On a cat forum I frequent there was a recent discussion on how to take a long trip with your cat. The person stated that they thought “cages” were cruel, and that her cat has traveled sitting in her lap.
I asked her to please reconsider. Although it was over 20 years ago, I still vividly remember the time I took Cleo to the vet as a kitten — and she crawled underneath the brake pedal. No one was hurt, but it’s surprising that I didn’t have a heart attack! I learned my lesson.
The poster replied that the cat would be on a harness, attached to a seatbelt, in the back seat. That does, at least, keep the cat contained and away from airbags. The poster was quite surprised that several people asked her to crate her cat in a car, which the poster considered to be cruel.
Both the boys and Chester are crated in the car. I have bought a harness for Chester, but I haven’t yet used it. Chester loves to go in the car. He gets extremely excited the minute I lift his crate up from the hallway. I never had to train him to go in the crate at all — in fact, I have to train him to stop from going into the crate immediately! I guess it only took a few trips of going to fun places to get him to like his crate.
“Dog and Kennel Magazine” writes that:
an unsecured 60 pound dog could hit a window, backseat or another passenger with a force of 1,200 pounds in a 30 mile-per-hour collision.
Accident reports reveal that dogs have been thrown through windshields at high speeds when the vehicle rear ended another one, or struck a tree or pole. Other dogs have seriously injured the people riding in the car as they bounced and tumbled around the interior
They go on to say:
Your dog, probably dazed, possibly injured, can’t wander away from the scene of the accident. She’ll receive treatment much sooner if you or others don’t have to go looking for her.
We do have good friends that allow their dogs to ride free in the car. I hope nothing ever happens to them. Chances are, nothing ever will. Even we have been guilty of holding Chester on our laps a time or two when we had guests and didn’t have room for his crate. But it only takes one accident for tragedy to strike.
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