Moving to a new house - problem

We are building a new house and knowing from experience Milo does not like change will howl all night . . . for DAYS!!

We are thinking of taking his and his "sister" to the house to roam around for a few hours before we move in (if we can). HOWEVER - being 20 minutes away and knowing they do not really like cars, should we??

Opinions on this problem?

How can we make this easier for all of us??

BTW - here is a link to our building a house adventure!

Rod and DJ/s Building a House Adventure

Hi, knowing cats and cars (bad mix!) I wonder if the stress of the ride will be worth the goal, and rather than do that, I might instead first keep the cats in one room at 'home' off limits to movers (furniture out beforehand) with water and boxes, until all the moving out is done. Leave them in the house if possible til all the moving IN is done (at least your stuff is there, if nothing else) overnight(?) and arrange for one of their boxes to be in place (whether near kitchen, bath, etc. relative to wherever it was at home) when they get there. VERY important - make sure the new place has NO open windows, doors, etc. when you bring them in, no vents, crannies, etc. anywhere they can hide or roam within walls, etc. Do have some Feliway plugged in, maybe even a familiar carpet in the main room, and if they like catnip, some of that available. Don't expect them to necessarily want to eat the first day (though they might, of course), and do expect a little uneasiness for a day or two - it's natural after all, and territory is everything to cats. Good luck!

Hmm. well i will have to recomend maybe using feliway.. Comes in spray and plugin form which produces a hormone that relaxes cats... i used it when bringing a new cat into the home and it worked wonders... it is kinda spending.. only think i can think of cuz i've never had to move with my cats yet.

well I suppose you´d kill 2 birds with one stone

more trying out car journeys

having a look at their new house

I think its a good idea, it would 'leave' their scent there - so they will recognise it next time, which should make them feel a bit more at ease

Do you close on the house the same day you are moving in?
I'm actually moving in a few weeks myself and we were going to take the babies over to let them "mark their scent" on the place a couple times prior to the big move in day.

That Feliaway sounds like a good idea too. Is that available in a pet store? Its this forum that made me learn about it so I am still unfamiliar.

I just moved recently too, about 2 weeks ago. I actually sorta did the opposite of what you are describing.

I kept my cats at the old place for as long as possible.

We moved all the furniture and etc to the new apartment and organized everything. after everything was in place, we then brought over the cats. I did this because I wanted them to recognize the scent of our furniture at the new place so they wouldn't feel so scared. If it was empty and full of boxes, I figured it would creep them out.

It seem to work, they were fine within a couple days.

I would say bringing them to the new house is a nice idea, I think bringing some familiar items might help

I moved to a new house in october last year which is a good 40-45 minute drive away. Both my girls would be hiding under their blankets in their carriers when we went to the vet for the yearly checkup, so i knew it was going to stress them, especially Rosie.

I bought a Feliway diffuser and some spray ready for the big move, and on the day i sprayed the inside of their carriers with the Feliway along with their blankets.

Once there we took them straight up into the spare bedroom, plugged in the diffuser and opened the doors on their carriers and closed them in the room until the removal company had gone.

I gave a few sprays of Feliway in each room and down the stairs and Sophie came out and went for a wander around straight away, but Rosie stayed in her carrier for 8 hours Once everyone who came to visit left and there was just me and the girls, Rosie decided to come downstairs and explore. She was a bit jumpy at first, but come the next day she was fine

yes. you should be able to get feliway from most pet stores.

If they stress out by change, I suggest you don't take them there early. Get it all over with in a single move.

When we moved last year, we moved their unwashed bedding and cat trees first. Then we vacuumed the old place and brought that vacuum cleaner over to the new house and vacuumed there. It's amazing the amount of scent carries over in a vacuum cleaner! The more of their scent you get into the house in advance of their move, the quicker they will adjust.

Mine did fine btw. We actually moved them into the new house the day before the movers moved the furniture. We locked them into a spare room with 3 of their cat trees, all of their toys and beds, and put a big sign up to NOT OPEN THIS DOOR.