We are planning on going to our home in West Virginia in a couple of months. We haven’t been there since 2021. The last couple of times we went, bringing the cats proved difficult. Since this is the first time we will be making the trip in an electric car, we need to plan for slightly longer travel times.

The good news is, there is a fair amount of room in a Tesla Y so I decided to try to find a carrier that would make use of that room while being manageable. Some of the options I considered were too big and heavy to bring into a hotel. That would have required us to remove the cats and risk one or both of them escaping in an unknown area.

After a long search, I found something that I think will work nicely. It is an Ikare Pet Carrier. (This is an affiliate link.)

It is quite large. According to Amazon, it is 38″L x 20.4″W x 20.4″H. It has two panels that unzip and expand to make it even larger. It also comes with two pads and two expandable bowls.

It comes in two parts that zip together.

Here it is with the expandable sides.

Floki is demonstrating how much room is inside.

Frankie is demonstrating how strong it is.

I put it in the car with the seats folded down to ensure it fits.

It not only fits, but we also still have room for luggage.

If we wanted to, we could carry the cats into the hotel separately.

I don’t think we will because there is not an easy way to separate it without giving the cat’s an opportunity to escape. We do plan on putting a small litterbox in the carrier during the trip. Having room for a litterbox was my goal when I started searching for a carrier. One of our cats pooped in their carrier on our last trip up there and we wanted to prevent that this time. We will need to add and remove the litterbox while in the car. That may be a little bit of a challenge, but it probably will not be too difficult.

When we get to our destination, the carrier folds up and fits into its own carrying case.

As a side note, the case can be used as a litterbox, but it would need a liner. We will just bring a separate litterbox. Since the litterbox going into the crate will be small, I haven’t decided if we should use a bigger one in the hotel.

What do you think of the carrier? Do you have any tips on traveling with cats?