How to travel when your cat is on raw diet

I recently posted an Instagram story asking for any specific ideas/ topics I should write on. To my surprise I had a large number of responses! Number 1 request was – how do I travel with Chumka and feed him healthy, nutritional food. The answer to that depends on where we go and what “amenities” are available.

Lemme just first share how I feed Chumka when it takes longer than 1 day to get to our destination.

On the road

Depending how long we travel for, I may or may not offer Chumka food “on the road”. I always try to feed him at least an hour before we leave so his tummy won’t get upset. That meal isn’t as big as usual – another way to prevent car sickness. I bring lots of lickable treats with me to offer as needed – keep Chumka happy and hydrated.

We just got home from our camping trip that required 2 days of travel to our destination. I didn’t have a way to keep things cold so I needed to think outside the box. In those cases, my goal is to keep Chumka fed and most importantly – hydrated. Because travel can cause some stress to your pet – choose food that is very high value.

I chose to bring Inaba’s Chicken and fish broth/ stew pouches along with their tuna fillets. Our cat goes CRAZY about those and they are high in hydration. Are they balanced and complete meal? No, and it’s okay in this case. 😊💛 Sometimes I top his “road trip” meals with lickable treat if he’s a bit fussy.

When you have access to fridge (and freezer)

Hotels and Airbnb’s usually offer a fridge and a freezer which makes things pretty easy. Sometimes there is only a refrigerator available which is still really good – you need to opt out for some wet food in that case.

When I can’t bring our usual frozen raw food – I choose Open Farm cat food in their tetra packs. This brand offer pet food that is ethnically and sustainably sourced, but most importantly – they use high quality ingredients. What I really appreciate about this food is their low carbohydrates content. Carbs in high amounts can lead to serious health problems. As you can see in the below picture, the carb content is 12% in this box.

Here is a great website explaining how to calculate carb content in your pet’s wet food

When you don’t have a way to keep food cold

This one is the most challenging one as you can’t provide your cat with wet food – other than in a form of snacks. Thankfully, there are brands that offer high quality and complete freeze dried or air dried raw food. Our first choice is The New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co. Chumka absolutely loves their green lipped mussel, green tripe, venison lung – so I was pretty sure he would love their cat food as well.

As you can see in the second picture – he tries to get into the bag when we are not home or when he’s hungry. All of the little bite marks are pretty cute! I like to use their food as a snack during road trips as well.

Please don’t mind Chumka’s greasy neck – I applied his tick medication last night 🙈

Snacks

We all love snacks, don’t we? I tend to over pack when it comes to them 🙈 I use them as food topper, on the road snacks, and puzzle rewards. Here are some examples of snacks I pack:

What I packed for 6 days camping trip

Here is a big reveal of what I packed for our recent camping trip. It’s a lot – I know haha. I do overpack when it comes to human and pet food, so about 1/4 wasn’t used.

This also includes food for 2 days of road trip – one way.

Final words

I hope you found this post beneficial and please give your pet some love from me 💛

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