Before my partner and I moved into our van, we spent the six months building it, constantly going back and forth on whether or not we would be bringing our two cats, Bean and Sprout. We had often seen pictures and videos online of van dogs living their best lives on the open road, but weren’t sure if our 3 and 4 year old cats, who knew nothing other than the inside of our city apartment, would adjust with that same ease.
Eventually we decided that leaving them with our parents just didn’t feel right, and we packed them up and moved them into our newly converted home on wheels. Today, almost ten months later, I’m looking over at our two cats sunbathing in our van’s loft, and couldn’t imagine them living any other way. Here’s our top tips and tricks to getting your own cat van-ready:
Litter Box Set-Up
The number one question we get asked when we tell someone we live in a vehicle with two cats is, “Where do they go to the bathroom?!” Obviously, a van is a small space so your options for litter boxes are more limited than they would be in a traditional home, but here are a few tips to help you find the perfect placement.
- Keep the litter box out of the main walking area. Cats love to fling their litter everywhere, so when we first moved in we quickly learned that keeping it near where we step was cause for painful walking. Think of a spot that is either tucked away, raised, or in an area that is less-used than others.
- Can you disguise or hide it? Chances are you will eventually have visitors in your van and a dirty litter box isn’t always the greatest first impression during a van tour. We have seen many friends build their cat’s litter boxes into a cabinet or drawer, where it is easily accessible to your cat, but out of the line of vision for both yourself and others that may be in your home.
- Ventilation is key! Aside from people asking how our cats go to the bathroom, their next immediate question is usually, “Doesn’t it stink?!” The answer to this is no, but you have to plan accordingly. We chose to put our litter box on the lofted storage section of our van (pictured) where it is surrounded by 3 different forms of ventilation and air-flow, two windows and a roof vent. We have also seen people make a hole in the side of their van near where they keep the litter box, and get a ventilation cap that helps keep the area smelling fresh.
Once you decide on the placement, you can choose between different types of litter that will work for your small space. A lot of vanlifers with cats will swear by wood pellets, but we’ve personally found that the Febreeze Multi-Cat Litter is great for clumping and reducing odors in between cleans.
No matter what you choose, you have to make sure your cat is happy with it’s new litter situation in it’s new home, and it may take a few weeks of trial-and-error to find the perfect fit.
Keeping Your Cat Active
Cats can sleep for more than 16 hours a day, which makes them perfect self-sustainable pets in traditional living where people might be out of their homes during work hours. Unlike dogs, they don’t need to be let outside, taken on walks, or really entertained much at all. This same idea stands for nomadic-living. On long driving days, our cats tend to head to their go-to spot up in the loft or on our bed, and happily fall asleep while we drive to our next location.
That being said, we’ve actually found that since living in our van home, our cats are more active now than ever before. Our youngest cat, Sprout, even lost 2 lbs which his vet was very happy to hear! A lot of this has to do with the desire to get them out of the van once we are settled in a great camp spot for a few days. Of course, many cats have never been outside before so determining the best solution for your cat can vary, but here is the outdoor routine we have found our cats are happiest with:
- Find a great harness and leash set-up for your cat to go outside with. We use the Rabbitgoo harnesses and these retractable leashes from Target, and we have found them to be perfect for our two cats without breaking the bank.
- Get a double sided carabiner that can attach to the outside of your van so your cats can explore the outdoors safely without you having to be walking them all the time.
- Find expandable bookbags! These Texsens Expandable Backpacks are hands down our favorite purchase we’ve made for our cats since moving into our van. We use them to take our cats on hikes, transport them when we have to keep the van in the shop, and for them to be able to enjoy some fresh air when we are hanging outside or around a campfire with friends.
Like I mentioned earlier, deciding if we were bringing our cats on the road with us was a big decision, and a large part of that was due to the fact that we didn’t feel right keeping them in such a tiny space for so long, but once we introduced the outdoors into their daily lives, their backpack suddenly got a lot bigger.
Temperature Safety for Your Cat
We’ve all seen the scenario, whether online or in-person, where a group of people are surrounding a car in a parking lot, frantically trying to get a pet out of a hot or cold vehicle. When you live in a vehicle full-time with a pet, this is basically on your mind at all times. There are a few different tricks to ensuring your home on wheels is temperature safe at all times, and I’m going to fill you in on all of them!
- Travel with the seasons. As beautiful as Southern Arizona may be, nobody (human included) wants to be there in the middle of July when it’s about 120 degrees. The key to a healthy and comfortable cat is around 50-80 degrees, which is why many nomads travel with the weather. We spend our summers up North, and our winters down South. This also saves us money on having to install a heater or AC unit!
- Create good airflow in your rig. The key to this is to have at least one window with the ability to open and a fan of some form. We have the Maxx Air Fan that works with our three screened-windows, which creates an almost AC-like airflow in our van.
- Get a camera to monitor your cat when you’re out of your van. There are many different options out there to consider, some that actually have a temperature monitor included for your peace of mind! We have the Wyze V3 Pet Cam, which hooks up to our hotspot and allows us to notice signs of discomfort in our cats, but here are a few others to consider: Simple Safe, Pet Cube or Furbo
- Our last tip is to get well-insulated window covers for both your cab and your living space. These do a great job keeping heat out/in depending on which way you have them. This can easily make a 10 degree difference in certain cases!
On the note,
After 10 months on the road, I can safely say that having two adventure cats by my side is one of the most rewarding parts of the whole experience. It is definitely not always easy, but there are days where I look over at them in the middle of a forest, a beach, or a desert, and realize that these two cats that used to wait for me to get back to my apartment each night, are having the most amazing lives that two rescue cats could ever have. If you have any questions on life in a van full-time with cats, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or reach out to us on @geneandshay!
Shay Edwards
Author
Eeeep! I’m Sami, from Aus, about to do the exact same thing with my partner and 2 rescue kitties!!! I’m SO nervous about how they’re going to go, because I live in a small apartment in the city as well, and neither kitty is much accustomed to the outside world..! one is super skitish but I still have a few weeks left to try and help her adapt to harnesses and the outside world!
Thankyou for your post, its really given me faith back that this is ACTUALLY a possible reality, I’m not just a crazy dreamer!
I love your tips as well, so helpful!! If there’s anything else you might be able to share that could be helpful, it would be very much appreciated! This is all so new to me as well and I know nothing can be perfect but I wanna have the basics covered at least!
Enjoy the ride baby gal!
X