Pet Road Trips: Five Tips For Success

Submitted By:Haley Thomas

Traveling by car with your pet can be fun, relaxing and a great way to include your pet on your holiday or business trip, but it can also be somewhat challenging if you aren't completely prepared and ready for the adventure. The following five tips are essential in preparing your dog, cat or other type of pet for any sort of road trip from short, one day jaunts to complete holidays touring the country.

Scheduling - Its Critical

The last thing you want to worry about when you are traveling is staying on schedule; you want to be spontaneous, free wheeling and ready to take on a new activity in a minute. Unfortunately this will just not work for your dog or cat, they need to have some consistency in their daily routine to feel secure and relaxed. The main points that you need to consider are when you are going to be able to feed you pet and when they will have exercise time and bathroom breaks. Keep in mind that the more consistent you can keep the feeding routine the more accurately you can predict when your pet will need to go for a walk after eating. This can help with keeping your pet comfortable in the vehicle and also avoid a huge number of emergency stops if his or her digestive system gets off balance due to irregular feeding times.

Book Pet-Friendly Hotels in Advance

There are several different online reservation sites that offer search criteria of "pet friendly", allowing you to locate and book reservations for pets in advance. Most pet friendly rooms and hotels are going to have an additional charge for the pet, ranging from under $10.00 per night to over $20.00. Not all pet friendly hotels take all types and sizes of pets, so if you have a large sized dog or have a pet that is not your typical dog or cat be sure to confirm that they can stay in the room ahead of time.

Comfort is Key

Road trips are often not the most comfortable type of travel as the car tends to get crowded, cramped and confining after a few hours on the road. If you are traveling with your pet in the vehicle with you, make sure that they have enough room to sit or lie down comfortably while staying in their safe restraint. For larger pets this may be a special seat belt but for cats and smaller dogs and pets a carrier is really the safest and best option. If the pet is in a seat belt, make sure that it fits correctly and provides the right amount of movement and security. Start the pet with the seat belt on short trips before heading out on your holiday or road trip adventure.

Toys Help Curb Boredom

Bring a few of your pet's favorite toys that they can chew on and play with in the vehicle. Balls, Nylabone chew toys, toys on a string or even a favorite pet safe stuffed toy can be a great way to help the pet avoid the boredom of a long road trip.

Focus On Their Needs

By focusing on what your pet's needs will be on the road trip it is easy to plan and schedule to meet both your requirements as well as your pets.

Remember too that safety needs to be first, so always have your pet in some type of safety restraint when they are in the car.