Watson's Big Adventure (Not!)...Going to New Mexico

Tuesday was our day to head west. I got to Columbia on Friday and Jill and I made a few trips to Jefferson City to finish up the house prep for sale. There already was a showing on Saturday morning and rumors of more showings by the agent for later in the weekend.

Watson had been spending his summer vacation...of sorts...with Jill and Beatrix. The cats got along pretty well and were friendly most of the time. He had settled in so the trip west to NM was going to be yet another disruption. Living in four places in only ten months is not his style.

Our trip was going to require some sort of calming or sedative support. Watson hates riding in the car and this is a 1,000 mile trip. His usual approach to travel is screaming at the top of his lungs.  I had some calming snacks made with tryptopan and chamomile with ginger to keep his stomach settled. This worked OK on the ride from Jefferson City to Columbia and I wanted to try it on the long road trip instead of the prescribed sedative I got from his Vet.

We started off at 9:30 and he was reasonably quiet as we headed south on US 54 toward Jefferson City. I thought the calming snack would work. It wore off at Eldon. He made it about 65 miles before his yelling started up. It was still tolerable so I let him go for a while. We went through the Lake and headed toward Lebanon on Highway 5. His yelling continued. He sounds like a baby crying and it is pretty pathetic. We got on I-44 and were encountering big trucks and his crying got more pronounced. Finally I pulled into the rest area near Conway and broke out the hard drugs. I got him out of his carrier and held him for a while hoping he would calm down. He was hyperventilating and trembling. I gave him a full pill and held him for a few more minutes and he began to calm down. The Vet's instructions were to give 1 1/2 pills every eight hours so I hoped one would be enough.  Watson was asleep in about ten minutes after we got back on the road.

I stopped briefly in Joplin and Watson stayed asleep...didn't move. We crossed into Oklahoma and got on the turnpike. At the toll both Watson was still asleep.  He woke up a little as we went through Tulsa and then was back asleep again as we headed to Oklahoma City.  I stopped at a rest area and got him out of his carrier and tried to get him to drink. He was too sedated and couldn't walk or hold his head up. Clearly one full pill was more than enough and 1 1/2 would have put him in a coma.


At Oklahoma City we got into our motel (Days Inn) and I set up his litter box and food/water dishes. He still couldn't walk steadily but he was doing a little better. It took about an hour for him to be close to normal. The night was uneventful but I think he was awake most of the time.  We were close to a stairway and he heard people moving around outside so he was keeping track of the outside noises.
The next morning I gave him a half of a pill and he stayed alert for about an hour and then fell asleep and slept most of the ride to Albuquerque. He would wake up and complain whenever I stopped the car and once it was moving again he fell asleep.

I tried to get him to drink some water and move around at a rest area in Texas  He woke up but wouldn't come out of his carrier and curled up and went back to sleep.  Apparently he was not impressed with the Texas panhandle.

We made good time and got to the house around 6 PM, I hadn't expected to make it that early and we hit rush hour traffic  Watson was not as groggy as he was the day before and was able to explore the house. By bedtime he was pretty well back to normal and seemed to be happy in his new home.

 The next morning he was back to normal and had possession of the house and was beginning to take a few steps outside when I was out. He was still shy of strangers but that's pretty normal for him.