by riseadmin
22. December 2010 18:40
One of the beauties about RVing is that you can bring the whole family in tow, including your furry friends. It takes a little extra planning, and a few safety precautions, but with just a couple of prep items your road-trip can be happily filled with doggie-love, kitty purrs or whatever other family pet is along for the ride. We full-time with our 2 cats (Taggart and Rand) and doggie (Polly), and the three musketeers love being on the road as much as we love having them with us. Here’s some of the tips we use to keep our babies road and camp-happy:
Documentation and Safety
- Documentation & ID: When you’re on the road it’s a good idea to have a copy of all your pets medical and vaccination records with you. A valid rabies vaccination, in particular, is law in many States as well as for crossing the Canadian border. Not only will these records come in handy if you need to go to the vet, but some campgrounds may ask for them too. Also, for outdoor pets adding a pet tag with phone number on the collar will make sure you can be contacted if your pet manages to get loose. We keep all our records in a handy-dandy “pet folder” that’s ready to go anytime we are.
- Safety on the Road: You always want to secure your pets before you pack up and bring in slides (kitties, especially, like to hide and can get caught if you’re not vigilant). Then, find a good location where they can travel while you’re driving. Crates or pet-travel bags can be built-in or set-up in your home or truck. If there’s space on a seat another option for pooch is to buy a nifty little travel safety belt. For motorhomes pets travel in the home, but for trailers you want to keep pets in the front truck. If your baby gets anxious with travel there’s lots of options on natural products that can help the trip. Feliway for cats, Comfort Zone for dogs and products containing L-theanine are all good options.
- Safety in Camp: Once you’ve reached your campground there’s a couple of items which will keep everyone camp happy; while out walking keep pets on a leash, and when you go out or go to bed bring them inside the home. Almost all campgrounds have rules against leaving pets outside alone, and bringing them inside will keep your baby away from wildlife and other environmental threats as well as ensuring they’re safe and comfortable. When we’re out we set the aircon (or heater) to a fixed temperature and we plan to be gone no more than 4 hours at a time. For the extra safety-conscious Freeze Alarm is a nifty little gadget that will alarm your phone if temperature goes above (or below) your preferred setting (e.g. if power goes out).
- Dealing with Accidents: At some point we all goof up and that’s true of our pets too. It could be something they ate, something they stepped on or a silly landing, but if you’re on the road for longer periods it’s bound to h appen sooner or later. We do two things to prepare for this; when we arrive at a campground we make a note of the nearest vet, plus we keep a small pet emergency kit ready in our RV. You can buy pet emergency kits on the web or make your own with some basic items (Pet Education has the best list we’ve found here). It’s not often you need them, but both prep items have saved us a few times while on the road.
Camping and Fun
- Finding Pet-Friendly RV Parks – Most private campgrounds do allow pets, but there are a few that don’t and there’s many that have limitations on either size, breed, type or number of pets. For that reason it’s always worth checking ahead on pet policy before you arrive at your chosen site. It can be a bit of a bear to sort through campgrounds, and we’ve not found a guidebook that’s comprehensive enough to cover everything we need, so for our own planning we go to the internet. The 3 sites that do the best job of listing pet-friendly parks and pet policy are http://gopetfriendly.com/, http://www.bringfido.com/ and http://dogfriendly.com/.
- Other Pet-Friendly Camping Spots– Our 12 paws would be the first to tell you that they prefer open space and hiking trails and we tend to agree. For that reason we’ve gradually drifted away from private RV parks and gone towards National Forest, State Parks and Corps of Engineers campgrounds. All these spots have the advantage of being pet-friendly as well as the bonus of lots of open space and nature. Hook-ups can vary and some areas can be downright primitive, but if you and your fur-friends love nature they can’t be beat. For National Forest check out http://www.forestcamping.com/, and http://www.recreation.gov/, for Corps check out http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/ and for State Parks, go to the State webpage for your area.
- Having Fun – After you get to your campsite, it’s all about having fun and there’s lots of resources for finding pet-friendly spots. For pooch, http://gopetfriendly.com/, http://www.bringfido.com/ and http://dogfriendly.com/ have long lists of pet-friendly dog-parks, beaches and other areas. For hiking most State Parks and National forest will have pet-friendly trails, but if you’re looking for something more specific “Best Hikes with Dogs“ has created a website and guide books dedicated to the art of getting out in the wild with doggie. Lastly, for kitty a good walking harness can allow you to bring kitty out to explore the area. We hike extensively with Polly and both our cats get out for walks around the campground each day.
So, now that we’ve said our piece, with tails wagging and licks a-plenty we’ll send you off and wish you good travels with all your paws on the road.
About the Author
Nina Fussing is a blogger, writer of tales, animal lover, outdoor enthusiast and photographer. Together with her hubby they both left stressful jobs in the semiconductor industry for the dream of becoming full-time RVers and leading an alternative life. Join them in their travels with RV tips and tales at http://wheelingit.wordpress.com/