Moving Terrified Cats

[Susan of 4]

HI there- I'm new to the site, but I'm learning so much from reading these forums! I currently live in WA state, but in two months I am moving my family of 6 people and 6 pets, 5 of which are cats, on a 42 hour by car drive to NE Tennessee. I had my plans coming together pretty well on how to handle my 3 indoor and 2 outdoor cats on the night time stopovers until tonight. My chunky calico, just over a year old, and my polydactyl were hanging out with me in the bathroom while I brushed my teeth. My daughter's new red rubber bath toy must have freaked them both out a bit because they jumped pretty high when I bumped it with my foot. I put it up on the counter and reassured the poly by picking him up and shooing him out the door. When I did the same to her, however, she spazzed on me, obviously NOT comforted, and bit my thumb pretty hard out of fear. She's still sitting by the closed bathroom door, wanting a closer look at the infidel, apparently.
I just realized that she and my Siamese are very similar when they are frightened, and for the first time, I am very nervous about placing the two of them in cat carriers and different places each night when we arrive... I don't have Kevlar to wear when putting them in and out of their spaces.
Does anyone have some advice on how to best approach this situation? (They will all be in separate carriers strapped down in our minivan for the trip. We have four nights of staying at hotels and friends' houses when they will be put in two rooms; indoor cats and outdoor cats grouped together, until they are return to the crates the next day.)
Thank you!

 

[danteshuman]

I have done a couple of moves & a termite tenting with my cats (where I took everything outside.) I would recommend a few things:
*Now put out every scent soaker you can (blankets where they sleep, extra cat scratchers.)
*Pack their stuff last & unpack it first in one room. When I say everything I mean all their toys, scratchers, beds, food, litter boxes, the blankets you spread out & maybe even the bedding from your bedroom that you just put in plastic bags. That way the room smells like you/them. Cats are very smell oriented. (I used clean sheets but didn't wash my blankets on my bed.
*I just put a black plastic bag over their litter box without the lid, to move/store it. Also that way their litter comes with them. I use scoopable litter.
*Plan on them staying in their room while you unpack everything. I would also plan on sleeping in their room, so put a mattress/bedding in there before you let them out, if you can.
*Catnip if it relaxes them.
*My boys aren't the kind to super stress though one is clingy. I let my boys explore their new home once I finished moving everything in. If your cats are more high stress you may want to keep them in the bedroom for 3-7 days before you let them out.
*If they are super high stress you might ask your vet about an anti-axiety medication for a couple of weeks while they adjust... just in case one needs it. If your cat is the kind to make themselves sick from stress or over groom themselves bald when stressed, some medication may be needed.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome!
These articles aren't long but informative;
You, Your Cat And Stress
Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats
How To Move With Your Cat To A New Home In A Safe Way
Cat Carriers Recommended By Tcs Members
36 Awesome Tips For Road Tripping With Your Cat
Beware The Dreaded Cat Carrier
Traveling With Cats
Cat Collars Safety Guide

Also you could try calming products; there are collars, diffusers, wipes, treats...
Some cats such as my Big Guy are completely unaffected by Feliway, but there are other products with different ingredients such as L-Tryphophan and casein.

Prescription items --Gabapentin is good for travel, amitriptyline can help with general anxiety and OCD (such as excessive grooming).

There is Zylkene, Calming Care, Calm-o-mile, Sentry, Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, Pet Remedy (it has valerian) is yet another, as is Essential Pet Pet-ease, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has a calming product, Pet Naturals also has one I believe.
Lambert Vet Supply is a website to look at, and of course amazon and chewy, also there's Petwishpros, drsfostersmith, animaleo.

There are a couple of recent discussions about calming items, here's the link to one thread. Post #6 in this has a link to the second discussion.
Calming Treats?

 

[Tobermory]

I’ve done several cross-country moves with three cats. In addition to the advice you’ve already received, I can add the following:

You might consider larger crates instead of their carriers. Two of mine are sisters, and I’ve always moved them together in a crate that gives them the ability to move around a bit. I have a third smaller crate—still a bit larger than a regular carrier—for the third cat. I put the crates together in the back of my SUV so they can see each other and cover the whole with a sheet. I leave a little corner open so they can see me. I have one that vomits when she sees the scenery rushing by.

When we stop for the night, I load the crates on one of those hotel luggage carts, still with the crates covered. Too much stress in the hubbub of a hotel lobby.

Be prepared in the hotel room that they’ll want to get under the beds if they can. A lot of hotels now have their beds on platforms, but there are still openings at the head of the bed where it meets the wall. I have pillows and blankets that I stuff around to keep kitties from under beds. You haven’t lived until you try to extract a fearful cat from under the middle of a king-sized bed in a strange hotel room. After The Spouse and I had to disassemble the bed to get to the cats, I vowed to be prepared the next time. Their fear quadruples when you have to take the bed apart over the heads.

I pack food so that we don’t have to stop for meals and leave the cats in the car.

After a couple of moves, we decided it was easier on everyone to get two rooms. I took the sisters; The Spouse took the third kitty. Everyone slept better. The third kitty didn’t particularly like the sisters, and there were just too many of us in the room. Also, he was 18 and and an insulin-dependent diabetic for the last move, so we did everything we could to make it as stress-free as possible for him.

All of my cats are indoor-only, and they’re extremely timid. Although they were nervous, I found that they took a lot of comfort from our presence in the rooms. We usually got carry out and brought it back so we didn’t leave them too long. Other than the issue with the beds, I never had trouble getting them back into their crates. In fact, they slept in them. The crates had their familiar scents and it seemed to reassure them. Hopefully, yours will react the same way when you try to put them in their carriers!

On my last move, we had a blizzard on the first day that closed down the interstate for the rest of the day. We’d been on the road for two hours, and the temperature was four degrees F. We had to quickly find a pet friendly hotel at 11 a.m. before all of the rooms were snapped up by stranded motorists. Fun times. Look at your route and think about alternatives if things don’t go as planned!

I think that’s it! I hope it goes smoothly! No blizzards.

 

[Furballsmom]

You haven’t lived until you try to extract a fearful cat from under the middle of a king-sized bed in a strange hotel room

WOW

 

[rubysmama]

I've never traveled with my cat, so can't help you with that. However, did want to post and welcome you to TCS. And wish you luck with your trip.

 

[lollie]

....in two months I am moving my family of 6 people and 6 pets, 5 of which are cats, on a 42 hour by car drive to NE Tennessee.

Oh, wow. Just- no words.

Excellent advice in the previous posts. For something amusing, you can check online for My Cat From Hell: Kitten Impossible- Roadtrip Rescue. It's pretty funny. They move fifty cats in a van.