Will He Remember Where He's From?

[bluebird gal]

Having had only one cat that seemingly remembered where she came from - my parents took her from an unwanted litter next door to us, they built a house across town and moved, and yet Maudie (incredible tortoise shell calico girl) made it all the way back across town which was about 4mi and the new owners of our old house called to ask if we owned a calico.

I'm wondering what are the odds of our oldest boy Si remembering where his roots are when we return to Vidalia, LA for the winter this year. 

 

[helsic]

wow, that's incredible.

For cats it's very hard to adapt to new places, my mom moved away with her two cats, one of them was very stressed by that, he keeps crying all night and he was terrified of being outside in this new place. Once my mom went back to the old house for some reason and the cat got so excited by looking at the neighborhood at the car window.

So yeah they remember. I suggest you to keep your cat indoors for as long as he needs to get adapt to this new place, just to prevent him of escaping.

 

[bluebird gal]

Thanks.  Both our cats are 90% indoor cats as they live & travel with us in our RV to new places regularly.  Neither  have any issues adapting because we take them out on harnesses wherever we are to explore & play.

I'm looking forward to returning to the same campground where we found him, injured & running with a pack of ferals hunting the river bottom.  I also hold out hope that even after 2yrs of visiting there we will still see the small feral cats that were there too.

 

[stiletto]

I had the opposite happen. As we were moving, I moved all the furniture and didn't want to upset my cats during the move, so I brought them last.  The old house was completely empty when I went to feed them (and bring them home the next day). But my calico did not eat, she sat by the door knowing I would leave. I had to sit with her until she finished eating before I could leave.

The next day, I went back for the cats. When I brought them to the new house, my calico recognized the scents of all the furniture and felt right at home with no anxiety. She sat on the bed, purring and kneading. My little one was terrified at the new location and spent the next two days hiding.

I think to a certain extent, they do remember. But likely scents, people and locations rather than experiences?