How do you secure carriers with a seat belt?

[wickedwitch]

I'm trying to find the safest way to do this. I'm especially interested in doing so with hard carriers.

Thanks in advance.

[Dexter]

I have never done that I have always held the cat in the box on my lap or we have made room on the floor in the car and we put the box there but 9 times out of 10 Dexter will sit on my lap and look out of the window. ( he doesn't pee if he sits on my lap and he calms down)


please tell me if i am being really irresponsible I really don't want to put my cat in any unnecessary danger

[marie73]

Well, I don't know if I would say irresponsible, but my biggest fear would be one of my girls getting in the gas pedal/brake pedal area. Also, I was recently in a car accident where both cars were totaled, and there had been a loose cat in either car, it would have been very bad. My twins HATE HATE HATE the carrier, but too bad, I'm the Mommy and it's for their own good.

I have large, soft carriers for my girls, I've never had to secure them, it doesn't have any room to move around in the front seat. Fits pretty securely in the back seat, too.

[yingying]

I don't know what kind of suggestion you are looking for, OP, because there seems to be no "trick" needed for me. I have a hard cage big enough for 2 cats, and I just put it on my passenger side seat, wrap the seat belt as if doing it for a kid. Then I will adjust the lower belt (the part that wrap around your hip), to make sure it wraps the cage properly. Sometimes it's too low and would slip undercage. Pretty much that's it. Very easy!

It's quite dangerous, for everyone including ppl & cat in the car, and even other ppl, to let the cat run freely when driving. If your cat happen to decide to sit under your break pedal, it's disastrious. Yes, maybe 999 out of 1000 times your cat won't, but it only takes one time for you to be regretful for life. Also if you make a sudden stop, even one that doesn't seem to the THAT sudden to you, your cat will fly and got hit badly, because he is much smaller and lighter. And I don't see that scenario to be quite rare.

[binkyhoo]

Originally Posted by yingying

I don't know what kind of suggestion you are looking for, OP, because there seems to be no "trick" needed for me. I have a hard cage big enough for 2 cats, and I just put it on my passenger side seat, wrap the seat belt as if doing it for a kid. Then I will adjust the lower belt (the part that wrap around your hip), to make sure it wraps the cage properly. Sometimes it's too low and would slip undercage. Pretty much that's it. Very easy!

It's quite dangerous, for everyone including ppl & cat in the car, and even other ppl, to let the cat run freely when driving. If your cat happen to decide to sit under your break pedal, it's disastrious. Yes, maybe 999 out of 1000 times your cat won't, but it only takes one time for you to be regretful for life. Also if you make a sudden stop, even one that doesn't seem to the THAT sudden to you, your cat will fly and got hit badly, because he is much smaller and lighter. And I don't see that scenario to be quite rare.

I agree in total. I have done that exact thing with the seat belt. It might not fit so well as a child, but if you adjust it about, it gets some benefit of restraint. I would be mortified to drive with a loose cat/dog/Hubby/ anything in the car.

You might be a good safe driver, but other people are not!

[Susan]

I use hard carriers for my girls. When in the car, I put the carriers in the back seat and put the seat belt through the handle, which I've always heard is the safest way, since the carrier can't slip under or over the seat belt. Also, in an accident, the carrier can't be crushed by front seat airbags.

I too wouldn't keep a cat on my lap. First, if you were ever in a major accident where airbags were deployed, the airbag could easily crush the cat. Even if airbags didn't deploy, the cat could go flying and be seriously hurt, as mentioned by others. Also, your cat could easily bolt from the car, if a door opened or a window were smashed in the accident, whereupon the cat could run into oncoming traffic, or be lost, etc. Of course, these are all worse-case scenarios, but better safe than sorry.

[Kaylesh]

I just put the hard carrier with the front facing forward and put the belt through the handle as well. Keeps my boys nice n secure.
Agree with never keeping them on your lap for the reasons mentioned.

[Ritzpg]

I like to put the carrier on the floor; I adjust either forward or backward the front passenger seat to make the fit tighter.
Frankly, I hadn't thought about the seat belt option. Interesting idea. Twiddledee and Ritz both hate the cat carrier to the extent they get bloody paws trying to get out. It helps them a little if they see me, so putting a seat belt around the cc would let me put the carrier in the front passenger side.
Based on my experience transpoting 35 feral/stray cats I also have these suggestions:
If the cat is particularly, um, upset about being in the cat carrier, place a heavy object on top of the carrier. A bag of dry food works well. I had one cat I swore would break through the top. If the carrier is too large to place on the floor, position the front opening of the cat carrier flush against the door to the car. So both openings are effectively blocked.
I am somewhat paranoid that the cat will escape while I'm driving. I had a near miss once where I had the cat in the carrier in the car, went inside for a moment, and when I came out I noticed the emergency lights were flashing. Which was interesting since I hadn't turned them on. Turned out "Petey" had escaped from the carrier and had turned on the emergency lights when he jumped into the front sea (abandoned cat, later re-socialized the readopted)

[Nan]

I sort of wrap the seatbelt around the carrier and fasten the handle(they close with velcro) around the seatbelt. I have soft carriers. I do take the time to fasten the handles as once when I didn't have them fastened in, Lily's carrier rolled when I went around a corner.

[binkyhoo]

Originally Posted by Susan

I use hard carriers for my girls. When in the car, I put the carriers in the back seat and put the seat belt through the handle, which I've always heard is the safest way, since the carrier can't slip under or over the seat belt. Also, in an accident, the carrier can't be crushed by front seat airbags.

I like your Idea better than mine. That would be better in the case of a real nasty accident.