No More Cheap Cat Boxes

Over the last couple of months a number of new organisations have started to use us to provide the TRACES transportation of their cats. This is great, but a couple of instances have highlighted the fact that people don’t read the site (which begs the question I know as to why I am bothering to write this), and as a result a couple of issues have arisen.

Back in July we had the situation where a charity, having failed to read the guidlines turned up with cat boxes with free standing i.e. not secured water bowls.

On a couple of transports we have had to stop and stop cats from escaping from their boxes: once because the box was old, split and had been repaired with tape, and the second because the cat box had a plastic door which the cat had pulled into it’s cage. I think you can imagine how dangerous it is for them when cats do escape.

We have also had a number of cats recently totally destroy the temporary water bowls (cut down water bottles cable tied to the cage), which means the cats are a) wet and b) without water. In fact when we were stopped by the Police in Germany recently the Government Vet commented on this, but was impressed that we carried spare water bowls to ensure that the cats had water. On the same trip we had placed a cat in a large dog cage while we repaired the door on their transport box. This coincided with the inspection by the Government vet in Germany who had no problem with what we were doing but did confirm that it is unsafe to transport a cat in anything other than the approved cat boxes as given too much space it is unsafe – something we have said for years.

So what does all this mean?

As of now we will NOT transport a cat that is brought to the transport unless:

  • The cat box conforms to our guideline on cat boxes i.e. no plastic doors, fastens securely, correct size, is not broken, does not need tape to keep it secure
  • Ideally the box should be a very strong IARTA approved one like our example. They really are worth the investment.

  • The water bowl is a ‘proper’ one like this one and securely fastened
  • If you are in any doubt send us a photograph of your cat box before we pick it up, as we will refuse to load the cat if any of the above conditions are not met.

    The secure and safe transport of your cats is our priority and it should be yours, so no excuses. Ensure they have a proper cat box and water bowl.

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