Moving from Illinois to California...

[MetallichicA]

Hi, I just need some information on making a VERY long trip in the near future. I have one guinea pig, and she has traveled shorter distances many times (5-7 hours), but we've never had to travel more than that; and now we're going to be taking roughly a four-day trip, from St. Louis to the San Francisco bay area. So I just have some questions...

1. What do we do with her when we stop for food, gas, etc.? Obviously the car can't be running for 12 hours straight every day.

2. Can she be taken into a restaurant (fast food)? She has a travel-sized cage already, but I want to get something smaller that I can bring her inside with. I know there are cat-sized travel cages, but I don't know if restaurants would appreciate that. I found a large, covered basket at Wal-mart for about 7 bucks. If I lined that, and provided some larger air holes, would that work? It would basically look like a purse then.

3. What about motels? Do they care if animals are in the room as long as they're in a cage? Do you "have" to let them know at the front desk?

Thanks everyone! Any other info you can think of is appreciated, too

 

[MetallichicA]

Ah, I just remembered my other question...

Since I'll be fairly close to Cavy Spirit when we get to Monterey, I'd like to get a second piggy if we have room (we probably won't be getting a very big place). Would it be best to get the piggy right away when we first move in, so that it's neutral ground for both of them? I'll be throwing away the coroplast I'm using here, but keeping the cubes and buying more coroplast in Cali, and just building a new cage, so Poppy's smell won't be on it.

And to answer my own first question, I just bought a small pet carrier with side vents for when we go inside. It's big enough for her to move around a bit, but small enough to be fairly inconspicuous.

 

[LiciaMommycott]

Re: motels and restaurants - like in the military, just follow the don't ask, don't tell policy. I have a straw purse from Target that I carry my pigs in and they have been to many restaurants. Most places never even notice. I drop piggy appropriate foods from my plate into the bag and they get fed. Just make sure that they get enough water. El Pollo Loco is good because they're salsa bar has fresh cilantro and I snag a big pile for the pigs.

When driving, make sure their cage is shaded by a towel or something so that they don't get full sun for the whole drive.

Don't even mention them at the motels.

 

[Marlania]

agrees

Yep, I agree. Don't even tell the motel people.

I have a small carrier meant from bringing around a small dog into public places. It looks like a purse, and when I have to take my pigs with me, I bring them around in that. Actually, I've carried that and my regular purse with me into public places and no one ever questioned why I had two purses.

 

[mncavylover]

Find out in advance if the motel accepts animals. If not, just don't tell them you have some and they won't know the difference. If they do, though, things will be much easier on you. Then you can bring them in freely. Hope this helps! =)

 

[piggielover92]

Wow, that's wierd! I, too, just moved from Illinois to California with 2 pigs about 1 year ago. We did a lot of stopping at sites and it took us 8 days, but our pigs were fine! We did not take them into restraunts, they wouldn't allow it. We just left them in the car in a travel size cage, but make sure you don't go in the summer months or the pigs will over-heat! For hotels, you just need to find one that takes pets and you can bring them in with you.

I hope this helps!