Moving

[betsy 103]

Has anyone had any experience with moving and moving cats at the same time? I am thinking of keeping my two in carriers while we move my stuff out - then letting them out, calming them down, and leaving them in the apartment they are familiar with, with their little beds food and litterbox and some blankets and toys - then I'm thinking of moving, unloading and getting into the new place and coming back for them the next day (only moving an hour away) - We won't have to bounce around in a truck - I can ride with them in the back seat of our regular SUV. They're fine overnight with just dry food and water and then when we bring them home they can check out the new place and not have to be in carriers again while we move furniture in. Does this sound nutty? Anyone have any better suggestions?
Betsy

 

[sandie]

That's similar to how we did it. The only difference is that we put them in the bathroom while we were moving furniture around. They will probably be a little scared when they come out and there's no furniture. It sounds like you have a good plan and it should work well for them.You may want to leave a small radio or something for them so they have a little background noise. Good luck with your move!!

 

[jugen]

When we moved a friend of ours we just just the three cats into my car and she and I drove them back (45 minutes) to the new house and then we put them into the bathroom(like you Sandie) when we were finished moving everything, we let them out to explore and check out the new place. they loved it until the next month they got a dog, and now the kitties live in the finished basement and won't come upstairs unless the dog is in her crate. It is a pretty strange living arrangement. Cats on the bottom floor, dog in the middle, and a rabbit on the top...

 

[efrat]

We moved a few moths ago, I took the cats early in the morning to the new house where we arranged a room for them (there were only 2 then) with stuff they know. A few hours later we came with all the stuff, and while the movers were unpacking I went to stay with the cats. They were affraid, they hide inside their cat house...
After the movers left we opened the door for them, it took then a few hours to go out of the room, and about a day to find out we have more that one floor now. They didn't want to eat for avout 36 hours, but now they are fine and happy in the new place...

 

[missyc]

I have moved twice with my 2 cats and discovered that no matter what I did to help prepare them, they were still kinda freaked out. But, these are cats that if I move a piece of furniture or add a new throw to the couch, they enter with caution because somethings is now quite right. My last move was in September and seem to be the most dramatic for them. I brought them to the new place early that morning and put them in the spare bedroom with their favority things (including food, water, and litterbox). I also put a cardboard box in the room so they would have a place to hide because the room did not have any furniture for them to hide under(and that is where they stayed). They stayed hidden for several days, so I just put their food and water next to where they were hiding (under my b'sed). The place I moved to had really high ceiling and I think that what freaked them out this time. But eventually, they adjusted and all is well.

Good luck on your move.

 

[juicelyn0527]

I moved with 3 cats about a year ago- and we moved 850 miles. We put the cats in a bedroom while moving furniture, and then had a big kennel we carried them in. They didn't eat much during the move. However, when we stopped overnight, we put them in the hotel room with us. Anyway- to make a long story short..we ended up living in a hotel room for almost a month (that's a do not disturb sign on the door), so when we finally got into our apartment, they hated that kennel. They did a nice job and our 14 yr. old chose to sit on my lap most of the time. Best wishes!:LOL:

 

[catlips]

When we moved in the summer, we have a long drive to our new home and town. There vet where we used to live knew that they hated traveling in the car and prescribed a mild tranquilizer. What we did is move our stuff over that way when they came out of their carriers and the meds they would be in our new place, just larger, with things they were used to. When we were completely done and only had one load to go, we gave them the meds and tranported them with barely any difficulty. The only problem was one of our kitties is a big guy and he came out of the meds mid-tranport, he yowled the rest of the way. But talk to your vet, they may have a suggestion or two.