moving houses with cats

Grimbal

We shall (hopefully !) soon be moving home with our three cats.

A friend (cat fosterer for CP) has kindly agreed to look after them for a few nights in order that the packing up & unpacking can be done without them. However, one of our kitties, Maisie, is going to find all of this incredibly difficult to deal with

She's never been happy in a carrier - she poos in seconds of being put in there, and by the end of a fifteen minute journey will be foaming at the mouth.

We've had feliway diffuser going on both floors for a couple of weeks now, and will spray the carrier before we take her to our friend, but is there anything we can also give her to calm her ?

she won't touch food that's been adulterated, and will not tolerate being dosed physically - it's only spot ons (& that only barely) that we can give her. I've talked to our vet about anything they can do, but they feel that just getting her to the vets is going to be the stressful issue in itself.

Is there any OTC stress spot on reliever that we can give Maisie in conjunction with Feliway that people have had much success with ?

stir_crazy

Grimbal wrote: »

We shall (hopefully !) soon be moving home with our three cats.

A friend (cat fosterer for CP) has kindly agreed to look after them for a few nights in order that the packing up & unpacking can be done without them. However, one of our kitties, Maisie, is going to find all of this incredibly difficult to deal with

She's never been happy in a carrier - she poos in seconds of being put in there, and by the end of a fifteen minute journey will be foaming at the mouth.

We've had feliway diffuser going on both floors for a couple of weeks now, and will spray the carrier before we take her to our friend, but is there anything we can also give her to calm her ?

she won't touch food that's been adulterated, and will not tolerate being dosed physically - it's only spot ons (& that only barely) that we can give her. I've talked to our vet about anything they can do, but they feel that just getting her to the vets is going to be the stressful issue in itself.

Is there any OTC stress spot on reliever that we can give Maisie in conjunction with Feliway that people have had much success with ?

One of my cats poos in his box as well, when we got him his previous owner said that "starving" him (ie no breakfast) for 12 hours before we have a planned journey would help. One time we forgot and will never forget again, it helps that he is fairly regular so I know there is nothing to "go". He also foams at the mouth and gets so stressed he makes himself sick, but I found that putting his box in the passenger footwell seems to lessen his stress. We had his dad before and his dad was the same. I've tried asking the vet for anything that would help and they couldnt really help. They wouldnt prescribe anything and couldnt give me any tips to calm them down.

antw23uk

Its probably a bit late now but ideally you would have been practicing this for a while with positive reinforcement. I know it sounds silly but we will box the cats up every other week and take them round the block and then back home for a nice juicy raw chicken wing as a reward. Both travel well (if not noisily) because they know that travelling isnt actually a big thing and rarely does it face them with a scary vet but more often than not lasts five minutes and results in yummy food. We have always treated our cats more like dogs though but it certainly pays off

To be honest you are doing what you can with the defuser ect but sometimes its just better to get it over and done with as quickly and painlessley as possible. Good luck.

Fluff15

Keep the carrier in an open place with the door open, so she gets used to it in the few days leading up to it, if you don't already. Try and play games with her going in and out of the carrier too, so she doesn't feel as threatened by it as a place she's trapped in.

Also maybe try putting a towel over the top of the box with your scent on (like a hairwash towel) whilst she's travelling so it's dark inside, and keep talking to her the whole time.

I second not feeding her 12 hours before too, maybe try and get her at one of her sleepy points during the day.

Lovelyjoolz

Oh I feel your pain! My Bert gets so stressed, during the course of a 6 minute car journey he will poop 3 times. Each one softer than before, so by the time he gets to the vet he is covered. And I mean covered!

The lovely vet assistant takes him off and cleans him up before the vet sees him and then he does the same thing on the way home. How can one little body hold so much poo????

By the time we get him home and bathed the bathroom looks like a slaughter house with poo (berts) and blood (from my savaged arms!) everywhere and one very soggy, stressed out kitty and a frazzled me!

So, (there is a point to this story) when I moved house last year, we had no option but to drug him. I couldn't bear the thought of putting him through the double-stress of a car journey PLUS a strange new house. But then again, Bert will take a tablet from my hand no bother, so it wasn't really an issue.

He had a very low dose and it just made him really dopey and relaxed for about 4 hours. Plenty of time to transfer him (without pooping!) into the new house and settled on the familiar sofa, with his usual blankie and comforting smells around him. By the time he perked up it was dinner time and he was perfectly happy in the new place.

Sometimes drugs are the only answer!!

Grimbal

Thanks all,

I think I may have another chat with the vet to see if they could prescribe something without us having to take Maisie to him. Failing that, I'll make sure that we do the pointers mentioned in your posts.

Hubby has looked at me oddly as I've told him we're sleeping with a bath towel for the next few weeks

rising_from_the_ashes

This stuff is amazing

http://www.medicanimal.com/product/~zylkene-for-dogs-cats/~product_id=4275/~category_id=MA-CATS-BEHAVIOURAL?gclid=CIL2pcOS77oCFRSWtAod6RUAoQ

Mia is an horrific traveller (ill - both ends, usually within 5 mins!) - had to take her on a long journey which I was dreading

Spoke to my vets who suggested this (it was considerably more expensive there!) - BUT - worth every penny!

Honestly, she was absolutely fine:T (didn't feed her that morning obviously)

I was advised to give her 1 tablet am & pm 2 days before travelling, the day of travelling & 2 days afterwards (just to keep stress levels calm while in the new home)

Ohhhh - and she's just about the fussiest eater ever - you can sprinkle on their (wet hopefully) food and mix in and she ate it (so did Archie so passed 2 fussy tests!)

Best of luck

moggymutt

Are your cats all microchipped, it's even more important if you are moving.

Grimbal

moggymutt wrote: »

Are your cats all microchipped, it's even more important if you are moving.

Absolutely, couldn't bear not to have them chipped.

They are all from Cats Protection, who chip them as a matter or course, but I'd always have had it done if they weren't. You see so many lost cat notices around, and it's just so sad when an owner hasn't chipped them, making reconciliation so much more difficult