Travelling By Car with Your Pets

When you adopt pets, they are considered as part of your family. As the other family members, your animal companion needs to be comfortable during car rides. Honoring the Love Your Pet Day, we’ll share with you ways you can drive around with Si Tompok or Fido safely and trouble-free:

1. Use Pet Carrier to prevent accidental injuries

The best way to avoid injuries to your furry friends is by keeping them in a well ventilated crate or carrier. This way, they won’t go terpelanting if you meet an accident. Don’t let animals roam freely in your car. Cats can crawl under your feet or brake pedal, which can cause all of you to terpelanting. Also, dogs can become too excited jumping from one window to the next and limiting your views.

2. Secure the pet carrier down

Although your pet is safely tucked inside its carrier, a car crash can throw the carrier out of the window. So, it is best for you to strap your pet carrier properly. Some carriers are designed with seat belt guides, but if you don’t have that fancy one you can make the carrier stay in place using bungee rope strapped onto your seat. Can do anything if you’re creative, no?

3. Keep your pet in the back seat

In an event where you own a really large dog or your cat got out the carrier, try your best to keep them in the back seat. You might think your dog is big enough for the seat belt to fit over it, but seat belts are designed for adult humans. Your pet may slip under the belt or worse, being smacked when your airbags are deployed. And even though you think your cat is small enough to fit on your lap, the airbag/steering wheel can still smush them. A smushed cat is so kesian.

4. Prepare pet’s travelling kit

Make your trip comfortable by packing pet’s travelling kit. This kit may include:

• Food
• Bowl
• Plastic bags for picking up after your pet
• Baby wipes to clean your pets and yourself
• Waste scoop
• A roll of gauze
• Your pet’s favourite toy
• Extra leash
• A blanket large enough to wrap your pet if it needs to be constrained.

5. Attach your contact information tag to pet’s collar

Sometimes a pet can slip out through the window during a stop at red light or run away at petrol stations due to unfamiliar environment. So be prepared by putting a tag with your contact information on your pet’s collar. Otherwise, amp up your stamina and chase your pet as fast as you can.

6. Don’t allow your pet to pop its head outside the window

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You see in advertisements where the pets pop their head out of a window while hipster music playing. This is a big no-no. Your pets won’t be as content like in the advertisement when a random object flying by and hit their snuggly heads. And what if a motorcyclist is zooming past only to meet with your dog’s excited face? Both also will be badly injured.

7. Bring sufficient food and water

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Your pets feel safe of familiar things, this includes food. Bring sufficient amount of food to last until you arrive home. Unfamiliar food might cause your pet to have upset tummy. Road trip is not a time to try new pet cuisine, unless you want to risk your seats being covered in animal diarrhea. It’s not like they can tell you “Adik sakit perut”. Same goes with water. Use bottled water or tap water you pack from home.

8. Additional lifesavers

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A tip for cat owners: bring disposable, small-sized litter tray. Most pet stores sell these. But if you can’t find one, disposable aluminium tray is a great alternative. You also may want to invest in rubber floor mats and waterproof seat covers in case “accidents” happen.

So with these tips, we hope you and your furbaby will have a wonderful car rides together. Want to step up your driving game so that your pet won’t terpelanting? Enter our challenge to be a safer driver for your loved ones. Drive safe!