Pet carrier/crate for the road - soft or metal?

[alexisc]

While my dog can roam free because she's been traveling with me for 10 years, the cats are new to the road trippin' lark and I want to keep them in a carrier/crate while we're in motion in the motorhome. I know I need a collapsible, so the plastic carriers won't work. I'm debating between a soft sided and a metal crate.

What do you use and why?

[tuckerdog1]

Originally Posted by alexisc

While my dog can roam free because she's been traveling with me for 10 years, the cats are new to the road trippin' lark and I want to keep them in a carrier/crate while we're in motion in the motorhome. I know I need a collapsible, so the plastic carriers won't work. I'm debating between a soft sided and a metal crate.

What do you use and why?

You know your cats. Would they rip a soft side to shreds?

Tuckerdog1

[alexisc]

Originally Posted by tuckerdog1

You know your cats. Would they rip a soft side to shreds?

Tuckerdog1

Nope, that's why it's still an option I got lucky with these two!

[tuckerdog1]

Originally Posted by alexisc

Nope, that's why it's still an option I got lucky with these two!

We have a couple soft carriers we use for our dogs. They are like a nylon fabric on wire. When they are folded up ( kinda like window shades for the car windshield ), they aren't much larger than a dinner plate. So storage is not an issue & they weight less than a pound. Got lucky & found ours at garage sales for $1 and $5. But even retail, I think they're maybe $20-$25. If your cats are okay with something like that, they're easy to travel with.

Ours are similar to this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/5192525?w...&wl13=&veh=sem

Tuckerdog1

[RedLdr1]

We use soft side carriers for our dogs. Why? hard side plastic or wire carriers can play havoc with the inside of your RV if it slides around. Plus the soft side carriers fold up for easy storage when we don't need them.

[alexisc]

Originally Posted by tuckerdog1

We have a couple soft carriers we use for our dogs. They are like a nylon fabric on wire. When they are folded up ( kinda like window shades for the car windshield ), they aren't much larger than a dinner plate. So storage is not an issue & they weight less than a pound. Got lucky & found ours at garage sales for $1 and $5. But even retail, I think they're maybe $20-$25. If your cats are okay with something like that, they're easy to travel with.

Ours are similar to this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/5192525?w...&wl13=&veh=sem

Tuckerdog1

They look pretty neat. Do you secure yours to anything to stop them from sliding around?

[alexisc]

Originally Posted by RedLdr1

We use soft side carriers for our dogs. Why? hard side plastic or wire carriers can play havoc with the inside of your RV if it slides around. Plus the soft side carriers fold up for easy storage when we don't need them.

Good point. I hadn't actually thought about the potential damage factor. What kind of carriers do you use?

[tuckerdog1]

Originally Posted by alexisc

They look pretty neat. Do you secure yours to anything to stop them from sliding around?

We pull a trailer, so the dogs ride in the truck. We don't actually use the crates to contain the dogs. The dogs use them more like their doghouse when we get to where we're going. They like hanging out in their crates. We never even secure the door.

They do have tabs on the side if you needed to secure them to something.

[RedLdr1]

Originally Posted by alexisc

What kind of carriers do you use?

We use the style of carrier shown Here. Someone always has them on sale...

[Tbates]

We use an octagon shape collapsible crate.

[judy3972]

Originally Posted by RedLdr1

We use the style of carrier shown Here. Someone always has them on sale...

We use this type and secured it to the couch
It saved our dog when we had a blow our of the front tire of our class A and rolled. The crate did protect the dog from things that flew out of the cabinets.

[kittlecat]

My cats have always been transported in a hard-sided carrier. I seatbelt it down so it isn't sliding around in transit, as that would probably really freak the cat out. I have a TT so when I get to my destination, the cat is let loose in the TT when appropriate, and the carrier either gets slid under the TT or put in my truck. Whatever you choose, hard or soft-sided, I recommend seat belting the carrier down as they cats will probably be calmer if they aren't sliding or rolling around in your rig.

[Zoom]

We use these:

Mr. Peanut's Soft Sided Dog House Style Portable Pet Crate, Extra Interior Space Reduces Anxiety, De

[TLAK]

We use a soft sided carrier on the floor in the back of the motor home where it fits under the bed overhang. We leave it unzipped and about half the time the cat will come out for food, water and liter box. Sometimes it will lie down under the passenger seat, I think the floor is warmer there. But on a bumpy road or if there is a lot of noise she will go to the back and hang in her carrier, it is her space and we leave her alone. Cats are strange.

[alexisc]

Ended up going with a soft sided crate and love it so far. Really easy to put together and seems quite well made. Time will tell.

Link to the one I purchased.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1