10 tips about moving home with your cat

Photo by Finn Frode when moving home.

Here are 9 hopefully helpful tips about moving home with your cat if you need them. It is a much discussed topic:

1. The biggest potential danger is your cat getting lost; going missing because of a complete disruption to his or her life. We know how cats love the familiar and their routines and rhythms. It is all destroyed. And they're going to a new place which removes them from their 'home range'. It can take months for a cat to get used to a new place but it does depend upon the individual cat. In fact, it can take months for the cat's owner to get used to a new place. 😕.So the biggest danger is losing your cat and therefore a lot of the procedure should be built around that to prevent it happening;
2. Experience says that the safest and most pragmatic arrangement is to put your cat in a boarding cattery before you move and then you collect your cat from the boarding cattery a couple of days after you have moved and when furniture and household items are more or less in place. It also gives you time to dig out all the cat stuff so it is to hand. This brings peace of mind provided the cattery is known to be good;
3. One of the dangers is losing your cat on the day of the move. Some owners have lost their cat in the removals lorry! The cat jumps in to explore and it is closed. Avoid that one like the plague. Or the disappear because of all the disruption. The run off. Some owners have placed their cat in a carrier and placed the carrier in the removals lorry. Your cat should go with you if you don't leave them at a boarding cattery.
4. When you collect your cat from the boarding cattery it is advisable to restrict your cat to a single room until the time comes when he or she wants to investigate their new home. Some cats take weeks while others want to explore the place immediately, but if so it should be done with great care. There are new and sometimes unknown dangers. I think some supervision of your cat is needed and increased vigilance;
5. If you move home a short distance, your cat might, if he escapes, try and return to his home range if that is firmly fixed in his head. For example, if your cat was raised as a kitten in a certain place and is removed from it they are probably more attached to their home range and want to return to it after you have moved. This may encourage an escape. Cats have been known to travel long distances and they are amazing navigators;
6. RELATED: How far has a cat travelled to return home?
7. You can sprinkle a little of your cat's urine-soiled litter close to your new home to act as an outdoor signpost. This may help to reset his brain to thinking that he is in his home range;
8. You should escort your cat outside if your cat is an indoor/outdoor cat and supervise on the first few exploits;
9. Normally it takes several weeks for a cat to become fully custom to their new indoor and outdoor home. It may take longer to become settled and as long as a year to feel truly fully relaxed;
10. After moving, the advice from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is to choose a room where your cat can get used to the new environment and in which there is everything that they need. It should be comfortable and safe. You might place in that room a pheromone diffuser such as Feliway. The whole house should be escape proof. I think the last point is the most important until your cat is familiar and doesn't panic.