Cat moving home

Rachylou1981

Hi everyone

My boyfriend has moved in with me and he has a cat. I live almost 20 miles away from boyfriend's previous home. The cat is still there with his housemate and can stay there until 11 January. He is 18 months old and an outdoor cat with catflap in place. I have never had a pet and I live in an old terraced house with just a backyard. There are lots of cats in the street, I've previously had problems with cats using my yard to do their business but this seems to have stopped after I tried to deter them with various methods.

Anyway, I want to make the transition of the cat's move as easy as possible but I do have some problems/queries and am looking for advice/help.

1. How long is it deemed appropriate to keep the cat indoors to get used to the house and change of environment?

2. Could a cat get used to a litter tray again in the period before outside is introduced?

3. I am really worried that the cat will destroy my sofa, mainly out of stress/being cooped up all day whilst we are at work. My house is open plan and we don't want to lock him in one room for hours and hours. Is there anything that will stop a cat from scratching furniture? He has scratching poles etc but he does do it to the sofa where he lives (boyfriend used to stop him but housemate didn't and so I don't think he is trained to know not to do it). I thought about getting some throws but don't think this will actually stop the clicks going through to actual sofa

go_cat

When we moved we kept our cat in one room for the first day with her bed and litter tray ( familiar smells ) with then gradually let her explore the house room by room with her.

We let her our after 3 weeks Nd she was fine. She is older though as she was 9 when we moved.

I unfortunately have not found anything to stop them scratching furniture, catnap sends my cat wappy as does olbas oil and oranges, things cats are not meant to like send her mad

Be patient with her it is a big upheaval for animals moving

Good luck

Mupette

use a felway plug in to help keep the cats stress levels low, cats can and will adapt, so make sure the room they will be in has their smell with them, a blanket etc, get a cat flap, and have a micro chipped one that only lets your cat in.

arbroath_lass

We've never had to keep a cat in more than a few days (maybe a week) when we've moved. As long as there are familiar people and smells they normally settle quite quickly.


If the cat used a litter tray before he will remember - just make sure he knows where they are and keep them clean.


Cat's do scratch, though, so encourage him to use posts instead (get a few) by rubbing catnip on them.

jemb

We moved about 2 months ago and have two cats, one's 5 in a couple of weeks, the other is 4. They are both outside cats and get really distressed at being inside when they're not choosing to be! In our experience (moved twice since having them) do as you think is best for them. We let ours out after a week and they were fine, it was stressing them more being inside. They home in on litter trays, they're naturally very clean animals. So dont worry about that. Pepper is a good one for detracting them from their business, you can also buy something that's called 'keep away' or something like that, smells suspiciously like garlic granules though! I really wouldnt waste your time and money with a plug in. My Dad used to work in the Pet industry and there's alot of research to show it is actually just for the owners peace of mind and doesnt actually do anything for the cat. When we got our youngest we got one as she was semi feral and had been dumped outside OHs Mum's house at 5 weeks, had no effect on her whatsoever, they sort themselves out.

With regards to furnture, they do a spray by Johnsons that helps to reduce them scratching, the smell puts them off and they dont like the smell on their paws, also try the pepper thing, once they've done it once and do nt like they wont again.

Hope all goes ok x

Yorkie1

Another vote for the feliway plug-in.

FBaby

In terms of stress, I was really surprised how well my cat adjusted to our new home. I was really worried as she is a rescued cat who was almost feral to start with. She has relaxed over the years but has remained an anxious cat so expected her to feel some distress in her new environment, but to my surprise, she was totally at ease immediately. We didn't have a litter tray, we showed her the flap and out she was. She decided to go out for longer than needed when she was ready. No problem at all.

In regards to the scratching...I'm afraid he is still a young cat and if he does it now, it is likely he will do it again...

monty-doggy

I didn't rate the feliway, I thought it was expensive and the second time I moved I didn't use one and they were fine. Both mine go outside and reverted to the litter tray no problems. I kept them in for 2 weeks, and gave them lots of treats and nice cat food, I treated them to some gourmet gold they love that. A scratching post is ideal, and put blankets over furniture so they don't scratch or soil it.
Lots of love and they will be fine.

Please don't use the old wives tale butter on the feet, it's cruel and will give them the trots!

hazyjo

My cats have always been brilliant when moving house. No major stress. Lottie even seems to like it - nutter.

Mine have stopped using the scratching post but adore doormats. Bought a new one yesterday and Morris is over the moon...

Three weeks to keep him in is generally advised.

One of my old cats used to claw the material sofa and scoot his way round the bottom of the leather one, my current two don't (others never have either).

If he does do something like that, hiss at him. Don't bother shouting, he'll run off but will probably do it again. I've heard that if you sounds like their mother cat did, they'll learn. Seems to work for mine. Don't need to be too loud or whatever with it lol! Just a little hiss. My old cat never usually scratched the sofa if it had a throw on it. He was more focussed on laying on it!

Don't forget the pet forum on here. Probably the best place to have posted, and you'll prob find other advice with a bit of searching.

Good luck!

Jx (cat person!)

R_P_W

Sounds like you don't really want a cat! So maybe suggest to your partner that you don't have one?

Person_one

R_P_W wrote: »

Sounds like you don't really want a cat! So maybe suggest to your partner that you don't have one?

The partner has a cat already, so to the OP's credit she realises that isn't an option.