When your travels include your pet, it can be an enjoyable yet sometimes harrowing experience. No one wants to leave their pet behind, so the only logical choice is to bring it with them. However, traveling with a pet is not always enjoyable. While most dogs don't mind the long drive and can be let out on a leash when they need to use the bathroom, traveling with a cat is an entirely different story. Most times, cat owners will need to make a trip to their vet office in order to pick up prescription medication to keep their beloved kitty cat calm.

Cats tend to be home bound animals, meaning that they typically don't like to leave a familiar area. When you take them out of that comfort zone, they become upset. I'll never forget the time that I had to make a 10 hour drive from North Carolina to New York in traffic with a cat that would not stop meowing at the top of her lungs the entire way there. It is in the best interest of not only the animal but the driver to take the proper precautions so that you can have a safe and enjoyable trip. Like a child, if you are traveling with a pet that is distressed, it can not only be distracting but incredibly dangerous because naturally, your attention is being diverted from the road.

If you are traveling with a cat, it's not the same as traveling with a dog. Cats need to have a big enough carrier to house both the litter box as well as themselves. Some owners will pack the litter box separately and stop ever couple of hours or so to check if the animal needs to go to the bathroom. Most cats will actually hold their bathroom breaks for as long as a couple of days if they are really distressed! If you are traveling with both a dog and a cat, make sure that they are separated but placed in the rear most part of your vehicle so as to not distract the driver. Additionally, unless your dog is extremely well trained/well behaved, it should be in a carrier or gated off area of your vehicle. Some states may even have this as a requirement. This is to protect both you and your dog should you have to break suddenly or if you become involved in an accident. Since animals cannot be put into the same types of safety harnesses as adults (I.e. seat belts), they must be secured in other ways.

There have been plenty of drivers that I have seen on the roadways with dogs (and even cats) sitting in their laps while they are driving. This is a huge no-no. Would you drive with a baby or a child in your lap? Not only is this incredibly dangerous for both the driver and the animal (because it obstructs the driver's view and is distracting), but it is also incredibly dangerous for other drivers should you get into an accident.  Brenda Williams