3 Reasons You Need a Good Cat Carrier

               1. Make sure your cat will not run away when visiting vet

Yesterday I heard an alarming true story at the vet while taking Snowy to have her vaccine. A cat who was recently brought to the vet managed to run away right outside the vet’s office. How? Her owner put her in a carrier and drove her to the vet. After they arrived at the parking lot of the vet’s office, the owner took the cat outside the carrier and took the cat inside the vet’s office. That went well. However, after the visit, when the owner took the cat to the car, and tried to put her into the carrier again, the cat managed to slip outside the car and run away. Fortunately, after several hours of searching, the owner was able to catch her.

It was horrible just listening to the story. I cannot imagine how bad the owner felt at the time. That just reminded me again of the importance of good cat carriers. With a good cat carrier, we can simply put the cat in it and carry him/her to the vet’s office. After the visit, we put the cat inside and take the carrier to the car. Once we get home, we release the cats from their carriers. It is simple. We will never have accident like the one I described above.

This is where cats differ greatly from dogs. With dogs, we can simply put harness and leash on and take them by the leash. With cats, they are often too timid outside home and can be easily scared away.

              2.   In case of emergency, you can evacuate your cat quickly

About one month ago, when I was at home alone with our three cats, suddenly the fire alarm of the apartment building went off. I was never in that situation before, so it took me several minutes to realize that it was the fire alarm and I needed to get out as soon as possible. Then I realized I had three cats and I had to take them out with me. You can’t imagine how anxious I was at the time. Luckily we had purchased this huge Petmate Sky kennel for our Savannah cat. So I decided to put all three of them into it so I only needed to bring one carrier with me. It took me some time to catch the terrified cats, but I managed to take out the cats safely.

Our Egyptian Mau in her Petmate Sky kennel

After this incident, I felt lucky that we spent some money on this large sky kennel. It is not a regular cat carrier that you would have in mind, but it comes super handy in emergency situations when we need to evacuate the cats quickly. Since then we have put this huge cat carrier near the front door, so it is convenient to take it out if needed.

              3. When travel, your cat can rest comfortably

Our Egyptian Mau with her Sherpa Deluxe Carrier

We investigated on cat carriers before getting our first cat. Due to our frequent travel by air, we wanted to get cat carriers that are accepted by airlines for in-cabin travel. The one we got for this purpose is Sherpa Deluxe Pet Carriers. Our cats really like this. Even when they are not traveling, they like playing with it or resting in the carrier. When they were younger, we also used this carrier to take them to the vets.

Our Egyptian Mau in her Sherpa Deluxe Carrier

Since our cats are really large compared with most cats, we use the Sherpa Deluxe Pet carrier when taking them fly in-cabin with us, and use the large Petmate Sky Kennel for all other purposes. 

Based on above reasons, cat carriers are very important to the safety and general wellbeing of your cats. If you do not want to risk your cat getting away, make sure getting a sturdy and roomy carrier for your cat.    

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Walking My Bengal Cat

Tiger the Bengal Cat Taking a Walk

Tiger the Bengal Cat Climbing a Tree

We got Tiger, a Bengal cat to keep Snowy company. Tiger is a crossbreed of Bengal tiger with domestic cat. Therefore he looks and acts like a tiger. The Bengal cat are not your typical lap cat, they tend to be more active. As I said, I always wanted dogs. Since I do not have one, I would like to treat my cats as if they are dogs. That included taking walks with my cats. Some of you may know that cats do not like unfamiliar places. A cat never left home will be super scared of the world outside. Also, they do not like harness and leash. It takes several months for people to leash train their cats.

I did some research on cat harnesses and chose the one in the picture. But I put two harnesses on him to make it more difficult to slip out. We did not want to risk losing him. Before taking him out, I let him play with his harnesses and even wear them at home. That lasted for about 3 weeks. Then I took him outside.

When we went out for the first time he was overwhelmed. There was so much to see and so much to listen. There was not much traffic near where we lived, so that helped. His legs trembled. I stayed close to him and constantly petted him. My petting seemed to really comfort him and made him feel safe. The second time when we went out he was still a little nervous, but he seemed to remember a lot of places and sounds. Gradually he did not tremble anymore. He began to chase birds and flies. He remembered the way home. If he saw strangers, he would rush to the door to get home. After about five walks, he began to like going outside. Sometimes he even tried to open the door by himself.

Once Tiger learned all the tricks of walking outside, he has become quite an explorer. Occasionally, when he decided to give a serious chase to something, he would run very quickly, forcing us to run with him too. We were often out of breath at the end of the chase. It was unbelievable that such tiny cat could run so fast. The harness that we got proved to be very effective. I highly recommend for those who have small dog or large cats like ours.

So far we have only taken Tiger for walks near the home, we may take him hiking in the near future. If we do so I will certainly share the experience with you.

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