I really like my wool dryer balls. I think everything dries a little faster.
Tennis balls work fine.
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But how do they pee and poop? A litterbox will not fit into either carrier, the carriers barely fit each cat. I don’t know if mine can hold it for that long of a drive. Yours must have bladders/sphincters of steel! 
Also, when they’re scared they lie on top of each other so I thought that might be a way for them to comfort themselves during a stressful time.
No, not absolutely positive. But I’m not thrilled about the idea of having to empty out the entire contents of the rental car into a hotel room. I’m not comfortable parking a car with any personal belongings inside it. Particularly all the computer equipment.
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Our cat years ago held it until we got to the hotel even though we gave her access during breaks. I am not sure a cat can unclench in a moving vehicle. This was a 24 hour drive done over 3 days with toddlers. Good luck!
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Seriously, I’ve never had a cat pee or poop while the car was moving. They are outraged by the whole thing and tunnel under the towel in the carrier to sleep and then occasionally sit up to complain.
At one point we had a cat who liked the car and so we just kept her on a leash so she could see out. We did have a litter box on the back floor of the car and she never used it while the car was moving.
Two cat carriers will fill up most of the backseat of a small car, btw. But taking everything into a motel will only be two trips - use the wheely luggage thing. Take the cats in and shut them in the bathroom with a litter box, then get everything else. Get takeout on the way. You’re set!
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Yup, me too, multiple cats on multiple cross country trips.
This last time I got a wire dog kennel (it has a plastic bottom) like this for my 4 day cross country trip because I only have one large carrier and I didn’t want one cat to be stuck in the small carrier, which is very small. I bought it new because it was in April 2020. I got one that was ultimately larger than I needed, because they just hid in the far back while I was driving anyway, and only used the litter box and ate/drank at night when I stopped. Part of the reason I got such a large one was for height. It was unnecessary. A medium sized one, or maybe even small, would have been fine, because as Cranky said, they don’t need a litter box or food water while you are in motion (they won’t use them).
Moving them between the crate and the individual carriers each night at the hotels was a HUGE ORDEAL, as the crate took up the majority of the hatchback and I had to have the DOOR of the crate facing the front of the car, and twist myself around from the front seat with all the car doors closed (I have a sub compact Yaris), lest they escape and never be seen again. If you rent a larger SUV type vehicle this will be less of a problem, but be forewarned. Also, because my car is so small the crate just barely fit in the back, and did literally take up about 80% of available space. So again, smaller would have been much better. Had I gotten a small enough one I could have just taken the whole thing out of the car each night and rolled it into the hotel on the luggage cart thing. Hindsight.
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Oh, the mountain I live on is covered in native rhododendron (different species from yours, I imagine), and nurseries sell azelias. The way it was presented, though, made me wonder if there was a slang-type joke going on, that’s all!
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All you guys are making me rethink the plan to drive straight through - which even though it wasn’t the question I asked, is helpful. Hm.
We regularly take both cats to the vet together for their annuals and yeah, you’re right, they do take up the whole back seat of economy cars. We’re going to rent something larger, maybe not a full SUV, but, like… I don’t know what they’re called, they’re sort of a cross between hatchbacks and station wagons and seem to have a lot of storage space. We ended up with one of those as a zipcar over the summer since nothing else was available.
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You could get some pee pads to put under them/under their bedding* in their regular carriers. That’s what I did with Mr. Obnoxious when his diabetes was out of control, and that was the only case when I’ve ever had a cat go while on a roadtrip. Otherwise they hold it.
*Bedding for a trip like this, if you’re thinking they may have accidents, could and maybe should be old towels or something you’re willing to throw out (maybe something you plan to send to thrift store - even clothing would do). Layer pee pad/towel/pee pad/ towel and you could just throw out the top two layers if you had to. Those pads are quite waterproof (and available at Dollar Tree).
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I have had cats lose bowel or bladder control on a drive. Usually due to distress. I’ve also had friends do huge drives with happy cats
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Yeah, I’m not sure how these 2 will do. Boy Kitty loudly yodels when we take him to the vet. Girl Kitty is quieter but sometimes lets out little "peep"s. Neither gets carsick, at least so far, so that’s encouraging. Our last cat couldn’t even make it the half hour ride to the vet without barfing in the carrier.
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I would talk to your vet about getting sedatives. Anneke hyperventilates on the <15 minute drive to our vet and my friend suggested this after it worked wonders for her cat. They gave us Gabapentin and I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m really glad I’ll have it for next time!
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Again totally not the question you asked, but it just randomly popped in my head to wonder if there is a one night Airbnb you can get that has an attached garage you can park a vehicle in? I too have a huge aversion parking a car somewhere where my stuff could be easily stolen.
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I’m definitely calling the vet for tips once this gets closer.
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Maybe? That seems possible.
Yeah, I was taught from a young age that you park your car EMPTY and you leave it EMPTY and you leave the glove compartment open and EMPTY so that people can see there are no drugs or weapons in there and therefore hopefully won’t smash your window to rifle through it. That is, like, part of my DNA right now along with don’t leave your house unlocked!
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I do not let the cats out of the carrier in the car, because if a cat gets under the seat, good luck extracting it without a trip to urgent care.BTDT!
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Yeah, we’d be peeling ours off the ceiling. Nope. They stay fully corralled.
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If you can drive an SUV you can drive a minivan and there’s way more room in a minivan.
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My vet recommended against giving sedatives for my two cats on my 1800 mi cross country move. They said unless it was absolutely necessary, it was better to not. But obviously that is a question for your vet.
I had a Honda Fit and only had the cats, my suitcase, my Mom and her suitcase, so I folded down one of the back seats, put a litter box in the hatchback part and got a cargo net thing that blocked them from getting to the front seat. They wore harnesses and got free range of the back half of the car. They cried a little bit each day when we started but then settled down and slept the rest of the time. They never used the litter box in the cat, but did each night in the hotel. We locked them in the bathroom with their bed, food, water and litter each night just to keep them from finding a hiding spot and not being able to find them in the morning. (It was a three day drive because my mom has to stop 7000 times a day).
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Oh, this was transferring between the dog crate to the individual carriers to go to the hotel. The crate was too large to remove intact from the car (if the crate is too large it is not possible at all to move the entire thing in and out of the car), so they had to be transferred each time. I had the back seats folded down, and it took up 80% of the interior space. They pasted themselves to the very back of the crate for the transferring, because they didn’t want to go in the carriers either, so this was extra fun. I had to do this 4 times. And then put them back into the crate from the carriers each morning.
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