How to put the cat in the carrier and get it used to without stress

In this article we will see the advice of the veterinary Enrica Rigolon on how to put the cat in the carrier and tips and tricks to get him used to the carrier without trauma and stress.

Is it a tragedy for your cat to travel with a carrier? And when do you have to take him to the vet how does your cat behave when he sees the pet carrier? How can you make a journey in the carrier to your cat a more positive experience?

Often many owners do not want to bring the cat to the visiting clinic because even for themselves to load the cat in the carrier and in the car is a trauma and they do not want to do it even to their cat. So I give you some tips to make the journey with your deed a positive experience.

Cat and carrier: the choice

The first thing to consider is the choice of the carrier: there are many models, what I recommend to all those who have to make the purchase is a type of model that has both front opening and top opening: this because, I speak as a vet, a
we are also comfortable in the clinic to be able to visit the cats that still get agitated and because it also helps you to load in the carrier at home because if Pussy doesn’t want to enter frontally or even in reverse, you can load it from the top.

I advise these types of very closed carriers because they make a den effect and in any case have side openings to let the air pass and the cat still feels protected. Read also: Best cat carrier, how to choose.

Another important thing in choosing a pet carrier is the size, you have to take into account that the cat becomes large, I would advise you to already take a carrier of a larger size,
to calculate that there is also the cat that becomes 8-9 kg inside you that you never know.

I recommend a rigid plastic carrier, because a very important thing is to be able to wash them once you return home, not only because many cats suffering from travel anxiety can also have emotional urination, they can also have emotional defecations, and therefore it must be easy to clean, but above all because even the cat that seems as calm as possible emits alarm pheromones with hands and feet and it is important to be able to carefully remove them every time you come home from a car trip, with water lukewarm and a neutral ph soap.

How to accustom the cat to the carrier

The pet carrier should not be kept in the storeroom all year round, I advise you to always leave it at home for the cat, you put in a nice soft cushion, so that the cat can also use it as a den, a shelter where you can go to sleep .

To get the cat used to the carrier, he must be able to enter it, smell it, get to know it, explore it, it must not be an unknown object that sees only that time when he has to get in the car and do a bad thing that is to go to the vet or take a trip of hours .

You always have to leave it to him, it is not always possible to foresee the moment when you need to bring a veterinarian, you can’t say I give him a week before, because if the accident happens, if the unexpected illness happens, for the cat it will be a further trauma.

How to put the cat in the carrier

The time comes to use it to go on a trip and tragedies usually start there. So how do you get the cat into the carrier?

You don’t have to go and get your poor kitty who’s making his cabbages, brutally with rough manners, because you’re upset too.

What you don’t have to do is take it and try to put it on sharply, no! You have to get close to your cat who is doing his own thing or maybe he is also sleeping, sweetly with a low tone of voice, quiet, and started, to tell him with a singsong tone “Hello love, do you know that we are going to the vet now? “

You move with a calm, soft manner, without sudden movements that stir the cat, take it gently in your arms, it must all be a very soft thing, because cats get easily nervous, and then if he already knows the carrier, you propose him the entrance.

Many, however, do not want to get into the carrier even if they are used to it, because they think: “Why do you have to put me in now that I don’t want to?”

I often use the trick of letting the cat enter the rear carrier, making them enter from the rear, cheating it and then closing it inside.

I recommend: do not start chasing the cat around the house all upset because you really do make it a negative experience. Everything must be done calmly.

Accustom the cat to the carrier from an early age

I advise you to start immediately, when the kitten is small and young, to carry it around with the carrier, because the experience must be all a known thing, an experience already lived: everything that they do not know scares me.

Have the cat travel often as a child, have it inserted often in a car, even maybe simply put the carrier in the car and start the engine, but let him experience the journey, because if you make him get in the car twice a year, once for the holidays, once for the vet, it is an experience that however knows little, traumatic.

How to calm a cat in the carrier

Once you have managed to put the cat in the carrier another thing to be reckoned with is how to carry it in the carrier: do not hack the cat.

Walking it rocks and the cat does not like it, so my advice is not to take the carrier by the handle, but to hold it with both hands.

Better to put the cat in the carrier on the passenger seat, next to me, so that he can see me, can smell me and so that sometimes I can maybe put a hand on him close, so you can brighten it, especially if the cat meows in the carrier.

One thing that I recommend to cats who have already carried out these experiences and for them is already a negative experience, let’s try to cheer them up as much as possible and let’s open the door, with the machine stopped, let them take a walk in the cockpit, let them know the car , two, three, 5 minutes, what is needed, then with sacrosanct patience we have them come back, and at least they know where they are.

The guide must be soft, because otherwise the cat is slaughtered inside the carrier. I also recommend the car radio with a bit of classical music at a low volume that so calms it down, always talking to it while chanting.

Cat in the carrier: how to help him

To help the cat reassure itself in the carrier, you can spray cat’s pheromones into the passenger compartment of the machine, you can find them normally in the form of a spray.

Spray the cabin of the car a quarter of an hour, twenty minutes before letting the cat climb, because the product contains an alcoholic fraction that the cat cannot stand, must first evaporate, and you can put the cat in the carrier in the car.

Even if it is a cat that is not used to the pet carrier, you can also spray the inside of the carrier with the satisfying pheromones, always a quarter of an hour twenty minutes before letting the cat in.

If the cat does not want to stay in the carrier

And so you are in the car and you are traveling: what happens? often they start mewing like in desperate, they start drooling, they start and open-mouthed anguished, many cats like I said before they make the needs on themselves, some vomit.

In these cases, they are the ones who have already developed a real car panic because they have already experienced many negative experiences.

In that case, besides trying to put into practice all the advice I am giving you, my advice is also to consult a behaviorist veterinarian, because they probably also need extra help, with anxiolytics for travel and therapy behavioral, demanding, but I advise you to do it because the cat has a life ahead, you can have several opportunities to have to put it in the car, to take a trip, often the vet cannot come to the house for serious things, you have to take it to clinic in the clinic, so you have to go by car, and if you don’t have a panic attack until you are sick and ill, it’s definitely better.

For those cats that only maybe suffer from car sickness, which then meows because they feel sick or make themselves vomit, know that you have drugs on the market to help them: anti kinetic drugs, have them prescribed by your veterinarian, you just that you give them to him a couple of hours before the departure and then you can face an 8-10 hours of travel even, so they are great for long journeys, they are also great for going back and forth to the vet and I am very happy with some homeopathic remedies both to manage episodes of vomiting and to manage the cats that are made by the bisognini on him.

Bring the cat to the vet, advice

If I know I have a cat with these types of discomforts and this phobia, better if I agree with a visit to the vet, so even the vet in the clinic can get organized, take a larger appointment, so as to leave the cat with you in the room too visit those ten minutes with open doors so that he can decide to go out.

The vet can also treat the examination room with these soothing pheromones so that the cat feels at home, at ease.

I also spray the soothing pheromones on me, I spray them on my hands, if I visited other cats earlier in the day I change my coat so that the cat
don’t hear the alarm pheromones of other friends on my shirts: there are so many precautions you can take.

After transport: wash the carrier

Once back at home the essential thing to do is to wash the whole carrier with lukewarm water is the neutral ph soap, so as to remove the alarm pheromones, put in the washing machine also the bearings and the covers that are in it because the alarm pheromones last a long time in the carrier.

The possibility that there is is that the next time you need to face the journey with the cat he already hears an alarm, a prejudiced part and is no longer cooperative with you.

I hope these tips on how to put the cat in the carrier have been helpful, let your cat live these experiences in the least stressful way possible! If you have questions or want to tell us about your experience with a cat and a pet carrier, write well in the comments!