Top Tips for Moving House with a Cat

Moving house is a very stressful time. Moving house with a cat (or cats) is even more stressful as cats develop a bond with their environment and change can be very stressful.

Last year I moved house again with my cats and I made use of some tips that I had researched the previous time I moved. This was my second large move in about eight years. The first time I was moving from a two bedroom cottage, with four cats, seventy miles to a five bedroom town house. This time I was moving just two cats, about 80 miles from the five bedroom house to a three bedroom apartment.

If your cats are used to staying with friends or at a cattery whilst you are on holiday then you can place them here for a few days before you move and then pick them up when you have actually moved. This might spare them any distress, but if like my cats, your cats are not apart from you then this may cause more stress so it may be better to keep them with you.

What makes the actual moving day less stressful is actually planning ahead. Sounds simple?

The Week Before the Move

In the weeks before the move, my house was full of boxes as I began to pack up my possessions. This was great for the cats initially as they had lots of boxes to play with. But cats are very intuitive and it was obvious that something was happening in their house, so they did start acting a little wary and unsettled.

What I did a week before the actual move was to choose a room which would not be packed up, or which I had already emptied. I actually had an en suite bathroom which was massive (it was bigger than my fifth bedroom), it was quiet and it was also at the top of the house near to my bedroom. Into this room, I placed their toys, litter, cat beds and their food to get them used to using this as a quiet space. They therefore could escape here when it got busy in the rest of the house.

I also set up a Feliway diffuser in here – this is a synthetic pheromone diffuser that helps your cat to stay calm.

For this move I was also using a removal firm (though doing my own packing), and I let them know the day before that I had cats in the house and one room was off-limits to the movers.

The Day of the Move

On the day of the move you can move your cats into their safe room before the removal men arrive. If you don’t want the added stress of running around on the day of the move to find all your cats you can move them into the safe room the night before and then close the door.

As I can usually find my cats easily I moved them into the area a couple of hours before the removal men arrived. I made sure they had plenty of freshwater, gave them a reassuring stroke, gave them a couple of treats and then closed the door and left them alone. I then made sure to put plenty of signs on the door to make sure the removal men did not open this area.

Once the removal men arrived, I made sure they were aware that there were cats locked in the safe room and they were not to access that room. I also made sure that my bedroom furniture was packed last as that was next to the safe room.

Once the Removal Team Have finished

When the removal team had finished and the house was empty, I made sure that the rest of the house was secure with all windows and doors shut (incase the cats ran past me when I opened the door to their room) and then I packed the cats into their carrying cases. All their items that were in their room with them were then packed into my car and finally the cats were moved into the car in their safe carrying cases.

Transporting

Never transport your cat in the removal truck. Make sure the cats remain with you in your car. If your cats do not like travelling then you can spray the inside of their carriers with feline pheromone such as a Feliway Spray and then cover the carrier to keep it darker. They will then hopefully sleep for the journey.

If it is a hot day then make sure that you keep your car as cool as possible and if you need to, stop along the way to give your cats some water (they probably will not drink though), but make sure you don’t leave them out of their carrier.

Arriving at your new home

If you had your bedroom furniture put onto the truck last then get the removal men to set this room up first. You can put another Feliway diffuser into the room before they start unpacking. It always seems as though unpacking is a lot quicker than loading up all your furniture. Once the room is set up let the removal team know that this room is now off limits as you want your cats out of your car as soon as possible.

Set the room up with the litter, food, water bowls and beds from your car. You can also leave other items in the room which smell of you so that your cat recognises the smells (eg bedding, sweaters). You can then bring your cats into the room after making sure that there are no open windows or gaps in the walls that they can hide in.

Once you bring the cats inside, close the door to the bedroom before letting them out of their carrier. They will be very wary and a little skittish but the secret is to make these surroundings as recognisable as possible to them so that they feel they are in a familiar environment. Make sure to give them some more strokes and cuddles and then leave them alone and quiet so that they can explore their surroundings in their own time. Also offer them some food – which they may not eat at this time.

In the meantime the rest of your new home can be set up. (Though if you are anything like me – you will probably end up living out of boxes for about 4 months – I hate unpacking). When the removal team have left then check that all windows and doors in the rest of the house/apartment are secure and that there are no small places that a cat can climb behind and get stuck. At this stage I would close the door to the kitchen as kitchens usually do have places which cats can get stuck behind.

Settling In

At this stage I would close some doors so that the cats only have access to a small area at one time as this change can be overwhelming. Therefore, I closed off the doors to the kitchen/lounge and third bedroom. I opened up the doors to the guest bathroom (as this was going to be my cats new bathroom), the hallway and the second bedroom.

Once the doors were shut, I then opened up the door to where the cats had been kept.

At this stage your cats may come out of the bedroom and start to warily explore – they may be jumpy as the smells and sounds will be different. Though hopefully because you have made your bedroom as safe room they will be familiar with all the smells in this room. You may find that they will retreat back to this room after venturing outside the room for just a short period of time.

Over the coming weeks

Don’t force your cat to explore, let them do this in their own time. Once your cats are feeling more secure in their environment, start opening up other rooms one at a time. I would also keep the Feliway diffuser active for a good month or so as I found that it took a few weeks for my cats to start relaxing and not jump at every new noise.

If you have an outdoor cat then please wait at least two weeks before you allow them outside and then do this in stages by initially offering them supervised access to the garden.

If you have any further hints and tips on moving house with a cat then let us know in the comments section below. Further if you have a question then please ask us.