I’ve been traveling the country with my cat, Ninja, now for about seven months straight! She has been doing awesome and I think the longer we travel, the better she gets. I’m currently in Coney Island, New York for the entire summer and I wasn’t planning on letting her outside here because… well, it’s New York and New York is famous for its heavy traffic and crazy drivers, along with its busy streets full of people.

I also assumed we’d have more animal rights issues in NY as well and that was just another reason to keep her with me so she would be safer and away from any chaos.

However, since I’ve arrived here in NY I’ve realized that our housing is much different than I expected. It’s a lot more private than I thought it would be, and more closed in. We’re also on a corner and surrounded by large parking areas and the boardwalk. There’s only one busy side of the street and Ninja hasn’t explored that far nor does she see the need to since it’s all completely gated off with fencing and banners blocking the view inside and out.

I’m relieved to be able to let her out here and she spends most of her time on our front step “keeping watch”. We call her our guard cat, even though when something spooky happens she just darts inside the house.

I’ve been on the road with my cat, Ninja (pictured above) for about 3 months solid now. She has been to Florida, Georgia, both Carolinas, Tennessee and now Alabama where we are currently. Every location has been different but she is used to our RV and what it looks like. She has no problem finding it among others, and it has helped lately with the nice weather to have our bird aviary nearby as that makes it very obvious.

It has been a blast traveling with her. Everyone on the lot has gotten to know her and she even makes some random appearances at local BBQ’s we have on the lots. Everyone looks forward to seeing her and seeing what kind of mood she’s in.

The question I always get is, “Won’t she run away?” the answer is no. Why would she? I have a super close bond with her and I have never forced her to do anything she doesn’t want to, I’ve always gone about training it with her so she knows I won’t make her do things. I never make her cuddle with me, and I never make her come in or go out. I make sure to always ask, which becomes a mutual respect between animal and human.

So that makes it so that she never wants to leave us. In fact, she jumped out the window of my truck once while I was parked at the newest location and started wondering around. Well, I had to end up moving so I started moving the truck and she freaked out and came running over, wanting in, so that she wouldn’t be left behind. She knows when that RV is moving that it’s in fact, MOVING. Not that I would ever leave her, though, but I won’t tell her that if it gets her in so fast

I also use random rewarding which gets a very quick response to the “come” command.

• Cats get into anything and everything.

Ninja has darted into every single opening, cupboard, crack and crevice there is on our RV. She loves exploring and checking everything out which we have let her do… unfortunately she also likes to check it out AFTER you add new things to it as well, such as the food cabinets. So making sure things are wrapped tightly is a must which we learned the hard way. Cat hair in the food is not such a good thing.

• Cats need their own space and familiar and fun toys that let them know they are home.

I couldn’t leave behind Ninja’s favorite toy; her circular ball spinning, cat nip inhaling, nail clawing… toy. She loves this thing and got it for Christmas one year. Once I put that on one of the bunk beds in the back, she claimed the entire bunk as her own. I feel bad for company when they come, if they ever come, because she will be kicking them out of “her bed”. However, it made it easy for her to adapt to the new space and she loves sitting by the window looking out.

• You can never cuddle too much.

Keeping night time rituals and letting Ninja know she can stay on our bed helped her realize this was our traveling home. We brought along a blanket in a texture she LOVES and we use it as a “throw” on our bed so she knows she’s always welcome. She definitely got the hint and loves movie nights in bed.

I’m going to be on tour traveling around and performing in venues all over the world and just have to bring my cat, Ninja along. I thought about sending her to my parents, thinking maybe the constant travel would be too much. However, I decided I would at least give it a try to see first.

Because of the constant travel schedule, I wanted to figure something out to be able to let her go outside like she would normally be able to do at home. And although she is leash trained, it’s hard to find time to super vise her all the time while she’s outside. I’ve been able to put her on a long lead and let her hang out outside by herself but just very close to the RV so that if an unleashed animal came by I would be aware and be able to get her inside without any trouble.

However, I wanted her to be able to walk around unleashed somehow… but don’t feel comfortable letting her around the parks we are at because of all the other animals (horses, dogs, and more)

So I was able to figure out this great (and cheap) tent set up. It’s 10 feet by 10 feet and cost under $100. It packs small, opens big and works great for my cat. She thinks the walls are real, and doesn’t know she can slip right out from under them. She whole-heartedly believes the only opening is by the zipper which is great because she doesn’t try to get out and is able to be off a leash inside.

In the above picture of me with my birds inside, you can see Ninja to the right, the black “blob” checking things out. It has been a dream having her in there and I’m able to easily spend time with her outside without having to worry or have her on a leash of any kind.

It’s a great traveling solution that has worked for me, that I hope can help some of you out there as well.

I went back and forth on trying to decide whether or not to take my cat, Ninja, along with me on my month long road trip from Florida to Utah to California, to Texas and back to Florida. It was going to be a long month and my options were to take her along or to leave her at home alone with the neighbors checking in on her… but I knew she would be bored out of her mind!

So I decided to bring her along with, as much as she LOVES hotels and isn’t too bad about getting car sick. I actually do not give her any drugs or anything when she travels; she is very used to it and does great. She has a certain meow for needing to go to the bathroom, and a certain one for feeling sick. She also has one she does for when she’s bluffing, hehe…

I keep her litter box in the back of the truck behind the passenger seat and she eats the night before we leave but not again until we get to our location the next night. This is by her choice, not me “starving” her… she knows she will puke it up if she eats in the morning or during the trip so she waits until we stop for the night.

She loved the hotels like usual, and we only stayed at pet friendly places like Best Western and La Quinta.

For the first time I took her out with us on drives into the desert and I let her roam around on isolate roads where I knew cars wouldn’t be coming fast. I walked along with her and she LOVED rolling in the hot desert sand. She loved it so much that on this trip when she made her car sick cry, I would take her out and she would roll in the dirt and then jump back into the truck as if to tell me that the layer of dirt would keep her from getting car sick – and somehow, it did!

She had such a good time on this trip and in the desert that I am completely confident that she will be a great traveler and companion on the road with my starting this December when I tour around the east coast for a year. I’m excited to have her along. I’m sure there will be many “Cat Travel Tips” from me in the future.

My parents live in Idaho and on a lot of 5 acre parcels. They’re surrounded by the forest on all sides, really. And often they find deer and moose in their yard along with coyotes nearby in the forests and eagles, hawks and ospreys in the sky. There are tons of predators where they live and I’m always nervous leaving my cat, Ninja, with them. They have cats of their own and always have, but they and the neighbors have had their share of accidents with letting their animals outside.

The accidents only happen when the people haven’t been able to get their animals in BEFORE dark. Dark/nighttime is when all the predators are out for the hunt and people’s pet cats and small dogs are easy targets. The large dogs are only in danger if they are lured into the forest by other animals and then ganged up on in packs.

So in their situation it’s very important to get their animals to come when they call, and especially to come in at night.

This requires a little bit of food management. If you offer your cat food all day long, it can go in and out as it pleases and the only motivation it has to come to you is if you’re cooler than whatever else it is comparing your company to. Sometimes, the person doesn’t always seem better to be around than the patch of grass they can chew on, or the new cat they can pick on. Or maybe the lizard hiding in the bush. I know my cat would pass my company up for that of a lizard any day!

I helped my parents train their cats (as well as my own) to come in at night because guess what? It’s dinner time! While the animals enjoy their dinner before dark every night, doors are locked and kept that way for the night. Dinner time means all animals are in for the night.

My cat naturally has breakfast, goes out all day long and comes in for dinner and stays in. She isn’t allowed out (and there is no cat door in our house, it’s up to us to let her out). If you make dinner time a routine that your animal has to follow, I promise they will be coming in at night!

You can also offer the yummier stuff at night if you don’t want to take all food away. But it has to be something BETTER than being outside, and worth coming in for. Maybe a little wet food for dinner and dry food for breakfast depending on your kitty’s preferences? I know my cat would go for that.

Something had to be done.

Luckily, my husband is quite clever and came up with the idea of putting it under one of the sofa seats and attaching a cat flap to it so that she could go in and out as she would please but no one would see or smell the box.

So, he got to work on it! We pulled the cushion up from the velcro and popped the wood right up. We went to Petsmart and bought a cheap and simple cat flap for only $12 or less and in it went!

The cat flap locks so that nothing can come in/out which is nice for when the trailer is on the road. We don’t really need it flapping back and forth but once stopped it can be unlocked and that is about as tricky as it gets!

There’s a wide variety of cat doors and flaps out there, some were just too intense for what we needed.

This one was cheap and did the job!

Ninja didn’t quite understand it at first, as we started her in where her cat box would be and called her out. She pawed at the flap a while and wondered why it wasn’t staying open as she hit it. She pushed her face against it but backed up so we helped her out… I think she will get the hang of it soon enough!

My number one goal is to make her as comfortable as possible she will be happy. Also, with my cat, I don’t feed her before we head out. At least 3 hours before she doesn’t eat otherwise she is more likely to get car sick and puke. Then that just makes her whole trip miserable.

I also have never had to give her any medication before going on a plane or in a car to “calm her down”. Probably because she has been traveling with me since she was a kitten.

I make sure to bring everything she needs with me and have a litter box for her, treats, food, water and a bed on hand anytime I think she may want it. I also try to provide what she needs BEFORE she has tell me she wants it. I can do this having traveled with her so much and being used to her needs. She will drink while traveling and pee, but she prefers to go to the bathroom (number 2) before leaving or just as we are leaving and she actually prefers not to eat before or during the trip. She will eat when we GET there. Or at least to the hotel in between stops! But eating in a moving car or plane is not for her.

Here is a video of her on the last road trip I took from Florida to Idaho, and back. She did great and laid not only on her bed, but on all of our warm winter jackets! Notice how calm and unbothered she is. This is what a stress-free traveling cat looks like!

I was at a hotel with my cat, Ninja, and couldn’t seem to find her in that tiny room to save my life when suddenly… she popped her head out…