has anyone ever "shared" cat custody?

bailey's momma

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i have a question about regularly moving a cat. my boyfriend and i do not live together and spend about 60% of the time at my place with my cat. the other 40% we are at his place wishing we had the cat with us. (thank goodness he is such a cat lover!) has anyone ever tried moving a cat between two residences, fairly regularly (maybe once a week)? we would love to have her with us all the time but don't want to stress her out and am not sure how she would react to that. i was thinking of just giving it a shot and seeing what happens, but am loathe to have her pee all over the boyfriend's apartment and wanted to throw the question out there. thanks!
 

sharky

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Kittys are creatures of habit ... I do think since kitty knows the boyfriend you could make it work....lmao... I have some custody of the neighbor cats since they come spend time with me....
 

mechanicalman

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If it was possible to communicate with my cat and ask her if she wanted to regularly travel with me to a different location, I'm quite certain that she would say "no." My cat gets scared easily, she sometimes vomits when she is stressed, she hates being in the car, and I don't think she misses me too much when I'm gone. I wouldn't discourage you from trying this with your cat, though.
 

jellybella

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Most cats don't like to be moved. It's going to depend on how old she is, how comfortable she is with your boyfriend, whether or not there are other animals.

I know my two probably wouldn't like moving around, but I have an acquaintance that brings his cat all over the place. The cat is a gorgeous purebred Siamese -they have been doing this since it was a kitten and for the most part the cat is fine. He certainly looks happier when they get home, but he doesn't seem to be too spooked out by the travel now that he knows they will always go home.
 

misty8723

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I had some custody of my neighbor's cat (before they moved back to Germany with her), but that was her choice. We didn't move her, she came to us
 

yosemite

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I think it will depend on your cat. Our two are very comfortable in the car and going out with us to the local stores when we go shopping so I would guess that they would be fine with having 2 residences as long as they had familiar things around them at both locations plus you and your boyfriend to love on them.


I don't think it would hurt to try as long as you don't expect miracles immediately and allow your cat time at each location to "scout" out the place and get comfortable. It may take several visits back and forth before he/she is totally comfortable, if at all.

I say give it a try - nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 

EnzoLeya

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I also think it will depend on your cat, but if your boyfriend's place isn't that much different noise and stress wise I see no problem. I take Enzo with me to work a lot and he just loves comming along and seeing new places. I'm sure you cat will be ok if she doesn't mind new places and things. In my opinion if they aren't scardy cats, they can adapt very well to new surrounds.

At one point this summer I had to take both Enzo and Leya with me to my parents place because I didn't have anywhere to live while we were moving from the apartment to the house. After the week passed both cats did very and didn't mind living in my parents house that has "2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 birds, 3 rabbits, and fish...." And it was very LOUD, with my young sister and my dad's TV that's turned up enough you can hear it outside!
 
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