Traveling With an Incontinent Cat

Clarification: He's not always incontinent. But when we travel, he loses it, so to speak.

Our 17 year old kitty, KC, really dislikes the actual travel part of our life, unfortunately. Since we often stay in one  place for weeks at a time, this isn't as bad as it sounds. He really loves the attention he gets, he has his own spot for his food (on the dashboard,) and the view outside his window never becomes boring. I thought I would share how we set up his traveling crate so he stays clean during the ride, in case anyone else out there has a similar situation.

First step is to lay an old hand towel on his crate pad.

We have several old towels just for this purpose.

Next is to enclose the pad and towel with an unscented kitchen-size trash bag. Unscented is very important because those lemony or floral scented bag will make the cat sick, just smelling it. Clip the bag closed with a clothespin (you'll need five, and these will be henceforth and forevermore "cat clothes pins," for no other use than for this purpose.)

     

Last step is to lay 1/2 of a Chux (those bed pads for incontinent humans, often found in bigger pharmacies) on top of the bag. Use four more clothes pins to clip each corner to the corners of the plastic bag. Place this elaborately layered pad into the crate.

The vomiting typically starts when I begin to pull in the slide-outs, followed by bladder and bowel incontinence as the coach starts to actually move. If I am lucky, KC is all emptied out as we approach the entrance to the road, upon which time I hop up, whip off the plastic bag with enclosed body fluids and solids, and roll it up neatly before tossing it in the trash. KC then curls up and falls asleep for the rest of the trip. Not a fabulous way to start a trip, but it works for us.

So what have we been doing since Saturday? On Sunday we met with another couple from the campground that we connected with through RVillage.com. If you are an RVer, you want to be on RVillage--it's a great way to meet new friends, and after all, isn't that what makes traveling fun? Bobbie and Kurt met us at a local restaurant for breakfast and we had such a fabulous time talking that the management had to practically kick us out. What a nice couple!

On Sunday Bob and I went to the Outdoor Expo in Santa Fe, and ended up purchasing a new Sleep Number mattress. We are having it shipped to San Antonio, TX, where we will be in a couple of weeks.

Monday was a quiet, at home day, except for running out to see a couple of antique shops in the area. While we didn't purchase anything, one of the shop owners told us of two antique malls in Taos, where we will be visiting in the next few days or so. I love antique malls.

Which brings us up to Tuesday (today, as I am writing this.)  We took the motorhome in for its annual oil change and maintenance. They also fixed a crushed generator tailpipe and our crumpled mud guard. Loads of money and eight boring hours later, we are ready for another year. The one bright spot in the day was being visited by our friends Linda and Chuck, with doggie Henry. I had found a rigid heddle for which Linda had been on the hunt, and I also showed her my Seidel Card Loom because she is ordering one for herself. 

After our friends left, I worked a bit on my shawlette I'm knitting. It is coming along, but slowly (although it would go faster if I worked on it more than a couple of hours a day.)

I like this ombre yarn, but I'd much rather be weaving.