Toby and the week-end trip

I had decided to bring Toby to visit with my friends. Cats generally don't take well to car rides or new places, but Toby's personality suggested he might be different.

He did meow most of the 2 1/2 hours going to my friends place. Maybe because the only car ride he'd ever had took him away from his parents and the family he knew.

Toby and Teyha hanging on the couch near the fireplace

Once at my friends place he seemed to adapt well. Many cats will hide under the bed for days when taken to a new location, he was willing to explore and make new friends.

They have 3 pets, Teyha, the Husky mix, Spock, a  male tabby cat, and Pixel, a Tortoiseshell/tabby  female cat.  By the time he left Toby was friends with Teyha, who's very pleased as she likes cats and wants to play with them.  And with Spock who's generally friendly.  Pixel hates all other animals and merely tolerates Teyha, and Spock. She was more mellow with Toby then she originally was with Teyha and Spock. So he's doing well.

Toby and Spock hanging out on the futon near the fireplace

By the time I left their house, he was wandering around the house, finding the water bowl, kitty litter and food dish. He knew how to walk to not have the dog bug him too much. He seemed to have figured out his place in the pack.

Toby asleep in a patch of sun on the kitchen table.

Before I left I put all my bags next to the door, to pack them in the car. Along with the bags was the cat travel carrier. Slowly over the span of 2 hours I put bags  and belongings in the car. At the end the last items was the cat carrier and the laptop bag. It was so cute, when I came back in to get laptop in bag and cat carrier, Toby had gone into the cat carrier on his own. Like he was afraid I'd forget him.

Once we were in the truck together, I opened the carrier, took him out, put him on the dash, he didn't feel comfortable. He jumped on top of the carrier, then went to the side of carrier and try to get under it. So I encouraged him back into the carrier and closed the door. He seemed to agree that it was probably the most comfortable place for him while nervous.  And I always put carrier so he could see me and I could touch him a bit while driving. 

Toby in the car just before I got home

 It's how I got above photo. I was stopped at a red light and noticed him all asleep against the carrier door. He didn't howl as much on the way back. He only tried to open the door once, and it was cute. It's like he knew it was futile to howl, but he had to do it periodically to remind me he hates car rides!

I have to take him on car rides just around the block with no carrier and see what happens. Perhaps if he realizes car rides can be fun, he won't howl when in the car :)

Once he got back into my home, he got greeted by Jethro, who was his usual friendly self. Ziva hissed at him some, but she hisses at him sometimes even when they play.  He didn't need any time to re-adapt, he found found, water, litter and was fast asleep on the bed in no time.