Top Tips on Moving House with a Cat

Some cats are naturally very calm and accepting of whatever happens around the house.  Others are uptight and fearful of changes, scaring easily and hiding at the first sign of trouble.  Most are probably somewhere in between.  But no matter what personality type the cat has, they are going to find moving house stressful.  So what are the top tips for a move of house with a cat?

Preparation

The best way to get the move to pass off safely from the cat’s point of view involves preparation beforehand on your part.  Firstly, in the new house you will need to set up a room where the cat will go and no-one else will.  Put in their cat litter box, food and water bowls and their favourite bed.  You can even add a few toys that they particularly like to make the room seem homely and somewhat familiar.

On the day of the move, the cat should be isolated in a room in the old house until such time as you can take them to the new one.  It is often ideal to do this first, before the removal men arrive and let them settle into their new surroundings for a while.  Let the removal men know which room to keep out of, even pop a sign on the door to prevent the cat getting out and bolting out of the house into unfamiliar surroundings.

If your cat doesn’t already have a collar with a tag or microchip then it is worth considering this.  Make sure the contact information on either contains the new address just in case the cat manages to get out of the house somehow and runs off.  That way you have a better chance of them being found and brought back to you.

New home

Once the removal men have gone and things have settled down a bit, then you can let the cat out of the room and allow them to start exploring the new house.  Make sure you have plenty of items around that they will recognise the smell from including furniture of theirs and yours.  Familiar smells will help them associate the new house with ‘home’ quicker than if everything they encounter is as unfamiliar as the house itself.

Don’t allow the cat outside for a least a week or two to allow them to get used to the new house and comfortable with it.  There are stories of cats returning to their former homes once let out so should they go missing, this is the first place to look if it is within travelling distance.  When they first go out, try to supervise these trips as a focal point if they panic or become confused where to go.  Use meals time as a lure back into the house by shaking a food bowl or other meal time sounds.

Don’t be surprised if the cat spends a lot of times scent marking everything around the new home and garden – this is their way of marking it as their own and making it home once more.