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View Full Version : Cat Carriers - recommendations needed for cats that don't want to leave home



Sam Murdoch
05-13-2013, 11:08 PM
I want to replace an well used metal/plastic folding cat carrier with a fabric carrier for a new and smaller cat (about 10 ponds) that definitely does not want to be cooped up. This will be strictly for trips to the vet. I couldn't care less about traveling by plane, bus, or train with our cat.

I am leaning to either a "Sherpa" carrier or the "SleepyPod Air" though the "SleepyPod" Bed/Carrier has potential. I think that these have the potential of becoming comfort zones for our cat. She would find them comfortable and safe - especially the "SleepyPod"versions.

My questions:

1) Anyone else have a cat that simply does not want to leave home?

2) How do you deal with getting your pet into a carrier?

3) Anyone have experience with either of the styles mentioned above - or others brands?

4) I think I need a carrier that can be opened from the top for a drop in technique. Are there better fabric options than these mentioned?

Looking forward to some good feedback. Please don't suggest another metal/plastic "cage" unless it is truly exceptional.

Thanks very much.

Brian Ashton
05-14-2013, 12:02 AM
I want to replace an well used metal/plastic folding cat carrier with a fabric carrier for a new and smaller cat (about 10 ponds) that definitely does not want to be cooped up. This will be strictly for trips to the vet. I couldn't care less about traveling by plane, bus, or train with our cat.

I am leaning to either a "Sherpa" carrier or the "SleepyPod Air" though the "SleepyPod" Bed/Carrier has potential. I think that these have the potential of becoming comfort zones for our cat. She would find them comfortable and safe - especially the "SleepyPod"versions.

My questions:

1) Anyone else have a cat that simply does not want to leave home?
I have a cat with cerebellar hypoplasia. Pretty much means he doesn't like anything that involves leaving a well fenced in enclosure. He seems to find security in not being able to see the big bad wide world beyond the fence...

2) How do you deal with getting your pet into a carrier?

I'm bigger and meaner than him so he always loses that argument. Though he has quite profound brain damage he's actually quite smart and switched on. He doesn't often make the same mistake twice. But the disability makes him a nervous wreck so he always associates any cat carrier with a bad trip. So the strong persuasion is a fact of life for him otherwise he won't go for any reason. I could put the most irresistible cat food in the back of the carrier and he wouldn't have anything to do with it.

So you can imagine how he dealt with moving from Canada to Aus a few years back in a cat carrier. Took him months to want to go outside once we had him in the new house.

You say it's for getting him to the vet. Therefore after a couple trips he'll always associate getting into that carrier with going somewhere he doesn't want to...

3) Anyone have experience with either of the styles mentioned above - or others brands?

No experience with these ones but the sherpa was what I'd pick if it were me. Most important thing is to make sure the internal frame is strong enough to keep it's shape all the time. It would be real hard to get a cat in anything that keeps flopping around and wont hold it's shape well.

4) I think I need a carrier that can be opened from the top for a drop in technique. Are there better fabric options than these mentioned

If your cat is the nervous type, a drop carrier in might be more of a hassle. Nervous or stubborn cats that are put feet first into anything always turns into a battle. Legs and claws everywhere and with the soft fabric they'll have lots to hold onto. I've always found the best way is to use a carrier with a front door. Point his head in the direction of the door and start pushing him in and close the door as you get him in...

YMMV

Looking forward to some good feedback. Please don't suggest another metal/plastic "cage" unless it is truly exceptional.

Thanks very much.


See the red above

Jerome Stanek
05-14-2013, 7:11 AM
If you get one with a front door take the door off and let him use it as a box. my one cat hated going any place but we did this and it was easier to get him in

Lee Schierer
05-14-2013, 8:11 AM
I made a carrier for our cat. 262240 The top slides open and you can put the cat in and hold it with one hand while sliding the lid closed with the other. Our cat doesn't like to travel, but that is mostly because we don't take hime anywhere but the vet. When I was young we had a cat and we traveled quite a bit with him. He would protest at first, but then he would get up in the back window and watch traffic go by.

David G Baker
05-14-2013, 9:22 AM
When our cat first arrived in our home I had it sleep in the cat carrier with the door removed and it still sleeps in it 12 years later. It is probably too late to train your cat but you can possibly try taking the door off of the carrier and put the cat food inside of it. Your cat may start associating the carrier as it source of food. I have a few scars on my hands from previous attempts at getting an older cat in the carrier. Good luck.

Erik Loza
05-14-2013, 10:13 AM
Funny, we just took our cats to the vet the other day. I prefer the hard plastic carriers over the soft ones for the reason that our cats get nervous when we put them in the carrier and usually poop inside. Cleanup is much easier. They do not freak out when I bring the carrier out (probably because they are only put in it once or twice a year...) and actually like to investigate inside when it gets set on the floor but as soon as they get locked in and we leave the house, it's a different story. Some people's cats do not seem to mind the carrier; always been jealous of that. Pet stores also sell inexpensive cardboard carriers, too.

Best of luck with it.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

Eric DeSilva
05-14-2013, 1:23 PM
he always associates any cat carrier with a bad trip

The only times our cats end up in the carrier is to do their check up at the vet, so they see the carrier, freak out, and hide. We have soft carriers--zip closed tops like luggage--and they seem to work OK, but I have a hard time recommending them. I sometimes wonder if hard sided is better, since they can't sink their claws into the hard stuff (that just would leave me as the only claw-compatible object around, which may not be good either).

I must say, there is no more pathetic noise than the sound of a cat in a carrier in the back seat headed to the vet (well, two cats, but you get the idea). You'd think we were taking them to be flayed alive.

Chris Padilla
05-14-2013, 3:42 PM
One trick we used was to leave the carrier out and throw in a couple of the cat's favorite toys.

Eventually she would just go inside it to get them and sometimes she would even lay down inside it.

We let her get used to it and it is no big deal to put her in there. I think she associates it as a "toy" now.

Oh, we have the soft, fabric kind.

Sam Murdoch
05-14-2013, 6:07 PM
Thanks you folks for your feedback. I like Lee's idea of making a carrier- good job. Funny that never occurred to me - I guess I just don't need another project. I believe the 2 soft sided models I mentioned have removable bottom pads for washing so I think that cleaning would not be an issue. I completely agree that leaving the carrier around and enticing the cat with toys or food is the way to go. I want her to own this new carrier as her territory. Still don't know which one it will be. Maybe someone will chime in with experience with the specific 2 brands I have mentioned.

And yes I must agree Eric - "there is no more pathetic noise than the sound of a cat in a carrier in the back seat headed to the vet". We used to do a regular trip with our earlier cat that required a 6 hour drive with him in the back pretty much unrelentingly wailing. OMG - those were trips from hell. At least 5 of every 6 hours the first few times but then with more experience he would settle down after 20 minutes or so following every stop. Judging by the sound you would have thought we were poking him with hot irons. Good thing we liked him all the rest of the time :).

Scott T Smith
05-18-2013, 9:29 AM
My wife is a vet and she deals with this issue every day. For her, a standard plastic cat carrier is the norm (easy to disassemble, wash out and stack). If the cat resists going inside, simply scruff it and place it inside.

A towel or dark sheet placed over the carrier goes a long way towards calming down the cat for transport, or even when the carrier is stationary.