Moving house with cats

[riversider2014]

We’re due to move house early next year and have 2 cats (both 10 years old). Quick google suggests keeping them in for 3 weeks to get used to new house.

Cat 1 - will be living the dream as she hardly ever goes out and could happily be a house cat.

Cat 2 - will hate it. He’s hardly ever in, has broken 3 cat flaps over the years to get out and doesn’t even come in on bonfire night.

Anyone had a similar experience and any suggestions for dealing with a cat who’ll be stir crazy after 1 day. Sedating/calming meds has been suggested but that is very much a last resort.

(And can we go less than 3 weeks)

[Lostbrain]

We’ve moved with cats a few times and only ever kept them in a week, not lost one yet.

[Lostbrain]

Do think about how you are going to deal with them during the move, cats can scarper when they sense disruption so best to keep them in the day or a couple of days before you move, get them in a cage before you start loading up. We had a cat run off, luckily we hadn’t moved far but we had to get neighbours to look out for her and keep going back to the old house, she was missing for a week in the snow. Did find her eventually.

[Sew109]

We have two similar cats we have moved twice with them as well as taking them to our caravan at weekends never kept them in when we did this, we did however put butter on their paws the first time at each address as they sit in the garden licking it off and learn their environment.

[riversider2014]

Originally Posted by Lostbrain

Do think about how you are going to deal with them during the move, cats can scarper when they sense disruption so best to keep them in the day or a couple of days before you move, get them in a cage before you start loading up. We had a cat run off, luckily we hadn’t moved far but we had to get neighbours to look out for her and keep going back to the old house, she was missing for a week in the snow. Did find her eventually.

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We’ve got a spare crate that we bought for our dog so planning to put them in that while we pack on the day.

[lovestoplan]

When we moved with our boy we kept him in for 2 weeks. He hated it but when he did go out, he didn't get lost. I've also seen for lost cats but could be used for prevention...when they do go out put some of their used litter in the garden so they can smell their smell. Good luck with the move!

[ScoopsAhoy]

We moved in March and kept our two in for a month to be on the safe side.
I thought one in particular would not be happy but as it was a new setting he spent most of the time investigating and didn’t have an issue .
Sadly though, about a month after I started letting them out he went walkabout and we haven’t seen him now for 6 months . Reply upsetting.
We have checked the old house/ road numerous times as it’s very close by but no luck so my advice would be to try and keep them in as long as possible and only for short periods of time at first.
My other cat now has a timer on the cat flap so he is never out at night anymore.

[ROBBOTOO]

I suspect even cat 2 will be very nervous anyway at first.

I made sure my cats were shut in a bedroom with a litter tray and food and water while moving in. No one could go into the room until we’d moved in and all doors and windows closed. Anything needing to go in that room was after everything else once we were in with all doors and windows shut.

Then they could come out in their own time but couldn’t get out of the house.

If there is a cat flap at the new house make sure the cats can’t get to it. Shut doors to it etc. Plus make sure they have no access to outside until you are happy that they are happy and not scared in their new home.

When you do let them out after a few weeks, don’t feed them before, so they are hungry and hopefully won’t go far.

It’s hard if they’re used to going out. But better safe and driving you mad for a few weeks than them getting out and going missing.

[Talland 2016]

Originally Posted by ROBBOTOO

I suspect even cat 2 will be very nervous anyway at first.

I made sure my cats were shut in a bedroom with a litter tray and food and water while moving in. No one could go into the room until we’d moved in and all doors and windows closed. Anything needing to go in that room was after everything else once we were in with all doors and windows shut.

Then they could come out in their own time but couldn’t get out of the house.

If there is a cat flap at the new house make sure the cats can’t get to it. Shut doors to it etc. Plus make sure they have no access to outside until you are happy that they are happy and not scared in their new home.

When you do let them out after a few weeks, don’t feed them before, so they are hungry and hopefully won’t go far.

It’s hard if they’re used to going out. But better safe and driving you mad for a few weeks than them getting out and going missing.

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Some really good advice here
Have they ever been to a Cattery?
Years ago when we were moving ours had an overnight stay in the Cattery when we were moving from a tiny upstairs flat to our first house.
It was a lot less stressful for everyone and ensured that they were safe
I was also going to ask if they are microchipped? If not it maybe worth having them done
If they are remember to update the details with the new address etc
If they wear collars get new tags etc with phone number on etc
Hope your move goes smoothly

[riversider2014]

Originally Posted by Talland 2016

Some really good advice here
Have they ever been to a Cattery?
Years ago when we were moving ours had an overnight stay in the Cattery when we were moving from a tiny upstairs flat to our first house.
It was a lot less stressful for everyone and ensured that they were safe
I was also going to ask if they are microchipped? If not it maybe worth having them done
If they are remember to update the details with the new address etc
If they wear collars get new tags etc with phone number on etc
Hope your move goes smoothly

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They’ve never been to a cattery so won’t be using that option unfortunately.

They are both microchipped so if they do go walkabout they can be traced