Traveling With Pets in a Fifth Wheel

[CampingGator]

My DH does not want to replace our last dog when he dies in preparation for traveling for months at a time. You can’t leave the dog in the truck to go in to eat or sight see when it’s hot out. If we were planning on a motor home we could run the generator with the air, but you can’t do that in a fifth wheel when stopping on the road. How do you all travel with your pets in a fifth wheel and still keep them safe from hot temperatures?

[18CrewDually]

Why can't you leave the generator run on a fifth wheel? First step would be to have a fifth wheel with an onboard genny, just like motorhomes have. We leave the dogs in the 5er during day trips.

[lcv800]

We travel in our 5th with our 100lb lab and two cats. Fire up the generator if it's hot or cold when we have to leave them. Never an issue.
Rusty

[CampingGator]

I’m not talking about when you are set up in a campground. In the summer temps can exceed 120 degrees in the trailer. Even when it is in the 70s outside, temps inside are too hot to leave a pet. You can’t cool that down when you stop for dinner or to do shopping or sight seeing along the route.

[lcv800]

Actually we cool down pretty fast, especially with 3 A/C's. If we'll be a while, we'll closed off the bedroom. Often we'll leave the A/C on in the truck and park where we can see them. If it's a Walmart run, only one of us will go in. Sometimes you just have to be judicious on where you eat and shop.
Rusty

[A32Deuce]

If you have an on board generator, run it while driving just like we do with a motor home. Put them in when you stop. Should be cool/warm for them. We do that for our dogs in the motor home summer or winter.

[A32Deuce]

Think about it, if the slides are in, less area to cool/heat. They will be fine.

[NMWildcat]

We went with your wife's idea. Didn't replace our dog when she died just before we retired. It is amazing how much freedom and time you gain when you RV without pets. I occasionally miss having a pet until I remember trying to travel with them.

[ard58]

I’m not talking about when you are set up in a campground. In the summer temps can exceed 120 degrees in the trailer. Even when it is in the 70s outside, temps inside are too hot to leave a pet. You can’t cool that down when you stop for dinner or to do shopping or sight seeing along the route.

Sounds like you answered your own question?

[CaptnJohn]

I just lock the doors and leave the truck running. Not a huge problem.

[DrLewie]

We've gone about 100k miles with our 5th wheel with two cats in the trailer. We don't have a generator, and we've been in the desert southwest and California with the temps 100+. We leave a couple of windows and a roof vent open. We make sure the kitty litter is accessible and a bowl of water is in the sink. We feed them when we stop for breaks. Never a problem. Maybe cats are more resilient than dogs, but our cats remain happy (sort of) and healthy.

[GAGator]

Originally Posted by CampingGator

If we were planning on a motor home we could run the generator with the air, but you can’t do that in a fifth wheel when stopping on the road. How do you all travel with your pets in a fifth wheel and still keep them safe from hot temperatures?

Good question, because it is of interest to me as well. We'll be taking our German Shepherd with us for the first time on a month-long trip to the Pacific Northwest this summer. We'll have a generator bolted-down in the back of the F150, and I'm planning to leave it running any time he is in the travel trailer alone and it's hot out.

That's my plan and I HOPE it's ok...

[CurtPutnam]

I have mixed emotions on the subject. Love my dog but she is not a good campground girl - barks at every dog she sees. But she is a rescue and has severe separation anxiety so she comes with us or we don't go.

So, you run the generator in the trailer while traveling so that when you stop to eat or sightsee it is cool enough. Then you have to have some sort of alarm in case the genny quits. Also restricts you to be close enough that if the genny does quit you can get back before the poor pooch cooks. If you want to sightsee for than a few minutes, might be worth it to just park for the rest of the night and then explore.

OTOH, almost every campsite has a dog or cat or both associated with it (some have birds, too.) That fact alone suggests that it is possible to travel with pets because virtually everyone does. Good thread!

[sfsgm]

Originally Posted by GAGator

Good question, because it is of interest to me as well. We'll be taking our German Shepherd with us for the first time on a month-long trip to the Pacific Northwest this summer. We'll have a generator bolted-down in the back of the F150, and I'm planning to leave it running any time he is in the travel trailer alone and it's hot out.

That's my plan and I HOPE it's ok...

If you stay west of the Cascades, there aren't very many days in the summer that you'll have to worry about heat issues. It's eastern Washington and Oregon that get hot.

[AT-82Collectors]

Anytime we travel our dogs go with us or we or we do not go. We the take the TT with the TV and an Armada mainly for the dogs and extra storage. If we stop to eat the dogs are left in the trucks parked where we can see them, locked, with A/C on max for them and a small burger or whatever for them when we get back. . It may seem like too much trouble for some but our dogs are true family members and we could not deal with boarding them.

Andy

[Blaster 84]

We travel with two cats that ride in the truck with us. I build a 1/2 shelf over an extended cab seat. Put a litter box below it, but it never gets used. The other half of the floor is their water bowel and some dry food. Sometimes they ride in the shelf and other times on the console between us watching the scenery.
When we stop and are not camping yet, we try to park in the shade and crack the windows open. If it became necessary I would let the truck run and lock the doors. But so far we have not had to do that.

[Tall frog]

we have a GSD as well and a cat. they travel in the tv with us and if we stop for long ,we will have one of us stay in the tv if hot. never been too cold, we don't camp when it would be that cold for an hour or so in the tv. in camper we leave the ac on and have a temp. controlled ceiling fan that if ac or power were to go out would automatically go on and with a window or two open a little would keep the out of danger. haven't you seen them (cat or dog) laying in the sun when all we wanted to do was get out of it and into the ac, never had a problem.

[Freebirds]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

I just lock the doors and leave the truck running. Not a huge problem.

X2 If we will be gone for less than 6 hours to a place he shouldn't be, (would have to be hospital visit, church, etc.) we leave our Min Pin home in the air conditioned/heated fifth wheel. But most of the time, he goes everywhere we go with the truck running while we go in to eat or to shop.

[FrankG]

When we stop for Fuel or Eats the wife fetches the burgers and coffee and I walk and water the dogs. She always brings an extra with no fixens for the dogs. You have to be careful the dogs don't lock you out, always take the keys or carry an extra set. On day trips we lock them inside the fifth with pee pads.

[mwdilday]

Not many options - leave them in the truck with A/C running or leave them in the trailer with generator and A/C running. We have a 5,500 watt onboard generator and 3 A/C's so we will leave the two labs in the trailer when we stop to eat or something. I also have a Verizon hotspot and a WIFI temperature stick so I get alerts and monitor temps from my phone.