7 Best RV Pet Supplies For Traveling With Animals That Maximize Every Inch
The best pet gear for your tiny home on wheels.
You’ve finally packed the RV, fitting everything into its designated spot. Then you turn to your pet’s gear: the giant bag of food, the bulky plastic bed, the clanking stainless steel bowls, and the awkward wire crate. Suddenly, your perfectly organized space feels cluttered and compromised.
Living and traveling in a small space with animals isn’t about giving things up; it’s about making smarter choices. Standard pet supplies are built for stationary homes with closets and garages to spare. On the road, every single item must earn its place by being compact, multi-functional, or incredibly efficient.
This guide isn’t just a list of products. It’s a framework for choosing gear that integrates seamlessly into the RV lifestyle, saving you space, weight, and hassle. By focusing on equipment designed for travel, you can create a safe, comfortable, and functional home for every member of your crew, two-legged or four.
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Your Guide to the Best Space-Saving Pet Gear
The fundamental challenge with pet gear is that most of it is bulky by design. Food and water bowls, beds, and crates are built for stability and size in a traditional house, not for mobility and compact storage. In an RV, where every cubic inch is prime real estate, this gear can quickly become a major source of frustration, cluttering walkways and occupying entire cabinets.
The solution is to shift your mindset from adapting home gear to selecting travel-native gear. Look for three key attributes: collapsibility, multi-functionality, and durability. An item that folds flat, serves more than one purpose, or stands up to the rigors of constant setup and takedown is infinitely more valuable than a stationary, single-use product, no matter how nice it looks.
This is about more than just tidiness. Efficient gear makes your travel days smoother and your campsite setup faster. It means less time spent wrestling with awkward items and more time enjoying the destination with your pet. The right equipment doesn’t just fit in your rig; it enhances your entire travel experience.
Ruffwear Quencher: The Ultimate Collapsible Bowl
The Ruffwear Quencher is a durable, collapsible dog bowl perfect for adventures. Its waterproof lining and packable design make it ideal for food and water on the go, with reflective trim for low-light visibility.
Food and water bowls are a constant, low-level annoyance in an RV. They’re always underfoot, they slide around and spill on travel days, and a set of two takes up a surprising amount of cabinet space. While you can find silicone bowls that collapse, they often remain rigid and awkwardly shaped.
The Ruffwear Quencher solves this problem with elegant simplicity. It’s a durable, waterproof fabric bowl that weighs next to nothing and packs completely flat. You can fold it, roll it, or crush it into a backpack pocket, a seat-back organizer, or the slimmest of drawers. It effectively disappears when not in use.
This isn’t to say it has to be your only bowl. Some people prefer a heavier, non-slip bowl for when they’re parked for a while. But the Quencher’s true value is its versatility. It can be your primary bowl, your hiking bowl, and your travel-day bowl all in one, eliminating the need for multiple sets and freeing up critical storage for other essentials.
The EliteField Soft-Sided Crate Saves Space
Give your dog a comfortable and secure space with this durable, folding soft crate. It features three mesh doors for easy access and ventilation, plus a carrying bag and fleece bed for convenience.
A crate is a non-negotiable for many pet owners, providing safety in a moving vehicle and a secure den at the campsite. The problem is that traditional wire and plastic crates are space vampires. They are massive when assembled and remain incredibly awkward and bulky even when broken down for storage.
A soft-sided crate, like the ones from EliteField, is the definitive RV solution. These crates are built on a lightweight steel frame that folds down in seconds, collapsing into a flat profile just a few inches thick. This allows you to slide it under a dinette bench, behind a couch, or flat against a wall in your pass-through storage bay, reclaiming an enormous amount of cubic footage.
Of course, there’s a trade-off. A soft crate is not suitable for a destructive dog or an escape artist who might chew or claw through the mesh and fabric. However, for a well-behaved, crate-trained animal, the space savings are a game-changer. It’s a perfect example of choosing the right tool for the right pet to maximize your living area.
Kurgo Wander Leash: Your 6-in-1 Adventure Tool
This versatile 6-in-1 leash offers hands-free convenience for running, hiking, or training. Its adjustable design converts to waist belt, crossbody, or traditional leash styles, featuring a secure carabiner clip and reflective accents for visibility.
In a small rig, redundancy is the enemy of efficiency. This applies to pet gear, too, especially leashes. It’s easy to accumulate a whole collection: a short one for vet visits, a long one for trail sniffing, and maybe a hands-free one for morning jogs, all creating a tangled mess in a drawer.
A multi-functional leash like the Kurgo Wander Leash consolidates that clutter into a single, intelligent tool. With strategically placed clips and rings, it can be converted from a standard 6-foot leash to a 3-foot training lead, a hands-free leash worn around your waist or over your shoulder, or even a temporary tether for a quick stop. It’s one piece of gear that does the job of three or four.
This is a core principle of small-space living: invest in items that adapt. The environments you encounter on the road are constantly changing, from tight urban sidewalks to wide-open national forests. A leash that can adapt to each scenario means you’re always prepared without sacrificing precious storage to a collection of single-purpose straps.
PetSafe Happy Ride Ramp: Easy on Your Pet’s Joints
Easily help your dog access cars, trucks, and SUVs with this portable, folding ramp. It supports up to 150 lbs and features high-traction treads and stable rubber feet for safe, secure use.
The height of an RV’s entrance can be a major obstacle, especially for senior dogs, small breeds, or animals recovering from injury. Lifting a heavy dog multiple times a day is a recipe for back strain for you and potential injury for them. Yet, a permanent set of stairs is simply not a practical option for travel.
A telescoping or folding ramp is the ideal solution, providing safe access without creating a permanent storage nightmare. The PetSafe Happy Ride Ramp, for example, slides or folds into a compact form that can be easily stowed in an external storage bay or even a tall interior closet. It deploys in seconds, offering your pet a gentle, non-slip incline to walk up and down.
This piece of gear is about more than just convenience; it’s an investment in your pet’s long-term health and your own physical well-being. By choosing a model designed for portability, you solve a critical accessibility problem without sacrificing the limited space you have. It’s a perfect example of a large item that justifies its footprint through sheer necessity and smart design.
Midwest Foldable Pen Creates Your Safe Outdoor Zone
One of the great joys of RVing is having an ever-changing backyard, but that also presents a safety challenge. Not all campsites are pet-friendly for off-leash time, and a simple tie-out can lead to dangerous tangles around picnic tables and fire pits. You need a way to create a secure, contained space for your pet to enjoy the outdoors.
A foldable exercise pen, like the popular models from Midwest Homes for Pets, provides an instant, portable yard. Constructed from a series of hinged panels, these pens collapse accordion-style into a surprisingly flat package for easy storage. You can set it up as a standalone enclosure or position it against your RV to create a seamless indoor-outdoor living area for your pet.
The true benefit is its adaptability. You can configure the panels into a square, an octagon, or a long fence to fit the specific layout of your campsite. While it does require dedicated storage space, the freedom and safety it provides are invaluable. It allows your pet to relax outside without constant supervision, giving you both a more enjoyable camping experience.
Earth Rated Dog Wipes for Quick, Water-Free Cleans
Keep your pet fresh and clean with these hypoallergenic, unscented wipes. Made with soothing aloe and shea butter, these durable wipes are perfect for cleaning paws, body, and butt.
Life on the road is a life of dirt, dust, and mud, and pets are experts at bringing it all inside your clean rig. Giving your dog a full bath every time they get dirty is simply not an option. It uses too much of your limited fresh water and quickly fills your grey tank, forcing you to find a dump station sooner.
This is where high-quality pet wipes become an indispensable, resource-saving tool. Brands like Earth Rated make large, plant-based wipes that are tough enough to clean muddy paws, a dusty coat, or a messy face without using a single drop of your onboard water. Keeping a pack by the door allows you to perform "triage" on your pet before they ever step inside.
This simple habit has a massive impact on your travel autonomy. By relying on water-free cleaning solutions, you conserve your most precious resource and extend the time you can spend off-grid. It’s a small, inexpensive item that fundamentally changes how you manage cleanliness and resources in your RV.
Track Your Pet Anywhere with the Tractive GPS
Track your dog in real-time with live GPS updates and set virtual fences for escape alerts. Monitor vital signs and barking patterns for early health insights, all with a long-lasting, waterproof design.
The fear of a pet getting lost is amplified tenfold when you’re in an unfamiliar place every few days. A new sound, an interesting smell, or an unlatched door at a busy campground can lead to a heart-stopping moment of panic. Standard ID tags are a good backup, but they rely on the hope that someone finds your pet and calls you.
A GPS tracker like the Tractive provides an active, real-time solution in a tiny package. This small device attaches to your pet’s collar and uses GPS and cellular networks to show you their exact location on a map on your phone. You can even set up a "virtual fence" around your campsite and get an instant alert if they wander outside of it.
This isn’t about saving physical space in your rig; it’s about freeing up mental space. The anxiety of losing a pet can cast a shadow over your entire trip. A reliable tracker eliminates that constant worry, giving you the peace of mind to fully relax and enjoy your adventures. In the world of small-living, reducing stress is just as important as reducing clutter.
Bringing your pet on the road doesn’t have to mean sacrificing space or sanity. The key is to be deliberate, choosing gear that is purpose-built for a life in motion. Collapsible, multi-functional, and durable supplies are not just luxuries; they are the foundation of a smooth and efficient mobile lifestyle.
Ultimately, every item you bring aboard should serve the greater goal of enabling more adventure with less friction. By replacing bulky, inefficient gear with smart, space-saving alternatives, you create a more comfortable and functional home on wheels. That leaves you with more room, more time, and more energy to focus on what matters most: making incredible memories with your favorite travel companion.
