Living On The Road:
With Pets
By Barb Cotton





Living in a van with pets creates a whole different set of considerations.
What to do with them while you are at work, what if they get sick, and the
main one-do they get car sick? I have been living and traveling in a VW van
for 2 years with a dog, Max, and a cat, Pawl. Luckily they are both good
travelers.

For the dog I had before Max, I had made a platform for the front
passenger seat. I took a piece of plywood, cut it to fit from the rear of the
seat to the dash, attached 1x2's for front legs, covered it with a rag rug
from Walmart, using a staple gun on the underside of the plywood to attach
the rug. Max loves it. He can sit up front with me when he wants without
having to worry about falling off the seat if I stop quickly. This also allows
me to use the space on the floor for storage. I keep the bed folded out
when I travel so he can go back there and snooze. That is also where the
cat rides, usually napping. Pawl is 17 now so she does that a lot.  I have a
light weight blanket on the bed on top of my sleeping bag that I can just
throw in the wash when I do laundry to keep it clean. But it does fill the lint-
trap on the dryer with dog and cat hair! I make sure to clean out the
washer and dryer so no-one else has to deal with the fur.

When I first started traveling with the cat, I bought a soft-sided cat
carrier (Walmart again- don’t you just love that place?) and she usually
crawled in that to nap. A cat carrier of some sort is a must when traveling
with a cat. Sometimes I just need to keep her contained. She has a covered
cat litter pan- can you guess where I got it?- so has a bit of privacy to do
her thing. It has a handle on top, I have attached 2 cat leashes to it so I
can put the pan outside and hook her to it if she wants to be out. I also let
her go outside without being tied, but that depends on your cat. She is old
enough she doesn’t go far or for long, then comes back inside for her nap.  
I don’t let her go out by herself if I am planning on going someplace soon,
as she has been known to hide under a bush and ignore me when I call for
her. I would never let her out if there was traffic. Usually when I am
working I am parked someplace where it is not an issue.

The kids stay in the van when I’m working, but so far I have been able to
park and live on the premised where I work, so I check on them on my
break. I am a snow-bird, north in the summer, south in the winter, so avoid
most of the temperature extremes that could cause problems. Max is fine
in the van when it is cold, and the cat just crawls in my sleeping bag if she
gets cold. Heat is a different story. I have a pop-top so I can open the
canvas flap to the screen, which really helps the heat escape. I have 2
different size turnbuckles that I use to prop the back hatch open with. The
cat can get out even when I use the smallest one, so I stuff my pillows in
the bottom opening, but air can still get in the sides. A fan is a must to help
the air circulate. I have a clip on 12-volt fan that I attach to the bar for the
pop-top right in front of the screen. The sliding screened windows on the
sides open for good air movement. Before I left Arizona last spring, the
temperatures were in the 80's, too hot to leave the critters in the van, but
I was parked up the hill from work in a secluded area, so I left the sliding
door open, tied Max so he could get in or out of the van as he wished. The
cat I left un-tied, but as I said, she doesn’t go far. The maintenance man
would be up near my van periodically so he checked on them for me. When I
have to leave them in the van to do my shopping, I pop the top and turn on
the fan for them if I’m going to be more than 10 minutes or so. If it is too
hot to leave them in the van, I just don’t go. Period. I have been known to
do my shopping at 10pm so it is cool enough for them. My pets are my kids,
and I love them to pieces and am very aware of their comfort and well-
being.


Both animals have had to see the vet while I’ve been traveling. I just look
one up in the Yellow Pages. Neither has had an emergency, so I have been
able to schedule appointments when I’ve been in one place for a bit. Most
towns of any size have a vet with a 24 hour emergency number if there is a
problem. If you are planning on taking your pets to Canada, like I did on my
way to Alaska this summer, you need to have current rabies certificates for
both, cats and dogs. Canada doesn’t require anything more than that.

Max is a pretty mellow dog, and isn’t destructive when I leave him in the
van, but I do have to make sure any food is out of his reach. If I leave
anything out, he will eat it! He ate almost 2 sleeves of saltines one day.
Drank a lot of water too! I have to put the cat food out of his reach, and he
can be creative in trying to reach it. I keep the cat food dish on the front
seat when I am camped, and tried to barricade it so he couldn’t get to it,
but he has been known to crawl or jump over the cat litter pan, and
whatever else I have stored between the front seats to get to it. I finally
conceded defeat and just put it totally out of his reach when I am out of
the van. I keep the dog food and water dish on a cookie sheet covered with
a place mat on the floor behind the front seat. That keeps any spilled water
off the floor. Also on the pan is a zip-lock bag full of baggies so I can grab
one when I walk Max to clean up after him. His leash hangs on a hook right
inside the slider so I can reach it from inside or outside.

Pets can be great traveling companions, I can’t imagine traveling without
one, but you really do have to be aware of their comfort and safety. They
depend on me to keep them safe and healthy, and I do my utmost to make
sure of  both.