Many of the very informative articles that have been written, talk about Getting Out Of Dodge (G.O.O.D. [1]), plotting alternative routes, allowing for problems along the way, practising packing the vehicle and having fuel and supplies at en route stop-over points.
May I suggest that another plan that needs to be thought out ahead of time is for the family pets?
When people go away for the weekend or go on holidays, quite often a neighbour or family member comes in to feed and check up on the pets and this works out fine.
Alternatively an ice-cream container of dry food is left out for the cat or both the cat and dog go into boarding kennels. But when the Schumer occurs, these arrangements become null and void.
I’m sure animals have some form of ESP [2] and changes can cause them to become either super-excited and uncooperative or they hide themselves away. Both possibilities will cause delays that no-one wants.
I no longer have a dog but the cats know that when their routine changes even slightly, “Something is Going to Happen.” And if you do decide that it’s time to G.O.O.D. it would be great to have reasonably calm and cooperative animals.
Some issues to address ahead of time:
- Do your animals need medication from the vet when travelling? Do you have that medication?
- Do you have restraints for the dog in a packed vehicle? There would be nothing worse than a vehicle full of gear and children with an excited dog bouncing off the roof. You will be stressed enough.
- Do you have emergency food/water for your pets while travelling?
- Have you practised packing with the cat carry-cages in place? No doubt there will be lots of last minute things from the house that get tossed into the vehicle, but please don’t make the carry-cages one of those. A cardboard box will not do.
- How are you going to carry the gold-fish, the budgie and the guinea pigs? Are you going to take these pets with you? If you are, you will need to work out where and how their containers will fit into your vehicle. If not, I suggest that you decide now who will be given these creatures. It would be plain cruel to leave them to starve.
- It may be possible to practise taking all of the family pets with you on your next visit to your retreat so that you can see how things work out and while you still have time to implement changes.
- As cats in particular are territorial, you may need cat harnesses to walk them for the first week at your retreat until they realise that “This is the New Home”.
The suggestions above will probably need to be modified because every pet is different, but thinking ahead and having a plan will make your life and that of your pets less stressful in a worst case scenario.