The Cat kit

Warning - if you aren't a cat person look away now. Cute pictures and poo-talk coming up. Sorry!

So I don't think I've ever shared any photos of my two little babies, so here we are. This is the cute one, where they are behaving themselves (i.e. comatose after destroying the house):

Don't you just love how they manage to take control of the remotes, even when asleep?

Anyway, one of the things that we do just a little differently to other cat owners is take our babies on holiday with us. Strange you may think. It is a bit odd (although Bramble would have you believe he is a dog, and dogs travel right?). We do this out of kindness - we reckon my parents are much better cat-sitters than anyone else! Certainly better than getting a neighbour to pop in while we are away. So the cats come along with us whenever we visit my parents, and also get to stay with grandma and grandpa when we go on holiday.  They have done it since they were tiny (the top photo shows the wee black-and-white Bramble at just 2 months old, he is now a scary 6 months old and travelling like a pro - well nearly). They now seem to take it in their stride complaining very little (though our oldest cat Lavender complains by giving us the silent treatment for a few hours when we get home because she prefers my parents house where she is allowed out at night and there is a cat flap).

Just in case you need some more cute-ness before we turn to the poop-ness, here's wee Bramble the day we brought him home back in May:

So cute and fluffy... you have NO IDEA how much of a terror he is!

So to move to the point of this piece.... going on holiday to the parents involves a 2-3 hour trip (depending on traffic) and a ferry journey. Unfortunately the ferry journey means that sometimes we get stranded. This happened last year (before Bramble, back when we had our beloved Smudge who sadly died over the winter). We got stuck, the ferries were cancelled and the thought of driving all the way back home just wasn't going to happen. Luckily for us we found a lovely B&B that would take us and the cats. A quick trip to Tesco for some essentials and we were sorted. However, we decided we should carry a 'Cat Kit' in the future, a bit like a First Aid kit, but cat-esque! No need to go out and buy a litter tray, litter, food and bowls each time we got stranded (we don't take everything with us because my parents also have cats and so have all the necessary supplies).

Last night, on our way back from a weekend away the cat kit was once again priceless. We had an eventful trip to say the least. Leaving the island that my parents live on proved to be difficult because one of the ferries was out of order. So we had to wait at the pier for a looooong time! Then we nearly ran over a dog (OK we didn't but the car in front of us nearly did), so we stopped, and tried to get the SSPCA, followed by the police to come and pick up the dog. 45 minutes later, and no one would! I can't believe it! Apparently they "don't do that at this time on a Sunday". Righto then. So we ended up leaving the poor thing, I mean I don't know what else we could do, it was nowhere near where we lived, so I didn't think it would be right to take him to our home, and we had two cats in the car.

Anyway, moving on....

All this was too much for dear Bramble, and so, well, he pooped. He didn't make a fuss, we didn't hear a thing. No he just got on and did it and wrapped it all up neatly in his blanket.

Erm. Thanks for that Bramble.

So we stopped and the emergency cat kit came out. We had spare blankets (the others got chucked - they are just old jumpers and sometimes too much poop is just too much poop), wet wipes, poop bags and all was fine. Bramble got tidied up, we aired out the car (yes it was so bad my eyes stung), and eventually got home. Very late. 

So I thought I'd share with you the cat kit. Just in case any of you are crazy enough to travel with cats. This could be adopted for any travelling pet (or child!). I'm sure all the mother's out there will be thinking 'well that's not rocket science, I do that everytime I go to the shop'. Well I'm a novice, sorry.

Oh, and a word of warning if you do ever travel with cats: never let them out of their carriers unless all the doors are locked and you aren't driving!

And just in case you need another cute picture to get over the poop talk, here you are!

The calm before and after the storm. Lavender stole that jumper to sleep on (dragging it up the stairs) and Bramble has just finished devouring a box full of tissues. Not so cute now hey?

Just in case anyone is worried about the welfare of our kitties - I can promise no cats were harmed in the making of this blogpost (unless you consider being spoilt rotten and being the centre of our Universe as harming).

I'm linking up to....

Not just a housewife

Thanks for stopping by,

Rose,

Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com