The Carrier can be your cat's friend

It was the result of an inconvenience. My new house didn’t have a basement to store the carriers in, so I placed them in the upstairs loft. It was supposed to be a temporary solution until I got some boxes unpacked and started to have an idea of where things were going to go.

My movers were not very efficient – a box would combine contents from two different rooms. Because I couldn’t unpack one box in one room but had to keep changing rooms in the middle of boxes, it took me longer than usual to get unpacked.

Since it took me longer to reduce the stacks of boxes, I failed to notice that my cats had stopped running in terror every time they saw the carriers and had actually begun to walk inside them.

I don’t have any memory of how long this took – I had a full-time job and mounds of boxes to unpack. Both of my cats were under five and the mountains of boxes turned out to be great entertainment for them. First, they were climbing adventures, and then as I opened more boxes, they became exploration opportunities. Sometimes I even unpacked more slowly because I hated to take away the fun they were having climbing on the box mountains.

As I got the new house situated and had more time to relax, I noticed that the cats were freely walking into and out of the carriers. I started watching them more closely. One day I saw one of them stretched out and taking a nap inside.

Seeing how contented they were, I took out the towels and blankets one by one and washed them up. I’m sure the cleaner blankets smelled better and were much softer.

When it came time for the annual Vet appointments, my cats had absolutely no fear reaction to the carriers. They showed no fear or concern as I carried them on my shoulder and gently placed them inside.

I thought at first maybe they wouldn’t go back in them after being locked in, but they continued to utilize them for naps and relaxation.

I’ve told many people to try just leaving the carriers out and letting their cats work out their fear in their own place and time.

I think part of the benefit of having the carriers out in the open is that taking them out no longer portends a traumatic event for them. They have learned that laying in the carrier can be something relaxing and stress-reducing, the same effect sitting on a box has for them.

If your cat is traumatized by the mere appearance of the carrier, you might try just leaving it out and letting the animal approach the object on its own. A few months of nothing traumatic happening around the carrier will show them it doesn’t have to be associated with an unpleasant event in their lives.