Are you ready for van life but are unsure if you can bring your pet along with you? Yes, you can definitely take your pet along with you to live full-time in your van. We are proof you can! While there are a lot of options when it comes to pet companions, we’ll be talking specifically about cats and dogs. We’re going to give you our build advice, product choices, and personal experiences with living full-time in a van with two cats and two elderly dogs.
Necessary Adjustment for Van Life with Pets
Ever heard of people breaking windows to rescue animals from being left in a hot car? Don’t let this happen to you. You want to make sure people don’t think your animal is in danger. Your vehicle is now your home and it is completely normal to leave your animal at home. Make the necessary adjustments to your vehicle to make sure it’s temperature-controlled for your pet. There are options such as insulating your van, covering your windows, blocking off the cab area or crating your animal while you need to leave your home.
Temperature Regulation
Accommodating your furry friend starts from the very beginning, with planning the layout of your van build. Some may not have this option if they’ve purchased a used van, but adjustments can always be made. For example, we chose to wall off our cab area for temperature control. We built an insulated wall to divide the front driving area from the back living space. This helps greatly as you gain and lose temperature easily through all the windows. We built a door in the middle between the front seats to easily pass through between the designated spaces. On a lower temperature day, we can leave the door open to use the heat of the sunshine to warm the rest of the van. In the evening when temperatures drop, we close it off so we can hold the warmth in the back living space and not let heat escape through the front. On the flip side, we can close the door on a super hot day to keep all that heat away and out of our living space. This wall can also help with keeping the animals in the living space instead of upfront in view of outsiders. This wall doubles as privacy for us as well.
If you don’t want to wall off your cab, then there are other options for helping to block the hot or cold temperatures from your windows as well as keep your animals safe. You’ll either spend a little more for custom-fitted window covers or you can get crafty and make your own. Custom insulated window covers can be ordered and are usually secured easily with pressure fitting or magnets. It may be worth spending a little extra to avoid the hassle of making them which usually comes with its own quirks and frustrations. Another option is adding a curtain rod across the back of the seats and hanging an insulated or blackout curtain. Both of these options aren’t as effective as a wall for insulating but by using both window covers and a curtain you can get pretty close to desired temperature control.
Along with temperature control, we also installed a heater to make sure our animals are warm and happy. There are various options for heaters and you should always do your own research to choose the best option for you and your vehicle. We chose an under-mount propane tank and heater with a thermostat. With this option, we can set it to whatever temperature we desire and if the air inside falls below that temperature then the heater automatically kicks on. This reassures us that our pets are comfortable during the night or while we’re away from the van.
Our Van Life Experience with Pets
We often leave our pets at home for certain excursions. Our dogs are elderly and cannot walk long distances. They struggle on uneven surfaces like rocky gravel and cannot jump up onto rocks if we’re scrambling to get to a climb. They are happier staying back where they’re warm and comfortable in their bed. Our cats are very adventurous and enjoy being outside. Depending on where we are headed there are often dogs off-leash which keeps us hesitant to bring them to certain places. If you’re a dog owner, try to consider those around you who may have animals smaller than yours that may be mistaken as prey. This goes the other way as well, be aware of the natural wildlife where you’re parked, and make sure to leash or check in on your pets often while they’re outside. We will talk more later about ways we give our cats outdoor time.
We’ve heard of options for pet monitoring such as a camera inside your van that you can check on your phone while you’re gone. This requires a wifi connection inside your home as well as cell service to access the app on your phone. If you’re somewhere off-grid, as we often are while climbing, this option won’t work. Instead, we pay attention to what time we leave the van and make sure to check back in after 4 hours, 5 hours max. This ensures our dogs can use the restroom and both cats and dogs have adequate attention. We suggest keeping a close eye on where you’re parked based on the sun and monitoring changing temperatures. If it’s hot out we will park with our side window in the shade, open the roof fan, and set it to auto as well as leave a window open for airflow. We only leave our pets unattended on climbing days and don’t climb more than three consecutive days at most.
When we first built our van we had a different cat at the time. He went potty outside and never used the litter box so we didn’t plan for one. Later on, as that cat of ours passed and we adopted a new one, we found ourselves in need of a designated space for a litter box. This was a challenge for us. We first kicked around a Rubbermaid container with a lid and opened it at certain times of the day. Then we started putting a larger litter box into our shower but this meant losing any foot space while using the toilet in there or removing it each time you used the toilet. This also meant always leaving the door to the shower open for our cat to use it. We didn’t want to cut a kitty door into this decorative door for aesthetic reasons, but also for reselling our van one day. Two years later we finally decided to make some changes to our van and one of those changes was figuring out a space for storing the litter box. After moving things around we now have it inside the cabinet under our sink. We created a cute cut-out pass-through that’s large enough for our cat, now cats, to use. If we do sell the van to someone without a cat we can easily make a new cabinet door without the cut out.
We have friends who have planned their cat litter box inside a bench or under a fixed bed. We would suggest finding an area that’s hidden enough yet has easy access to clean it out daily. Besides caring for your pet’s bathroom needs, you’ll also want to plan where you’ll store their food, where you’ll feed them inside your home, and a solution for having water available at all times. This also means having a way to secure their water while driving so it doesn’t spill. We’ve seen some really cute cat water fountains such as this one but most need to be plugged in and moved while driving. Personally, we use a no-spill water dish found on Amazon and we recommend it to all our friends. There are small and large options depending on your needs and pet size. As a friendly reminder—wash their water bowls and food bowls often to have happy and healthy pets.
More About Van Life with Cats
As we’ve mentioned, we have elderly dogs that don’t require much physical activity. On the other hand, our cats need outside time daily. We have various cat toys inside the van. Our younger one, Penny, is still very playful and uses these toys every day. The older one, Miles, doesn’t play as much anymore but give him a toy covered in catnip and he’ll be in heaven for hours. Although they entertain themselves and are playful together while they’re inside, they do get restless. They want to run around and explore. If we’ve driven someplace new they have to go out and see what’s around us before they can chill out. Especially if we want to sleep past 5am then we better make sure to let them outside the day before.
Depending on where we are, we typically put them in a harness and attach a leash to them from the van with a carabiner to a D-ring. We leave our side door open or just cracked so they’re able to go in and out of the van as they please. This only gives them a little bit of freedom. If we’re off-grid and secluded then we are able to let them roam off-leash. We have trackers attached to their harnesses so that if at any time we can’t see where they went then we are able to find them. These trackers are radio frequency so that even when we’re out of cell signal we don’t have to worry. They come with a remote and depending on where you point it there’s a varying beeping noise that increases in speed when you’re pointed in the right direction. Another neat thing is the tracker on your pet will also beep. Usually, they will come out of hiding and you’re able to see them easier. This might be a learned thing that occurs over time. Our cats both do this and usually come running back to the van. In other situations, we’ve been able to let them roam freely inside the home of a friend or family member that we are visiting. If they have pets of their own that may not get along with ours, or we’re at a campsite too close to other people or with a road nearby, then we have another solution.
We will tie a rope from the van and to a pole or tree like a clothesline for drying. We attach the pet leash handle onto the rope with a carabiner so they’re able to roam further from the van than just the length of the leash but are not able to run off. We like to use retractable leashes so they don’t tangle as easily. We also made a toggle-type contraction that spins to untangle their leashes from one another since we have multiple animals on the line at a time. Another option for taking your pets out on an adventure with you can be a pet backpack. Here are some we’ve heard to be good ones:
In another blog, we discuss the challenges of having elderly pets on the road, but I want to confirm that it is possible. We do stress a bit about where we will refill medications and schedule vet checkups. Each vet visit tends to be at different places as we travel around rather than in one consistent location. We’ve been able to pull this off for almost 4 years now. If anyone suggests bringing your elderly pet, or any pet, on the road will be stressful or cruel, please know that is not always the case. In fact, more often than not your pet will benefit from having more time with you and a more adventurous lifestyle than before. I hope you consider bringing your pet along with you and suggest asking others for advice or trying new ideas whenever you’re figuring out all the options available for your pet.
Not fully ready to jump into van life full-time? Most RV rentals are pet-friendly! Bring your furry best friend along and try it out RV life!
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