Traveling with Herby

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

Okay, so I am going to be traveling this next weekend to my parents house in SC, which is only 3 hours away from where I am at. I am not comfortable leaving Herby with just anyone, especially with her still recovering from her recent tooth related illnesses and want to take her with me. And since the last time I left her, I came back to a scared timid chin, which I believe is due to the girl I let watch my house, terrorizing her.

I have a modified dog kennel that folds up that I am taking with me to put her in once I reach SC. I am taking her ledges, hay feeder, bowl and water bottle and she will get playtime while up there too so that is not a problem. My problem is the initial transport cage while in the car. I will also have my 3 kids and 3 dogs in the car with me so not a lot of room, as you can tell. ( I have a 4 door sedan ).

Any suggestions? :hmm: Thanks in advance!

 

[Stackie]

You don't need a large transport cage for a chin, in fact, the smaller the better. You don't want them to be jumping around while driving, and if you slam on the breaks, they could go flying in a larger cage. I either transport my chins in Ryerson carriers or a small cat carrier. I also put the seat belt through the handle and buckle them in.

 

[Rickman]

I would get the smallest carrier available, and keep it under your right arm!
With a car that crowded, it's going to be important to keep the dogs away, as that's not condusive to driving, and could upset your chin even more!
I had chins shipped from Seattle which were in a carrier where each chin had a space of 8" x 6" x 6"h for over 5 hours, and there were no problems!

 

[mishellyshel]

i have traveled with my one chin, i agree with stacie about the smaller the better. a cheap cat carrier is sufficient, lined with a nice piece of fleece. toss a hay cube and an apple stick in there and they will be fine. make sure not to put the carrier on the floor of the car as it gets quite warm. and since 3 hours is pretty short you do not need to keep a water bottle in there, it will probably just spill. also with the dog kennel, just make sure the spacing is not too big that they can squeeze out (i know you said it was modified, so i figured you covered this, but just in case)

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

Thanks everyone! I am going to get a small cat carrier to put her in, for the trip up there and keep her in the seat next to my oldest son so he can keep watch over her. Oh! one more question..the spacing on the wiring for the kennel is one inch right now, is that small enough, or should it be smaller?

 

[Eric4144]

One inch is sufficient should your chin not be a wall surfer. As long as she does not have a habit of bouncing off the walls of her cage like some chins do she should be fine. One inch is the space in the ferret nation and I have not heard of any problems with this cage to date nor have I had any.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

Thanks! Lucky for me, when she is in her cage she tends to sit on a ledge and do nothing but sleep until it is play time. Then she wall surfs and jumps on and off of things.