I feel like a really bad meowmy :-(

I've just had to move into a shared house. It's absolutely gorgeous, miles away from anything, a real country cottage, perfect for the cats as there are acres of land for them to enjoy when they can go out.
I feel SO guilty for bringing my cats into my crazy hectic life. I left my husband in January and went to live in a holiday cottage, again it was really rural and they loved it. Now we are in this house hopefully for at least a year or so. Ideally I wanted to live alone with my cats but it was just too expensive.
I have one housemate, Darren, he is lovely, he likes the cats and is trying to make friends with them even though Roxy hissed at him on her third day in the house! I feel guilty towards Darren as he has to be extra vigilant with keeping doors and windows closed atm in case the girls get out. I'm so scared that he will get drunk and forget, or bring someone home who is drunk and will forget. Villy jumped out of Darren's bedroom window on Friday night

she jumped straight back in, but it sure gave Darren a shock.
I'm just upset as I never thought this would happen, I never wanted to take my girls to a shared house, I feel like I'm a really bad meowmy for making them move around.
They seem to be settling in ok they are eating, playing, sleeping and so on.
Any advice on this, or anyone in similar situations would be greatly appreciated, I feel awful

I don't really have any advice but Frankie has been everywhere with me. When I found her I was 18 and living with a boy. In the past 11 years she has moved from there to my parents (with two little dogs), into another boys house (with 2 room mates), back to my parents, into an apartment with a girlfriend, into a house with my now DH (where another cat had lived for 5+ years), into a 1 bedroom apartment with just me (finally) and then I decided to add Wickett to our little family, and finally, we are now all living together (DH, I and the 2 cats) and we're having a baby... wich means we'll hopefully be moving into a house with in the next year. I like to think that through it all she wanted to be with me.

Thank you, it's nice to hear of someone else moving with their cats. How did they get on with your room mates each time? Were they helpful? Nice towards the cats?
I love my girls so much, they seem to still love me! I love how cats just get on with it, they find a cosy spot to curl up in, and a nice windowsill to sit on and look out at the world, and that's that!

Originally Posted by twstychik

I don't really have any advice but Frankie has been everywhere with me. When I found her I was 18 and living with a boy. In the past 11 years she has moved from there to my parents (with two little dogs), into another boys house (with 2 room mates), back to my parents, into an apartment with a girlfriend, into a house with my now DH (where another cat had lived for 5+ years), into a 1 bedroom apartment with just me (finally) and then I decided to add Wickett to our little family, and finally, we are now all living together (DH, I and the 2 cats) and we're having a baby... wich means we'll hopefully be moving into a house with in the next year. I like to think that through it all she wanted to be with me.

Click to expand...

And congratulations on your baby!

Frankie did pretty well with the changes but I think she hated my parents dogs. They had 2 toy poodles and I was gone a lot. It's the one time in my life that I felt bad about her situation. She relatlliated by peeing on the carpets which she still does (though now on tile) when she's upset or stressed. Aside from that she did pretty well. All of my roommates got along well with her and she with them.

I remember when I first moved in with other people I told them to call me if she got out but not to go after her. The primary reason being that I knew she would freak out. Well, after a few months, she got out. No one called me. Instead my 6'3" 230 lb. room mate went after her. I took him 30 minutes, a sleeping bag and several injuries (to him, not her) before he finally caught her. All I could say when I got home was "I told you to call me." She's declawed but she did the bunny kick/bite move and really tore him up pretty bad. She bit one knuckle so badly that he couldn't bend that finger for several days.

All in all she adjusted quickly. Wickett is happy where ever he is as long as we're all together but he does take a little longer to adjust to change even with in the house. I expect he'll find a nice hiding spot after our next move and hang out there for a few days.

Oh, and thanks for the congratulations! We're very excited about meeting him (soon!) but I'm a little nervous about bringing him home and how the cats will react.

You're not a bad mom at all! We all read those sad posts about people who abandon their pets due to life changes, and clearly, you're not in that camp. You've been through a lot recently, but you still take good care of your cats.

I moved into a new place a few months ago, and two of my three cats were obviously unhappy about it, but I wonder now whether they even remember the old place at all. They are very territorial, of course, but they also have the ability to adjust.

One more thing: If you get your roommate to feed them a few times, they'll figure out pretty quickly that he's a friend!

In our windows, we have used the wire shelves you buy at a home store. DH cuts them to fit a window mine go in vertical and the shelve is 12" wide so I can open my sliding window 12". I then close the window so it jams agenst the shelve. So now my cats can't get out, I get air. And all is well. I can do this in my sliding glass door too.
Good luck with the roomy

Thank you guys, you made me feel heaps better.
wingss2fly, do you have any pics of the window?