The Cat who Owns an R.V.: Luxurious Travel

In my over forty years of being owned by felines, I have not yet had the pleasure of the company of any cat who enjoyed traveling. Although I have several friends who extol the joys of taking fun and exciting trips with their cats, so far all of ours have been home bodies. In fact, as you may recall, when my husband and I moved to Florida from New York, while I flew down ahead of him with Mousie Tongue, our Siamese, he had the dubious delight of driving down with our other two cats for the 1200 mile trip. They serenaded him with operatic arias that totally exceeded the atonal compositions rivaling that well known modern composer, Alvin Berg. These mewsical songs almost drove him crazy. For those of you who are familiar with the Oriental breeds, and their cacophonous voices, I am sure you must be totally sympathetic with him. So I don't understand why Hush Puppy, our lilac point Oriental Shorthair is so obsessed with my power wheel chair. There is nothing under the sun that he seems to enjoy more than riding around the house on my shoulder, or perched on one of the arm rests as I ride through the house. Even more amazing is that he appears to be fixated on having to coil his entire body around my neck while we are seated at the dining table. It matters not if we are eating, just talking or working on crossword puzzles. Once I am in my chair at the table, he jumps on my shoulder resting his body around my shoulders. Oh well, it is a very pleasant "fur piece" that warms me in chilly weather. His purrs are so incredibly loud that they actually mimic the racket made by the diesel engine in our new R.V. All I can do is hope that when we have patiently and thoroughly introduced him to what I often refer to as the "monster in our driveway", and he gets his "sea legs," that he will be entranced by the sound of the engine and relax as we journey to visit friends around the country. My husband and I have been doing a lot of research about traveling in an R.V. with cats. Many folks have left supportive posts on the many message boards we frequent, about their enjoyment and the fun they have with their cats accompanying them on their trips. We have all the information we need about how to secure the inside of the vehicle to keep them safe, but I remain somewhat concerned about potential feline escapes. But the thought of a 3, 000 mile journey with two cats constantly exercising their vocal cords is mind-blowing. Of course I will keep you all updated once we set off on our trip and write about our adventures. I do hope that the R.V. will be as magnetically attractive to Hush Puppy as is my power chair. Do your cats enjoy traveling? Leave a comment and share.