Cat Carrier Magic

Cat Carrier Magic

Studies show that a staggering number of cats are not receiving any veterinary attention. Apparently, many cat owners believe, deep down, that their pet cannot be forced to keep an appointment at the clinic. Are you one of those cat owners? Do you believe your 10-pound kitty could best you in hand-to-hand combat? I have met hundreds and hundreds of felines in my time and have little doubt that your cat could mop the floor with you. All right, maybe if your pet is less than four weeks old or over the age of twenty. But the vast majority of cats in between have a Hulk-like persona that comes out right when the carrier does.

Carrier phobia needs to be addressed because it’s such an obstacle to routine care and veterinary exams. Surely you’ve witnessed your cat’s uncanny ability to evaporate at the sight of anything objectionable, including the carrier as it is pulled out of storage. Probably you are also aware that, once trapped in the same room with said carrier, many cats are a hair’s breadth from going completely berserk with fear and loathing, and that is a recipe for injury. The carrier means a trip out of the house. A trip out of the house means the strange, unnerving sights and sounds of car travel. It means unfamiliar people, some of them so impertinent as to touch one’s belly, pry open one’s mouth to peer at the teeth, or gawk under one’s private tail. How would this scenario differ if the carrier represented peace and safety, a tiny piece of home, a temporary refuge from unfamiliar sights and probing fingers? It can be done, and it’s not magic.

Your cat has made the obvious connection between carrier and travel because the carrier is only brought out when it’s time to go for a drive. The first step to carrier acceptance is leaving it out all the time, and the second step is to put desirable things in and around it. Once the carrier becomes a fixture of everyday life, there is no more reason to fear it than there is to fear the couch. The vet is usually needed only a couple of times a year, so you have the other 362 days to convince your pet that the carrier represents home and security. It’s a place where one can score catnip, canned food, or delectable treats. It might be the last thing one sees before drifting off to sleep in a favorite napping spot. Instead of an instrument of the vet that has invaded one’s home, it becomes a piece of one’s home that can be taken along to the vet.

A finishing touch might be spraying the inside of the carrier with feline pheromone or adding a favorite blanket, but these measures won’t succeed unless you’ve already been doing your homework for the last 362 days. There’s actually no magic to it at all, just learning to look at life through the eyes of your cat.

Dr M.S. Regan