Taking your pet with you on a car trip can be a fun experience for both of you. However, there are some things you need to do first if you want to make sure your car is both pet-friendly and pet-proof.
Cover Your Seat
When you’re driving along with large and medium-sized pets, they will inevitably cover your seats with hair, but also with any dirt they may have picked up on their paws on the way to the car. Also, if your car has a leather or vinyl upholstery, there’s a big chance that your pet will scratch and deteriorate it.
The easiest way to avoid these problems is by keeping your pet in the back seat and covering it with a seat cover. This way, instead of cleaning your interior after every trip, you can just take out the cover and remove all the hair and dirt that your best friend left in your car. If you don’t like the way your car looks with seat covers or don’t want to spend money on them, you can simply keep a blanket in your trunk and lay it over the back seat when you’re traveling with furry companions.
Get a Harness
Letting your cat or dog loose in the back seat for a five-minute drive to the park is usually OK, but if you’re planning on taking them on longer drives, it’s important that they are well strapped in. Just like a safety belt for human passengers, a pet harness will keep it safely strapped in, protecting it in case of a sharp turn or sudden stop. Exposing your pet to being thrown around the vehicle in case of such an event is not only dangerous for the pet, but also for any human inside.
Another perhaps less obvious argument for a pet harness is that pets, especially dogs, can seriously distract the driver during a ride. A sudden reaction to a stimulus, such as getting excited because of something they saw or smelled, can cause a pet to move around the car’s interior, potentially affecting your driving ability.
Quickly Clean Up Spills and Odors
Keeping your car clean will make it a safer and more pleasant environment for both human and animal passengers. No matter how well-trained your pet is, an occasional accident is bound to happen from time to time. It’s important that you clean up as quickly as possible after such a mishap, to avoid any stain becoming permanent. Quickly cleaning up also helps with eliminating unwanted odors, but you may also want to invest in an anti-microbial air freshener to keep everything germ-free and smelling peachy.
Having a pet as a road companion can be a wonderful experience. However, you must always remember that, no matter how well behaved your pet is, it’s still an animal and it has different needs than your human passengers. Luckily, by following some basic tips you can make your vehicle‘s cabin a safe and friendly environment for your loyal friend.
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