# Securing the Kitty-Carrier in the car?



## violina23 (Jun 28, 2004)

I was wondering how you guys secure your kitty-carrier when you are traveling with your cat. I usually just put it on the passenger seat next to me, with the opening facing me so Kiera can see that I'm there the whole time.

However, just on Sunday I was dropping my fiancee off in the Bronx after our weekend of wedding-hall searching. After I turned off his road to head back towards the highway, I was going down a street that basically had a bunch of traffic lights in a row. Basically, i looked ahead and saw row-after-row-after-row of green lights. But then all the sudden I looked up and saw that the ONE light in front of me was red. I FREAKED out, and slammed on the break. I was able to stop (screetchy tires and all), but I was kinda in the middle of the intersection. I was SOOOO lucky that nobody was coming in the other direction, because that would have definitely been a really bad accident. I pulled over, and had to compose myself because I was really shaken by it. It scared me that I could be 100% alert, but completely miss a red-light! I'm a pretty good driver, i've never so much as been pulled over before.

Anyways, when I hit the brake as hard as I did, Kiera's carrier (containing a sleeping Kiera!), went flying forward and tumbled into the floor of the car in front of the passenger seat. Kiera was absolutely fine (I have towels padding the inside of the carrier), but she was definitely shaken up. When I put it back on the seat, she curled up in the far side of the carrier, as far away as she could get from the opening of the carrier. I felt sooooo unbelievably awful about the whole thing; You have no idea. Anyways, by the end of the ride (another 45 minutes to an hour in the car), we arrived home on Long Island, and I looked and Kiera was fast asleep with her nose pressed against the metal door of the carrier. She definitely forgave me.

So yeah, how do you guys do it? Do you buckle it in with the seatbelt somehow? Do they make special devices for it? Or do you just pray that you don't get into an accident with your kitty in the car?


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## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

When I travel alone with the cats, I put them in the front seat just like you do. I wrap the seatbelt through the top handle of the carrier and bring it around and buckle them in. I learned that I had to do buckle them in way like you did... except replace sudden red light with a deer in the road. :wink:

I'll do the same if I put them in the back seat, unless we're travelling heavy and they're secure just because there's a lot of stuff on both sides of the cage.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

With one carrier, I put it sideways on the front seat and wrap and buckle the seat belt and shoulder strap around it. With two carriers, I put them in the back, sideways, on the floor between the back seat and the front seat. (that only works if you don't have a driveshaft hump and there's enough leg room....otherwise, I would put them on the seat and fasten the seatbelt around).


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## RarePuss (Jun 16, 2004)

i have a hard carrier that's a basket style and what i do is i wrap the seatbelt in the top groove of the basket right where the handles are molded, and the bottom around the bottom of the basket, and pull the belt as hard as possible - this secures the basket to the seat, and it doesn't move no matter how much i push/pull it


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

That's an interesting-looking carrier....never seen that before....may I ask where you got it? Thanks....


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## Adrienne (Jan 15, 2005)

I have a carrier that is buckles in to the seatbelt in the backseat. Then when I get to where I am going I take Elliott out and put her in her soft carrier. She does not like the hard carrier, so I try not keep her in the hard carrier too long.


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## RarePuss (Jun 16, 2004)

timskitties said:


> That's an interesting-looking carrier....never seen that before....may I ask where you got it? Thanks....


i bought mine from www.cattoys.com :lol: 

http://www.cattoys.com/cuncapetba.html


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## Gracie's Mom (Dec 16, 2003)

I usually use a Samsonite soft carrier if I'm not going far, and it has a space at the back to slide a seatbelt through. For longer trips, I use a Petmate carrier that has a little slot at the top to slide the seatbelt into to secure it.


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## emma_pen (Nov 2, 2004)

I put my carrier on the floor in front of the seat - minimum moving around, warm and secure. I know someone whose cat broke his jaw when his carrier fell off a seat.


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## Feral Fan (Feb 9, 2005)

I buckle. I take the buckle through the handle and down the side. I have to pull the belt all the way out to do this then once buckled I let it tighten back. The girls ride in the backseat facing each other and in a small coupe they are kinda wedged in the bucket seats and couldn't go very far anyways as the front seats are so close in front of them! I am a paranoid kitty mommy now!


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## lydelia (Mar 29, 2005)

I use carriers that come with a place to hook the seat belt on the top. If you take a look at these carriers: link

you can see that one the top there is a plastic piece that sticks up. You take the seatbelt over the carrier, slip it under the plastic piece and then secure it on the other side. This keeps the carrier from sliding around in the car. We always buckle them in the seats in the front or back. 

These carriers can also be purchased at Wal-mart for much cheaper.


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## lydelia (Mar 29, 2005)

Too, forgot to mention that the seatbelt goes through the handle and under the plastic piece.


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## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

lydelia-

those are exactly the type of crates I'll be purchasing for the cats, 
and the seatbelt hook was one of the reasons I chose it 8) 
When travelling with the cats, they'll all be buckled in the backseat.


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## violina23 (Jun 28, 2004)

Cool, my carrier has the handle, obviously, but I don't think it has any other piece to secure it. I guess I can try putting the belt through the handle for now, until I get a new carrier. 

Thanks for the advice, guys! I never want anything to happen to my Kiera-Wiera


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## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

violina23 said:


> Cool, my carrier has the handle, obviously, but I don't think it has any other piece to secure it. I guess I can try putting the belt through the handle for now, until I get a new carrier.


To be honest, when my carrier is put in the seatbelt, it is really secure. Check to see how yours is before you decide to purchase a new one.


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## jennifer2 (Mar 5, 2005)

I also put the seatbelt through the handle of the carrier. I keep the carrier in the front seat. If both cats are with me, then one in front and one in back.
It did work for me. I was in a minor accident-rear ended hit and run :evil: , and the cats were jarred, but the handle held, so the carrier didn't go flying. The cats were just knocked around inside the carrier a little.
I'm a little paranoid about driving with my pets at all anymore. About 6 months after the rear-end accident I was in a REALLY bad accident. I walked away with a nasty seatbelt bruise (really lucky considering it turned out to be a 12 car pile-up. I was hit about 4 times, across the median past uncoming traffic, luckily the only thing there was a semi that managed to miss me and then over the next curb and into a brick retaining wall causing both airbags to deploy!) I do remember thinking thank God I didn't have any pets with me. I often took my dogs places and they are seatbelted in, but I don't think they would've walked away unscathed. Anyways, I'm getting to the point that I'm okay driving again, but I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach everytime I have to drive somewhere with pets.

Jennfier


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## lydelia (Mar 29, 2005)

Spacemonkey -- that is why I chose those also.

Too, those traveling with cats should also consider airbags. I know that you are not supposed to put children in the front seat because of air bags. It just makes me shudder to think of what an airbag could do to a cat carrier, esp. with the amount of force behind them when they deploy. To be honest I am not sure if any carrier could withstand the impact. I am afraid that they may crack or come apart when they are hit. Not to mention, I have heard of people's eyes and lungs being burned by airbag dust. I wouldn't want my babies to inhale that at close range. 

Call me paranoid, but that is what goes through my head when I travel with my cats and that is why they all go in the back seat.


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## jennifer2 (Mar 5, 2005)

That's a good point about the airbags, I never thought of it. From now on, mine are in the back!

Jennifer


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