Moving home (twice) with two cats

fannyanna

Hello

We're in the process of selling our property and all being well we'll hopefully be moving out in the New Year and intend on staying with family for 4 - 6 months until we find somewhere new to live. So in total we'll be moving home twice in a relatively short period of time.

It's stressing me as it is but to make things more difficult we have two cats (who are outdoor cats).

What considerations do I need to make for them when moving?

We'll be staying with my parents who have two dogs. The cats have mingled with teh dogs before and after an initial period of hatred they cohabit no problem. So on that front I'm not too concerned.

What I am very worried about though is the cats escaping and going outside before we've had a chance to show them the area - I plan on keeping them in for a few weeks and then start taking them out on a lead. Is that what I should be doing?

Any advice on how not to lose my cats in the move(s) would be greatly appreciated (as their my babies ).

P.S. They are both chipped and we will update their address details as soon as we move just in case they do go missing. I guess I should also take some more recent photographs of them for missing posters too. Hopefully I wont need them though.

Badger_Lady

I think I'd be tempted to keep them in for the duration of the 'in between' bit. To get them owning territory in one new place, and then abruptly start again with another new place, would be unnecessarily confusing and I'd be really worried about them wandering off to find 'home'.

Of course they probably won't see it like that

As for keeping them in, is this very difficult? What are the main risks?

fannyanna

Badger_Lady wrote: »

What are the main risks?

My Dad :rotfl:

No seriously when I lived with my parents we moved house and had a cat at the time. Despite my Dad being told the cat was not allowed out he let him out ("as he wanted to go out") and ended up getting lost. Fortunately we found him about 3 weeks later - only a few streets away but in a complete mess.

Obviously I don't want to lose my cats but they do love going outside (and I'm of the opinion that it's unfair to keep cats indoors all the time).

Just been googling and I think I need to keep them in for at least a month. It will be tricky as they might escape whilst the dogs are being let out in the garden to do their business - and as I said before I'm a bit worried that other members of the household wont be as diligent at making sure the cats are not let out.

Badger_Lady

I know - I agree with you entirely, and it's heartbreaking when they beg to go out but you just can't risk it! Unless you can manage to set up an outdoors cage system, but that's an awful lot of effort to go to in someone else's house for a short period of time.

Can the cats be contained to a particular room(s)? When we moved to the new house, my cat had the run of the basement, with an internal door preventing him from accessing the main hallway where the external door was.

I know it's not ideal to keep them in, but I would bear it just until you have a place where they can settle properly.

no1catman

Something you like to consider is using a cattery for a night.

When we moved, the previous evening took the cat to a cattery, then we felt able to concentrate on the packing etc. The next day when the removal men arrrived and stuff was being moved - it was just our 'stress' to worry about - we didn't have the added stress of worrying about the cat getting stressed!! Nor getting out with the front door being constantly open.
So after we moved in and the removal men had gone, we went and collected the cat the next day, and introduced her to the new house - yet with familiar furniture.

Beckyy

I would keep them in fullstop (as ong as they have somewhere away from the dogs), until you're in your new home. We kept out outdoor cats in for months when we first got them, they adjusted well and we're bothered - infact qute pleased as it was freezing outside for most of the time. When they did go out they did wander far!