Van Life with Pets? Need advice please!

Hi all!

I've wanted to live in a converted bus my whole life, and got sidetracked somewhere along the way. I also ended up with two cats who I love dearly.

Recently, I've made some moves to buy a 20 foot dodge camper thing to live in while I save up some money for my bus conversion. Now that I'm working on ditching the apartment, I'm wondering about the logistics of camper living with cats.

Are there any tips, tricks, or some solid advice you can give me? I have a feeling it'll be a bit tricky to downsize with them.

 

My girl friend at the time and I had a great cat that we loved. We lived on the Kona side of the big island, but had a nice bread van we converted. We got a job on the Hilo side, went over in the van and before starting the job, parked at a water front park. The cat got out and of course not recognizing anything familiar--panicked and disappeared! WE looked around and waited for hours but--never found her.

On another trip with the same girlfriend in Arizona, we had another cat. We made damn sure that when we were exiting the vehicle that the one staying inside had a hold on her or we would tie her up inside while we were out. We had a collar and a 50 foot rope that would allow her to enjoy the outdoors. My point--once a cat gets out---everything is unfamiliar to it and panic sets in! Good luck with your camper--I wish I still had mine--I would hit the road.

 

I will definitely be getting them chipped, up to date on vaccinations, flea treatments, and breakaway collars with my info on them. As for an outdoor enclosure, I'll need something more sturdy than the pop-up one. Maybe something more like a metal dog kennel??

Thanks for all the links, @MeAgain . I'm sure I'll be using some of the info there.

 

Yes, upping and going on a whim is appealing to me. However, cats are territorial so, if you are moving about in your vehicle, they can seem to lose their reference point/bearings and get lost forever, 'accidentally'.
I know of two cats which were part of two separate families, who moved house. One family moved about 50 miles and after a day or so, they 'lost' their cat. Fretted for weeks. Then they got a phone call from a previous neighbour about 6 weeks later, who told them their cat had returned home. Amazing that they can do that but I'm not sure it would be good for the animal/pet to be moved from place to place, frequently.

When my Mum and I moved home when I was a teenager, we needed to keep him in the house for a few days and gradually let him out to familiarise himself with the garden - to spray his scent etc. - for about 30mins each day.
After few days of that, he disappeared. Very upset, he was gone from 8pm, when we checked around for him, until about 11pm the next night. I don't recall ever being so relieved when he re-appeared. He was my go to pal when, as that teenager, I was enduring a parental break-up. I doubt very much if he would have stayed with us if we had moved about, as per my understanding of your desire.

hth.
B

 

Thanks for the well wishes, @~Zen~

@Bazz888 that's a good point I hadn't thought of! I have moves my kitties once, but we stayed in town. I do plan on staying in the same general area for work until I can save up a good amount of cash for traveling. So I think that'll help them adapt first before we go on any trips.