Care · 1 min read

Acclimating a nervous cat to a carrier

The carrier should be furniture before it is transport.

A dog and a cat investigating a wooden puzzle feeder together

Start two weeks out

Leave the carrier open in a room your cat already uses. No handling, no treats inside yet - just let it stop being an event.

Then make it worth entering

Feed near it, then just inside it, then at the back of it. Each step takes a few days, and going backwards is normal.

Practise the lift

Pick the carrier up with your cat inside, walk a lap of the house, put it down and open the door. The lift is the part most cats object to, not the box.

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