Moving house with cat

zippychick

Hi , I am posting this on behalf of my Mum. I had cats all my life, but this is Mums first and I have a few questions if yous would be so kind to help me

Hope (kitty) Goes out all the time often for 3-4 hours at a time.She has full run of the house as well.

When they move house, are there any steps they can take or how should introduce her? Some books recommend introducing parts of the house at a time. The newer house is much bigger than the old one, and has stairs which I don't think Hope has ever known. Should they introduce her a room at a time ? Any ideas?

How many people check for cats being chipped? I suggested this to Mum but as it wouldn't occur to her, she doesn't seem to think it would occur to other people (in case kitty goes missing of course)

The new house has a leather sofa, and Hope has been allowed to scratch the one they have. Is there anything you can put on the sofa to stop her scratching etc? Citrus or orange stuff maybe? She does have a scratching post and I am trying to teach my Mum to be a bit stricter on her! (She is spoilt)

What would be the steps for letting her outside? I though to keep her in for at least 2-3 weeks to spread her scent - in years past we took cats out on leads, and put butter on their paws, but I'm not sure how useful these things are. :rotfl:

Many thanks in advance.:)

Waterfalls

i would def introduce one new room at a time as cats are highly prone to stress. maybe think about pruchasing a feliway diffuser aswell,(might be an idea to get in sooner rather than later as can take a month to so any effect)
only when kitty feels safe and comfy, then introduce another room

Def recommend getting her chipped!! its the first thing we look for in the vets if a stray is brought in, i love it when we get to reunite pets eith there owners, but unfortunately this is not always possible

with reguards to letting her out. try keeping her in for a few weeks-until she is confortable with the indoors. try and get a feeding routine going, then u can let her out on an empty stomach, and she should(fingers crossed) return at the usual feeding time for food

best of luck!!

chelle230

I've always been quite luckywith my cats and moving house.
I would always leave it at least 2 weeks before letting them out, and leave the door open for them so they know that they can get back in, they'd never go too far to start with.
but I've let them have free run of the house from day 1, my cats will scratch up carpets anyway if confined to any areas! just tend to leave them to it, they'll find their way round and come back to you for food/cuddles when they're good and ready.

Fire_Fox

zippychick wrote: »

Hi , I am posting this on behalf of my Mum. I had cats all my life, but this is Mums first and I have a few questions if yous would be so kind to help me

Hope (kitty) Goes out all the time often for 3-4 hours at a time.She has full run of the house as well.

When they move house, are there any steps they can take or how should introduce her? Some books recommend introducing parts of the house at a time. The newer house is much bigger than the old one, and has stairs which I don't think Hope has ever known. Should they introduce her a room at a time ? Any ideas?

How many people check for cats being chipped? I suggested this to Mum but as it wouldn't occur to her, she doesn't seem to think it would occur to other people (in case kitty goes missing of course)

The new house has a leather sofa, and Hope has been allowed to scratch the one they have. Is there anything you can put on the sofa to stop her scratching etc? Citrus or orange stuff maybe? She does have a scratching post and I am trying to teach my Mum to be a bit stricter on her! (She is spoilt)

What would be the steps for letting her outside? I though to keep her in for at least 2-3 weeks to spread her scent - in years past we took cats out on leads, and put butter on their paws, but I'm not sure how useful these things are. :rotfl:

Many thanks in advance.:)

Vets check for a chip and rescues check for a chip. You can't assume a lost cat will be taken in and kept, it may remain as a stray or be handed in. Some overstretched branches of the RSPCA are having to PTS if the cat isn't claimed within seven days if there is a chip with the correct address this can be avoided.

http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/lewes-district-news/Missing-microchipped-cat-found-70.5177661.jp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7610903.stm

If the cat likes to stretch up vertically to scratch make sure the scratching post is tall enough, broad enough and stable enough - in the wild it would be a tree!! You can get scratching pads that attach to furniture or walls or corners of walls. You might also try a horizontal corrugated cardboard scratch box (£5 from Pets at Home)?

How to move house with a cat:
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,27011.0.html
Confining the cat to one room has two benefits - firstly that the cat feels secure in the new environment, secondly that you can unpack without the cat seeing and without risking escape. Feliway is apparently good to help them feel at home.

Claire_Bear

I'd suggest keeping the cat in one room to start with, put all of her stuff in the room - litter tray, food and water bowl, bed favourite toys, blanket etc. This gives you a chance to set up the furniture in the other rooms a little bit without cat getting underfoot, also she won't be getting stressed by all the noise and movement and will hopefully curl up to go to sleep. Once she's comfortable, slowly introduce her to the other rooms, keep the door of the first room open as she'll probably see it as a safe zone and go back there if she's worrying or nervous. If possible, try to keep her routine the same, feed her at the same time of day as you normally would as this will help to keep her stress levels down. Don't let her outside for a few weeks, and I'd say definately get her microchipped! If she tries to get back to your old house, or gets lost you have such a higher chance of being reunited with her if she's chipped, and it's worth the money for peace of mind alone! Hope this is helpful, and lastly good luck with the move! Hope it all goes well for your mum

zippychick

fantastic advice thanks - i really appreciate it . I couldn't understnd the logic of the one room but I do now. My own cat has been showing some weird signs lately as there has been a fair bit of work and disruption going on in my house, so I should know better!

Hope knows something is going on - Mum said she was crawling all over boxes, and then just went to sleepin one. I'll pop a pic up if yous want. She is terribly cute and was treated really badly as a youngun, so still has boundary issues but she is absolutely adored, and they are keen to take precentitive steps so she doesn't go missing.