Minnie, The Camping Cat - #12

I almost forgot to mention the third member of our camping team.  This is our cat, Minnie.

Minnie will be 12 years old this year! (Thanks to Facebook for keeping track of memories otherwise we'd have lost a few years.)

Minnie is definitely Charlie's cat. She loves and adores him.  I am just the business part of the relationship - in charge of feeding, watering, cleaning the litter box, making the vet appointments. He gets the cuddling, I get ignored. (Unless one of the above listed matters has not been taken care of to her satisfaction - then I hear all about it)

We knew we wanted to take Minnie with us, since we will be away for an extended period of time but she had never gone camping with us and it was a concern.  I read up a bit about traveling with pets, asked questions of the community and then we came up with some ideas that worked really well.

Firstly, the litter box, food and water. When you are living in about 170 sq ft, - space is at a premium.  The last thing you want in any home is a litter box out in the open or accidentally kicking over a dish of water or food.  After thinking about it, I came up with the idea to remove the door off the cabinet under the kitchen sink where we could create a "cat station".  The inside of the cabinet is wider than the opening itself, I was sure I could fit a smaller litter box on the inside floor. (I actually used a drawer that came from an old plastic rolling cart) The one shelf inside the cabinet luckily is spaced high enough so Min could fit fairly comfortably when using the box. The shelf is also where I decided to put her food and water dishes; again, enough room for her to access, keeping the dishes off the floor and out of sight. I find I clean the box more often which is a good thing. Eventually, we will have a little curtain to cover the cabinet opening so Min can have her privacy.  Well - we all have to make concessions, Minnie is no exception.

Minnie does love to be outside. We've tried leashes, harnesses, which she always slips out of like Houdini. So to be safe, we purchased a fully enclosed playpen.  She can be outside with us and there is less worry about her running off or another animal easily getting to her, although we generally don't leave her unattended for any length of time. We also purchased a pet stroller. This allows us to take her with us if we are traveling and don't want to leave her alone in the truck (particularly if it is hot out). I also like to walk a lot and this gives me the opportunity to take her with me. Do cats really appreciate a change of scenery?

October 2020 was the first and only chance we had to go camping this past year. Partially due to the pandemic - mostly due to the months our TT spent at the dealership being serviced.  The delay was brutal! We were able to enjoy a beautiful 10 days of camping at a favorite campground up in Bellingham. It was also our "trial run" with Minnie.

Turns out, Min is the perfect camping companion! We think she especially loved the feeling of closeness.  She also found a great hiding spot - behind the jackknife sofa.  She really has to squeeze in but it's pretty spacious underneath for some quality "alone time".  She also enjoys looking out the big window. The only negative we encountered is her unhappiness traveling in the truck. There is constant meowing. We bought her a new soft-sided carrying case for travel, as it takes up less space than a hard case inside the truck cab. Maybe it's the feeling of movement; we are hoping she will get used to it after a while.