A couple of months ago, I saw a video for a product called Ripple Rug. In the video, the cats were having a wonderful time going in and out of all the holes and crevices. After my wife saw the video, she agreed that we should order one from Chewy. So, we paid the forty-six dollars and waited with anticipation.
When it arrived a few days later I couldn’t wait to watch our cats enjoying such a unique product.
Floki was interested right away… in the box.
He did eventually investigate it for a few seconds but never tried to enter one of the little holes. Frankie’s level of interest could only be compared to his interest in toothpaste.
I let it sit for a few days, with neither of our cats showing any interest. Now, it is folded and waiting for us to bring it to West Virginia, where I will try again before throwing it out.
That is not to say this is a bad product. I’m sure many cats would have a ball with it. Just not our cats.
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?
Work started the Saturday before last on our new screened room. Frankie was very interested.
Unfortunately, they started late that day and could not finish before leaving on Sunday so we had to wait until yesterday afternoon before we could let the cats out there.
Frankie went out right away, but Floki was more cautious.
His fear didn’t last long.
They both spent the next fifteen minutes exploring.
I noticed a couple of videos from last year that I intended to post but forgot about before I got around to uploading them.
The first was when Frankie met an armadillo. It was on the tenth of August last year.
The next one was taken on the fifth of October. I have several videos of this ginger cat who lived at the opposite end of the street behind us in our old neighborhood.
So far, we haven’t encountered outside cats where we live now.
Has anyone with cats ever packed for a trip and not seen this?
My wife went on a business trip this week and put her suitcase on the table to pack. Knowing Frankie would lay on top of it she covered it with a towel.
I took a video of Frankie and Floki when we got to our new home on Thursday, but I have had no time to post it until now.
Some of the stuff in the way was destined for the cats’ room but, for obvious reasons, we couldn’t put them in there until the movers were gone and the door was closed.
Bad Cat Chris 