a reply to:
eluryh22
I can offer some advice based on experience.
When we moved to the Caribbean 20+ years ago, we had a cat, who was mostly an indoor cat. She came from a shelter and previous owner had her
front-declawed. It was our plan to drive our stuff in a U-haul truck with our car in tow behind, from California to Florida. We also planned
(and did) to make several out of the way excursions to various points of interest, such as visiting friends/relatives, Socorro, NM, and other spots.
Three months prior to our adventure, we trained our cat to walk on a leash and do her business on a leash. We bought a good quality harness and cat
rodeo #1 was just getting her to wear it. We'd put it on her a few hours every day. After a week she would reluctantly wear the harness without
going all Tazmanian Devil on us.
Cat Rodeo #2 was hooking the leash to the harness and attempting to walk her on it in the back yard. We rewarded her with cat treats whenever she
would walk instead of going boneless, and when she finally did her biz in the back yard, we lavished her with fresh fish and cat treats.
We then started getting her used to being in the car. That was Cat Rodeo #3 and almost was our undoing. Many scratches were given, and much
caterwauling. The cat made some noises also.
At the end of two months, we could put the harness on her, drive for an hour or so, and walk her, where she'd do her business and then drive home.
Along the way, my Bride got the bright idea of bringing the cat's fluffy bed with us, and the cat would sit in the bed and pout with slit eyes of
evil, but at least she was contained as we drove.
When we made our trek across the nation, we set up the U-Haul truck such that our bed and nightstands were in the back of the truck, with all the
boxes packed in a running bond toward the front of the truck. We fixed the back rolling door such that we could block it with a one-foot opening,
and nobody could raise it or lower it. We became KOA members and slept in the truck most of the time.
The cat was a trouper. She sat in her cat bed with slitted angry eyes and when we stopped at rest areas, she dutifully did her biz. On the last
day, as we were pulling into Tampa, she pissed in her bed. I don't know how she knew that we were moving on from there, but she did. After we
loaded the stuff into the shipping container, we gave her kitty downers and were shortly on an airplane to home with a woozy, moaning cat. She was
11 at the time, and lived another five years.
I hope this novella has some use to you.