SMB and a Cat

[Greg In Austin]

So who all travels with a Cat in their SMB ?

...I can think of two... Lens and Jage...

We are looking into adding a Savannah to our family and are wondering what we are in for, or what we need to prepare for....??

[yvrr]

We travel with our Bengal all of the time. He loves traveling and camping. (We also take him out on a leash to shopping centers, hardware stores, etc. that allow pets.) He is an F9. He was cage raised for the first 5 months (not good) and then inside the breeder's house for the sixth month before we bought him. We are very lucky that he has a good disposition and is so domesticated since cage-raised cats tend to be more wild. We think the most important things to look for are kittens raised "under foot" in the breeder's house and the generation. We suspect that many Bengals and Savannahs are F4s which might be okay but may also be too close to the wild to allow them to be around people. For example, I have a friend with an F6 and he can't pick it up...it is too wild.

If you get a cat that is domesticated enough, they are fantastic pets...very smart, capable to learning tricks and commands (our Bengal knows about 20 commands), and great travel companions. He and I took a 3-day drive in our SMB back to Colorado in September and he was a great companion. He has a litter box in the van (and another in our other car) and enjoys looking out the windows, sleeping, coming up to say "hi" every once in a while, etc. In camp, we clip his harness onto a 20' line attached to the bumper and he goes out to the end of the line, sits, and just smells the air, thoroughly content...

[jage]

Originally Posted by yvrr

they are fantastic pets...very smart, capable to learning tricks and commands

Funny, that's exactly what Scribbles said about us.

To be fair we've taken her across country 4 times where she wasn't allowed out of the vehicle and camping only once- when she was drugged to the gills and in an e-collar. In general I would never take her camping because I would be mortified if anything happened to her and it is a lot of work to ensure she is safe and not going to get out (although she is very well behaved... she is still a cat and listens only when she wants to)

[yvrr]

I guess the difference is that, with our Bengal, if you open the door to the van and say "Stay", he will stay....

[mjeffrey]

I thought you were talking about bringing a trained Bengal tiger into hardware stores!! Luckily Wikipedia set me straight