrier.

How To Travel With A Cat – Get Them Used To The Car Before

The next step for how to make cats travel better is to get them used to the car as much as possible beforehand. Once your cat is comfortable in their carrier, start taking them in the car to get them used to that as well.

The steps are very similar to getting them used to their carrier. You’ll start by slowly increase the interval of time between clicks and treats.

You can start as simple as you want with even just turning on and off the engine to get them used to the noise. Next drive around the block, and increase the drive. When we were training our cat to get used to the car, we did pickup grocery orders and we would take him with us for the drive!

Get Them Comfortable Being In New Locations

Travelling is all about staying in new locations. You can’t exactly bring your home with you when you travel so this is kind of a necessity.

The best thing you can do to prepare a cat for travel is to get them used to going to new locations. From a young age, we brought Percy to my parents house when we would go for supper. Once your cat is comfortable with going somewhere for the day, stay overnight.

If you can, try to bring them to more than one place as well. This can be a friends house, hotel room… The idea is to get them used to several new places.

You can also get them used to being outside at this stage – that’s technically a new place as well!

Get Them Comfortable Wearing A Leash & Harness

Travel with a cat becomes a lot easier if they’re comfortable wearing a harness and leash.

My cat still doesn’t understand the concept of a leash, but he’s okay with wearing the harness and that’s what’s important.

When we go anywhere new, I keep him on a leash and harness for safety until I’m comfortable letting him wander around on his own. Especially if it’s a bigger place I don’t want to loose him so I keep him tied up.

This is also key if you need to take them out on a long road trip. You can take them out of their carrier and let them walk around. Percy never liked that, he was too freaked out by his surroundings. But your cat might be different. Plus it’s always nice to have the option!

How To Train A Cat On A Leash

Clicker training is your best friend here. Start with getting your cat comfortable with wearing their harness. Put it on, click, treat, and take it off. Slowly increase the amount of time before you click when they’re wearing their harness.

Once your cat is comfortable in their harness, add a leash! I never really got my cat used to the actual leash because I really just use it to keep him close to me. But, if you want to walk with your cat on a leash, you can clicker train them to do that as well.

When they stay next to you, click, and then treat. Next try to walk – when they walk with you, click and then give them a treat! It’s about building up good behaviour while on the leash. Do this inside until you’re confident in their behaviour and then try to bring them outside. I’d start with a quiet location without too many distractions at first.

Optional: Train Them To Use The Litter Box

If you’re able to train your cat to use their litter box on command, that will definitely make your life easier when you travel with a cat. You can try to clicker train your cat to use their litter box before you leave anywhere.

I’ll admit, I tried to do this but it’s a really long process so I gave up. I also realized that cats can hold their pee for a very long time. Percy got used to this when we brought him out for the whole day and he didn’t have a litter box. So I also knew he was able to hold it for longer periods of time.

My friend with a cat on the other hand, can’t leave before his cat pees – otherwise it ends up all over the car… He trained his cat is by locking him in the room with his litter before they left. Eventually the cat got the hang of it that he was only let out once he used the litter box. It became quicker and quicker each time.

My worry when I was clicker training a cat to use the litter box on command was that I never knew if he actually peed. So now I was training him to go inside, come out, and he gets a treat… Also I then realized that Percy is in a routine of using the litter mainly overnight so this would ultimately be impossible to train unless I wanted to become nocturnal.

Quick Links – What You’ll Need To Travel With A Cat

How To Travel With A Cat – Related Posts

• Everything You Should Know Before Travelling With A Cat: Is It Worth It?
• 13 Useful Cat Road Trip Tips To Know Before You Travel With A Cat In A Car
• 15 Important Cat Road Trip Tips To Know Before Staying With A Cat In A Hotel
• 11 Cat Travel Accessories You Need For Safe Travel With A Cat Long Distance In A Car
• The Best Cat Backpack Carrier: An Honest Pecute Backpack Review For Travel!

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Last update on 2024-04-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API