Mom here again, checking back in to update you about how our pets have adjusted to life in our bus.
Many people and families have and love their pets. While some are harder than others to bring traveling, if they really matter to you, you can find a way. Some pets have a more nervous nature and might not adjust well to life on the road. In this case, it may be kinder to find them a good home before you launch.
Before we moved into our bus, in addition to all the farm animals, we also had a fish tank, three tarantulas, two budgies (parakeets), a cat, a dog, and an angora rabbit. The pets and animals have always been chiefly my domain. The dog and cat often prefer other members of our family. I’m the one who does all the research, works on training, makes vet appointments, the vast majority of the cleaning and grooming, and all of that. So what animals to bring, and how to accommodate them, were mostly my arenas.
While some people do take some farm animals with them traveling. I knew that chickens, ducks, and guineas are, well, pretty gross in confinement. Goats are almost impossible to confine (ever heard the saying that if a fence can hold water, it can hold a goat?). I knew that all of the farm animals would mean a lot more work for me, and make us very unwelcome many places. There’s also lots of wildlife that like to eat farm animals. I knew they would add a lot of stress to my life. So while I miss my farm animals dearly, I also know I made the best decision in finding them new homes.
What about the fish?
The fish tank, while really cool – and I had just upgraded it before we made the decision! – I knew would be really difficult to keep on the road. Some people do find success, but it all comes down to priorities, right? And my fish tank just wasn’t a big enough priority for me. That, and, once again, I did all the cleaning and maintenance – I knew I didn’t want that while traveling. But I have seen some people work out systems with baffles to keep the water from sloshing so much. If this is a priority for you, then continue looking into it, because it has been done.
I really liked my tarantulas, but they’re just not terribly personable animals. Especially as two of mine were still really small. Too small to be handled. My Tarantula that had gotten big enough, was too aggressive to handle. (Maybe “aggressive” is the wrong word. It was just a really eager feeder and I didn’t want it thinking it could eat my hand.) Tarantulas are also really sensitive to vibrations. So while they have hands-down been my easiest pets ever. Some will fast for 2 years at a time, and be totally fine! I elected to find them new homes, too. Plus, I didn’t want to have to worry about sourcing food for them on the road.
I got my first bird when I was just ten years old. I have been in love with them ever since. Any time I am without a pet bird, I miss having them terribly. However, when my son was afraid of my birds after he was born, I knew it wasn’t fair to my birds to keep them caged. They were used to spending the majority of their time out of their cages. Having an infant that screams any time your favorite pet comes near it just isn’t fun. So I’d made the difficult decision to rehome my birds then. When my kids were a bit older, we decided to try again. I went with budgerigars (parakeets) this time. They’re a bit cheaper, and I had the perfect cage for a pair of them.
Taming went well at first, but our dog thought they’d be the perfect snack. My budgies had no sense of self-preservation. After they landed on her head for the second time I knew she couldn’t be in the house when they were out. I tried keeping my dog outside while I worked with my birds, but as winter approached that really wasn’t feasible. I sadly made them cage-only birds for their own safety. All this to say, I really miss them. But as they weren’t even tame. I decided to find them new homes, too. If I’d been able to tame them and didn’t have other animals that thought they’d be the best snack ever, I would have kept them. I know of other fulltimers who bring larger parrots and have great success.
Who came with us?
Which leaves us with our dog, cat, and rabbit. Our dog took approximately half a second to acclimate to bus life. she LOVES camping, and she loves car rides. Bus life is the perfect combination for her! Her vet did give her a prescription for some treats to help calm her. No, not cannabis, though they do have cannabis treats for pets. I think they may have helped keep her calm for the ride. The dog gets so very excited during car rides that she whines constantly. But it’s not anxiety for her – it’s pure excitement. Whenever she goes near a car she’s trying to hop in. However, whether it was the calming treats or that she was in the driving cab right with us, riding in her crate, she was calm and happy for the majority of the long ride.
My rabbit took maybe a couple of hours to acclimate. Angoras are known for being especially chill rabbits. And he’s used to being a house rabbit, only caged at night or when we’re gone for a long time. I left him in his cage when I first brought him onto the bus, just to make sure he knew that that was where he was to go potty. Yes, rabbits are actually pretty easy to potty train, and mostly reliable).
Shortly after I opened his cage, he was hopping around, exploring his new surroundings. When it came time to travel, I had him in a smaller crate in the driving cab. I wanted to keep an eye on him. While he didn’t eat the hay I provided for him, he stayed pretty calm. I did make sure to shear him before moving him into the bus. An angora rabbit in full coat can overheat quite easily. We were still working out all our systems plus, we don’t have A/C in our driving cab.
Our cat was the most difficult, but even she acclimated after a few days. At first, she didn’t want to eat. she wasn’t comfortable making her way up onto the top of the kallax unit where her food and water bowl are located. And she wasn’t using the litter box. I added a scoop of dirty litter – with a poop included – to the top of the clean litter in her new box. Iperiodically placed her in it. Eventually, I noticed she’d been digging around in it, so I cleaned it out. The next time I placed her in it she used it.
Her litter box was a tricky one for us to figure out, as we needed something she could access but the dog couldn’t. We ended up putting it in one of the top cubes of the kallax, which is admittedly a bit small for her. Our plan B, if she wasn’t willing to use the smaller space, was to remove the center dividing wood and give her both of the top cubes, which would allow a larger litter box. However, this would be that much less space we’d have for bringing books, so we wanted to try her on just one cube. I’ve also seen other RVers put their cat box in their storage bays, so that’s another option to think about.
Pre-launch checkups.
Before launching (actually, due to how delayed our bus was being ready, it was several months before launch), I had the vet come out and do a full exam on all three animals. Since our cat had always been a strictly indoor-only cat, I hadn’t bothered with keeping her vaccinated, but I wanted her up to date on her vaccines before we left. I got health certificates for all three, too. While these are only good for maybe up to 6 months, I thought they might help ease things if ever we had any problems.
Usually, proof of vaccination is all you need, but I wanted maximum preparedness. Finally, I had my rabbit vaccinated against the Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease, which is a particularly virulent disease that’s through most of the US (though, for whatever reason, wasn’t yet in our area). Actually, I had at first decided to rehome my rabbit, not wanting to risk him getting the disease, but later decided that I couldn’t control what precautions someone else would take. It is possible for our dog or our shoes to bring back the virus and infect our rabbit, just from walking where a diseased rabbit has been, so even though our rabbit does not go outside, getting him vaccinated was really important to me.
Easing the adjustment
If you have pets that aren’t adjusting as easily as mine did, you do have some things you can do to help ease their transition. First, talk to your vet – they may be able to prescribe some medication that might help. Those cannabis products I mentioned earlier may also help. Most important, I think, though, is just to provide a really calm environment for your skittish pet, lots of reassurance, and just be there for them.
The first night our cat slept in our bus she spent about half of it on my chest (not normal behavior for her), and the other half right by my head. I think she needed the reassurance of hearing and feeling my heartbeat to know that she was safe. Now, the calm environment is not easy to provide when you have kids, but it can be done. Actually, my son’s bunk is one of my cat’s favorite places to hang out, even though he’s never been her favorite person. I think she really likes that he keeps his curtain on his bunk down, creating a nice cave-like environment.
You may decide that your beloved pet will be happier not traveling. While making the decision to rehome a pet is never easy, it’s important to keep in mind what will be best for your pet, and sometimes that does mean a different home. If you have an aging pet that you don’t think you will do well with traveling, maybe put off your launch until your pet passes in comfort in the home it’s known. Sometimes, leaving your pet with a trusted family member or friend is a good option, too. Whatever you decide, just remember that you’re making the best decision you can for your pet.