Moving with a cat horror stories!!!

[vivilasvegas]

Okay, I know my two dogs will move fine, they don't care where they are at, as long as I'm there. But my cat...I keep reading all these horrible stories about how cats ran away or stopped eating because of the move. To top it off, my cat had urinary crystals last year. It's under control (knock wood) with a prescription cat food. But I'm afraid this stress will kick him right back into it!!

I plan to move him last and keep him in his bedroom until we go. It's just myself and my boyfriend moving our stuff, no no movers or anything. (we don't have a lot of stuff). When we get there, I'm just going to put him in the spare bedroom with his blankie, litter, food and water, and leave him in his carrier with it open so he can get out when he wants. It's ony about a 10 minute car ride, so I'm not worried about that.

Any other suggestions??

 

[puffkin]

My cat could have cared less when we moved. She was more concerned with jumping in and out of all the boxes. Hopefully it is a non-issue for you.

 

[Queen Quinnella]

When we moved (5 hours away) we borded our 3 cats at the vet while the movers were there. When we were ready to go ourselves we had the vet sedate them. It just makes them calm and sleepy. We put them in their kennels and then left. It lasted the whole trip and it was much easier on them and us. When we got to our new home we took them out and kept them in a bathroom with food/water and litter box while we moved in. After the moving part was over we let them out and let them explore but we didnt let them outside for a while. When we finally did let them go in the (fenced) back yard we went with them. After a little while we brought them back in. We did this a couple of times so that they could get adjusted to the new surroundings. After that every thing was ok. Good luck to you and your kitties.

 

[Laura]

We moved a year ago from our apartment into the new house, with a cat. She was moved first into a spare bedroom that was kept shut. I was there all day while others went back and forth from the house to the apartment with the loads of stuff. That way I was able to check on her from time to time. She hid in the closet most of the time, until her scratching post arrived and I put it in her room. For some reason, the sight of her scratching post seemed to make her feel better. She came out of the closet and rubbed up against it. Later that day, after everything was moved, she seemed to want to explore the rest of the house so I let her out of her room and followed her while she explored, speaking soothingly to her. Over the next few days, she seemed a bit cautious, and would jump at strange noises. But she eventually calmed down.

I think you have a good plan for the move. It will probably be stressful for the first few days. I think moving the cat last is a good idea, as our cat had to deal with the new room as well as lots of noises all day. But there really wasn't anywhere to keep her in the apartment and I didn't want her to escape when we had doors open to get furniture out. Your cat will surely know something's up before you move him, and will probably need a lot of reassurance. Keep the familiar things around as much as possible so the change won't be so much of a shock, and don't let him near open doors.

 

[SC Minnie]

Our cat did fine with the move initially. He did start acting up until the neighbor kids started coming over regularly and it really upset him.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

When we moved our cat hid for a few days, but once he became acclimated, and realized there was a huge sliding glass door and bay window to watch the birds from, he was happy. Mostly we left him in the room with the litter box for a half day so he would be know where to find it. He spent most of the day exploring the room.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We had our "college cat" Honey. Moved through, many apartments, homes, lived with other cats, etc...She was a cool cat.
She lived 15years.

Not all cats freak out. Some like a change.

 

[RadioNate]

My cat has moved from Oregon to 2 different apartments in SC, to an apartment and then a house in Tennessee and now he's in TX. This is his 6th home and he's always been fine.

As long as he knows where his stuff is we've never had an issue.

We've kept him in the 'do not pack' closet while we were packing and loading stuff. At our destination we put him in a bathroom or similiar with his things until the unloading is finished. Once we have some familiar things in place we let him explore. Mostly he'll hide under a bed or the couch for a few days but if we leave him be he adjusts pretty quickly.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We moved from Wisconsin to VA with two of our cats years ago, then from VA to TX with those 2 cats plus one more and then back to Maryland with the same three. It was hard moving distances like that and one time we tried sedating the cats. That backfired, though--one of the sedated cats chewed on and put holes in one of my t-shirts...one about cats.

We made a few local moves with cats throughout the years and that went fine. I think you've thought things through and your cat will do ok.

 

[kbkids]

My 13 yr-old-cat has moved with me 9 times and did just fine. Doesn't bother her a bit. I do take her last, but I think by then, she's figured it out - we're moving again! First thing I do when I take her to the new house is put her in the litter box so she knows where it's at. Never had an accident yet.

This next move will be our first with our dog - not looking forward to that - she's soooo energetic!

 

[dumby]

My cat loved to be outside but when we moved she went back to using the litter box and has not set foot outside but once in four months. She still acts disoriented. She spent as much time out as in and had not used a litter box in over three years before this move. What is bad is this is a temporary home until we find something to buy in this area. So the poor thing will have to adjust again. I just feel so bad for her. Hope your cat does better with the move.

 

[Pugsley]

Oh, we just went through this five months ago and one of my cats completely freaked out. First it was a nightmare to catch him to put him in the carrier and during that process he scratched me on my hand and leg. I have pretty bad scars from that. Then he screamed all the way to the new house. I put them in an empty room and I put a body pillow that he likes in there. Well, he burrowed under that pillow and would not budge for a couple of days. He got so hot under there I was afraid it would kill him but he still wouldn’t come out so I had to keep going in and pulling him out of there. After a few days he was fine. It is very traumatic to some cats but the good news is that they get over it pretty quickly. This cat is so psycho that we decided that we were never taking him anywhere ever again unless he gets really, really sick. It is just too stressful for him and for us.

 

[mookie]

This thread couldn't have come at a better time. We are talking about makeing the move for DH job from Chicago to Colorado, and one of the biggest things is that we will have to drive in the car with our CAT, 2 dogs, our 3 year old and a new born!!!!

Should be an interesting trip if we survive.

 

[azgal81]

I haven't moved with my cat but we take him between my house and my boyfriend's all the time when I stay over there on the weekends. We have also taken him with us to disneyland which is a six hour drive. He loves the car, he is such a good car kitty. He won't even cry he'll just lay on my lap or go in the back so he can look out the window then come to see us. He has always loved going to new places as well. We have never had a problem taking him to hotels or back and forth between our places. Of course we knew this was going to happen so we trained him in the car when he was a kitten so he would get used to it.