Moving house - worried about my cat

[Toilet Duck]

Afternoon all,

I'm (hopefully) going to be moving house next month. What is the best way to carry this out in terms of my female cat? She is around 12 years old (we adopted her around 7 years ago) and really doesn't cope well with any sort of change to her routine. She seems to be prone to stress; she occasionally develops cystitis which normally clears up pretty instantly after a trip to the vets (they give her an injection of convenia and one of dexafort which thankfully seems to immediately stop the constant squatting for a piss).

We went away for a few days a couple of months ago and put her in a cattery. When we picked her up within a day she developed cystitis. So we don't know whether we should put her in a cattery for one or two nights (which she won't like) whilst we do the house move, or whether to take her with us on the day of the move and shut her in a room in the new house with some familiar items (her scratching post, blanket, clothes that smell of "home" etc) whilst all the furniture etc gets moved in.

The new house we are moving to is fairly remote and quiet and doesn't have any neighbours. How long should we wait before she is allowed out and what is the best way to approach this? She currently has a cat flap but often refuses to use it or just paws at it as if she has never seen one before, other times she jumps straight out through it

We were going to buy a load of Felaway diffusers and plug them in all around the new house to try and "calm" her a bit but not really sure what else we can do? Is there any pre-emptive medication available from vets that might help?

I would be grateful for any help or advice as we are stressing more about how our cat will take the move rather than the actual moving house!!!

Cheers

[vixen1700]

Felliway, plenty of familiar things like blankets, rugs, cushions etc.

Can one of you manage to get time off work for say the first four days or so? That would help alot.

Cats, they really do stress when they're out of their familiar environments.

[Mort7]

If it were me I'd take her with me, put her in a room with familiar items (+ litter tray), put a large notice on the door stating that there is a cat in the room, so do not open door, and pop in to see her at regular intervals during the moving-in day.

After that I would allow her to explore the house with you, but keep her with you as much as possible.

I believe that it's generally advised to keep cats indoors for a couple of weeks, although we didn't manage more than a week or so, and to go outside with them the first few times.

Make sure your new address in on her chip, and phone number on an ID tag on her collar.

Other than that just spend lot of time with her, but try to be relaxed as she will pick up on your moods. Feliway will help.

Good luck!

[iacabu]

Just after we moved into our first house, we re-homed one of my parents cats due to her being bullied by the other cats in the house. She had become very stressed and anxious and generally stayed in the same basket all day every day without moving much or going outside.

We brought blankets and a few bits that she'd be familiar with and kept her indoors for a few weeks. It took her a while to really feel comfortable and to join us on the sofa but loves attention now and is happiest when sat on our knee.

She's still weird in her own way and doesn't like visitors to the house if it gets noisy but everyone is just happy that she is more comfortable and less stressed living with us.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, just as the others have said, a few weeks indoors with familiar smells and plenty of attention and it shouldn't be an issue.

If she gets out maybe put down some food and her litter by the back door.

[hotchy]

Just keep them in a room. Done the same after from having to rescue him a good few times from the old house, after about a week he learned we lived across the road lol

[Toilet Duck]

Thanks for all the replies!

I think we'll probably take her with us then on moving day. We are taking a week off work so she won't be alone in the new house to start!

Thank you

[Trophy Husband]

Butter on paws. Always worked for me with all of my cats. If they can't scent themselves they won't go beyond where they can see.

[ali_kat]

Toilet Duck said:

Thanks for all the replies!

I think we'll probably take her with us then on moving day. We are taking a week off work so she won't be alone in the new house to start!

Thank you

Feliway diffusers in current & new house, I’d use Pet Remedy too as it’s faster acting on mine

Get some Zylkene from Amazon/Pets at home & start get on it now, it takes a couple of weeks

Pet Remedy do a spray too, use it in her carrier, her, the new room etc

Keep her in the room for a day & then just open the door to let her explore in her own time. Let her get used to the house before you let her out

[Nola25]

We’ve been through three house moves with Nola, each time using Feliway (plugin and spray), her bed, blankets and toys in one room and just letting her get used to the house in her own time.

Last move took her about 10 days before she way climbing the walls to get out. Always tried to keep her in for at least a week.

Knew she was ready when she covered lounge to attic room via two flights of stairs like a wall of death rider!!!

[garythesign]

We moved to Ireland from the UK 3 years ago.

Vet in UK gave us some pills for a few days before journey and for the day of travel.

We kept him in for two weeks and all was good.

The lady that runs the local cat rescue recommends butter on paws which has been mentioned above.

Good luck

[duckwhistle]

We had a similar situation, our Vet, good guy but a gruff Glaswegian ,I'm sure he said 'pit butter oan his baws' Jake must have thought it was his birthday.