Driving Ms Daisy - Van Modifications for a Cat

[Len and Jo]

In "Its the Little Things That Count" thread, I mentioned about getting a kitty that we could take in our van.

Joanne has always had cats and kittens.  We have not for the last 8 years because of traveling concerns in our van.  That is lack of enough space.  With the added penthouse roof and getting more storage in our van (went from about 73 cf to 83 cf of storage space) I thought it might be time to consider getting a traveling cat.  As soon as I brought it up Joanne was making plans to visit the Humane Society.

Well we now have a four month old kitten named Daisy.  THAT did not take long!

First two pics are of Daisy.

Daisy is so cute that I decided to go all the way with the van.  She gets her own private restroom off of the main restroom.  Has a private entrance with a blue door and sky lite.  She also gets her own dining room in the van off of the main (only) hallway.  Giving her own dining room also eliminates the problem of me knocking over her dishes and making a mess.

I hope that this layout will give Ms Daisy and us the space we need to have fun traveling together.

Rest of pics show the van rear layout and modifications for Ms Daisy.

We will take her on a 1-2 week trip along the south shore of Lake Superior in a few days and see if she approves of her RV.

[Dick and Pat]

Now that is one pampered kitten; she is lucky to have adopted you two

[seilerbird]

We have been living with a cat in our motorhome for a year now and we really love Turbo Cat. The only advise I have is to try different cat foods and find one that agrees with her stomach. Her liter box has no oder since we found the right food. Of course I remove the little bundles every morning.

[Hit The Road Jack]

In "Its the Little Things That Count" thread, I mentioned about getting a kitty that we could take in our van.

Joanne has always had cats and kittens.  We have not for the last 8 years because of traveling concerns in our van.  That is lack of enough space.  With the added penthouse roof and getting more storage in our van (went from about 73 cf to 83 cf of storage space) I thought it might be time to consider getting a traveling cat.  As soon as I brought it up Joanne was making plans to visit the Humane Society.

Well we now have a four month old kitten named Daisy.  THAT did not take long!

Daisy is so cute that I decided to go all the way with the van.  She gets her own private restroom off of the main restroom.  Has a private entrance with a blue door and sky lite.  She also gets her own dining room in the van off of the main (only) hallway.  Giving her own dining room also eliminates the problem of me knocking over her dishes and making a mess.

Congrats on your decision to rescue 'Ms Daisy'...she's a Cutie pie...
The accommodations you fabricated for your new fur-kid are superb...please be extra careful when you exit & enter your 'B'...kitties are super fast & cunning...

[John From Detroit]

Traveling as I do with TWO cats.. I can give you a list of suggested modifications.....

Carpet, Cats love carpet, they call it "Scratching surface" get good strong carpet and plan on replacing it.. OFTEN

Chairs and couch fabric.. They make a special fabric for use on chairs where cats are present. it is calle CHAIN MAIL

Re-cover everything with CHAIN MAIL,

Doors, cats KNOW HOW TO OPEN doors.. Yes they do, it's a secret they try to keep but the cat, so as to say, is out of the bag, and will be out of the motor home if you do not re-design the locks a bit (Standard Hook and Eye are goog. padlock with key is better)

That covers the major ones you forgot.

[Len and Jo]

Well we are putting the van to the cat test.  We have been on the road .... around the eastern half of the U.P. of Michigan....for 8 days now and 4 month old Daisy is now an honest to goodness RV kitten.  She sleeps while we drive and has found several small places to take cat naps in.  Really likes the small storage cabinet above one of the reading lights(watts equals heat).  She also can get in ANY place in the van that she wants to.  That means ALL the van.  Got to keep the toilet seat down

We have had NO odor problem with her private restroom.  The lid I made does seal fairly snuggly and so does the cloth kitty door.  Once I remove the cover for cleaning I KNOW that she has used the box.  So the design works very well for the confined space of a van.  All three of us are happy campers.

She sleeps at the foot of our bed and for the most part leaves us alone while we sleep at night.

Here are four of our U.P. trip photo's.  Isn't campground internet service great.