Boss Cat

I would like to introduce the most important crew member……..Millie.

Millie is our beloved, 20-year-old cat. We got her, and her brother, Sherpa, when they were 8 weeks old. When they were 9, we flew them from the UK to Canada, to start a new life. They were fairly timid cats, they loved their Mum and Dad, but were very wary of new people and new things. So it was quite a surprise to discover how easily and well, they adapted to life on the road.

After living in Canada for 6 years, I started to get restless and fed up with the long, cold, snowy winters. If it wasn’t for our cats I would have packed a backpack, booked a flight and headed for the warmth. However, we could never leave our babies for an extended period, so we decided to buy a caravan (aka trailer to you North Americans) and drive south to San Diego for the winter. Our boy, made one trip south with us before he passed away at almost 16 years old, of lung cancer in 2013.

We continued our yearly trips south with Millie for 3 more years; as well as spending a large proportion of the summer months camping with her, before we came up with this crazy idea to drive around the world. In total, we have spent just over a year living in our trailer with her. So as you can see, she is well used to traveling and seems to be happiest when on the road, in a small space and can spend all day with her Mummy and Daddy.

Cat Health

Her health has been excellent, although when she was about 18 we realized she had gone completely deaf, This has actually made her a much more relaxed, chilled out cat.

In preparation for this trip, we took her for a checkup in September.? Unfortunately, her blood work revealed she has stage 3 kidney disease. We were informed her life expectancy?was only 3-6 months. This came as a huge shock, she seemed absolutely fine; eating well, enjoying life, mobile, still jumping and plenty of purs. She did not appear like a dying cat. We started medication for her kidneys and attempted to change her diet, but if you know what cats are like, she did not take to this well, so we have reverted back to the only food she’ll eat, “Turkey and Giblets, from Presidents Choice”.

It is now December, 3 months into her 3-6 month life expectancy and she is doing great. There has been absolutely no change in her behavior, mood, appetite or blood work.

We anticipate Millie is going to defy medical science and well outlive her predicted life expectancy. This cat has a bucket list and she is determined to tick off as many items as she can.

Cat Prep

In preparation for this trip we have done a number of things to ensure things go smoothly for her:

1. Get a checkup from the vets
2. Ensure she is fully vaccinated and we have all her documents up to date
3. Buy a 6 month supply of her favourite?cat food
4. Downsize her litter tray well in advance of leaving to ensure she doesn’t have to experience too many changes at one time
5. Get her used to wearing a jumper, in case she seems cold during any part of the trip
6. Take a prescription for her medication and a copy of her medical records and blood tests
7. We have subcutaneous fluids on standby, as at some point these may be required to treat her kidney disease

We hope you enjoy following along to see how Millie adapts to life on the road and how much of her bucket list she gets to tick off.