So, you’re ready to hit the road only this time you’ve decided to bring Kitty or Fido along. Before you head out your driveway, take a moment to consider these five quick tips for traveling with pets.
Find a vet
It’s a good idea to search for veterinarians along your travel route well before your trip begins. You never know when Kitty may suddenly choke on a hairball or Fido happens to stick his nose into a noxious weed. Keep your vet list in an easily accessible location inside your RV. Be ready and you won’t be sorry! Here’s a good resource for finding veterinarians on the road.
Take meds
No, not for you—for your pet! If your doggo regularly takes medication or special supplements, be sure that you have enough to last for the duration of your trip. If necessary, ask your regular vet for a prescription you can use to refill meds while traveling. (Use caution when using peanut butter to administer meds. Here’s why.)
Bottled water
Some pets do not do well when drinking campground water. If your pet has a sensitive stomach, consider bringing along jugs of water from home or plan to purchase bottled water as you travel.
Temperature monitoring
While many places happily welcome pets, you may want to visit a museum or eat at a restaurant that does not allow furry friends. If you think there will be times when you must leave your pet inside the RV, consider ways to monitor and/or control your rig’s temperature. Here’s just one product of many to investigate.
Necessary paperwork
More and more RV campgrounds are requesting proof that your pet is up to date with all vaccinations and required preventive health measures. Be sure to take your pet’s most recent health records with you and keep this information easily accessible.
Can you add other suggestions to the five quick tips for RVing with pets? Please do. Use the comment section below.
RVing with a dog (or dogs?). Join our RVing With Dogs Facebook group for all things Fido! Have questions? Our dog-loving group members have answers!
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Train your dogs the “wait” command so they don’t bolt out of the tow vehicle or camper when you open the door.
Our TT came with one thermostat to control both the furnace and the A/C. There are multiple times it is cool enough at night/morning for the furnace and warm enough afternoons for the A/C. No problem if we are there to manually switch the thermostat between the two functions.
Cats especially are fine to leave for an extended time – if you can control the climate. I added a duplicate thermostat to our TT. I disconnected the A/C specific wires from the one thermostat and connected them to the 2nd. Left the furnace specific wires alone. The power wires go to both thermostats. We set the furnace to a max temp a few degrees lower than we set the minimum temp on the A/C. Works great!
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 We regularly (as in, always) take whatever dog we happen to have (#3 currently) with us when we travel. We find that one of the best things about traveling in an RV; we allow dogs in our RV. 🙂 DW takes care of the doggie stuff, but I am pretty sure that she does all but #1 on the list. I wonder why not #1? I’ll ask. As to temperature monitoring, our RV is hooked tp the internet (despite the potential bad side-effects), which allows me to monitor and change the inside temperature using my phone. I also can turn on the generator remotely to ensure that Weagle (dog #3) has air conditioning; he seems to dislike warm temperatures. Meanwhile, safe and sunny travels! 🙂
Well, we have a list of vets, addresses, phone numbers where I’m going. I don’t leave him, so don’t need temperature control. His vitamins and such are part of his travel stuff. I take house water and bottled water. His paperwork, I keep with me. Some people have a temporary tag on dog with campground space number, but he does not bolt out the door and stays on leash; still a good idea. His leash is attached to my wrist or my waist. He has a raised food/water station to help keep crud out of his dishes. He travels with a proper harness fastened to seat belt in backseat and we stop often for breaks. He has his own first-aid kit, and I’ve had a dog first-aid class. Dogs rule.