My boyfriend and I are planning on moving, and will have a roommate who's a good friend of ours we've known for years, and I'm really worried about getting all the non-human family members moved in and settled and happy. Our roommate doesn't have pets so it's just ours. Other than the fish we have 4 who will be moving with us: our cats Maya, Calypso, and Aria, and dog Sky. They've all met our future roommate and he knows how to handle them and we trust him completely to treat them well.
Maya is a 4-year-old spayed female longhair tuxedo who was an abuse rescue. Since I've had her she's become much more outgoing and trusting than she was but she's still a very timid and skittish cat and doesn't handle change well. Her reaction to even the furniture moving is to hide for days and not let anyone touch her. She's the only one who's been through a move and she stopped eating once we got to the new house for the first several days and ran from anyone who looked at her for a month. She's the only one either of us owned before my boyfriend and I were together (I adopted her about a year before) and she's definitely bonded to me but is completely comfortable with him.
Calypso and Aria are the kittens, 10 and 11 months old respectively. Both are spayed females, Calypso a shorthair tortoiseshell and Aria a longhair lynx point. Though they aren't littermates they're bonded like they are and are best friends. They do everything together. Aria is a daddy's girl and will follow my boyfriend everywhere and check on him. They're pretty much your typical kittens; they run around and wrestle or chase each other constantly, and as soon as they get worn out pass out on a lap. They love everyone and pretty much nothing fazes them.
Sky, my dog, is a 2-year-old neutered male Australian Shepherd mix. He's very high energy, very smart, and follows me everywhere I go. He was abandoned before I got him and has separation anxiety, especially in new places. Because of his past before I got him he has some socialization issues. He's fine with cats as long as he's supervised and with more time and work I'm sure he'll be fine with them unsupervised as well. He has no aggression problems, he's just very eager to play with them and they don't appreciate it. He is fully crate trained and has a crate he sleeps in so that he's unable to get to the cats at night when no one's up to watch them, and he has no problem interacting with the cats through it.
Of course I'm worried about making sure they all get settled in, but I'm also worried about the fact that I'm currently a temporary co-mom to my mother's cat Zoey, who lives with me at the moment. What led to that is a long story I won't get into but Zoey will be going back with my mother. I believe Zoey will be fine with the change, she's a very laid-back cat and doesn't get stressed easily, but she and Maya are good friends. Zoey is the only cat Maya will play with and they sleep together. Losing her on top of the move is sure to be a ton of stress on Maya and I'm not sure how she'll react.
Our current plan of attack is to move all the furniture and whatnot in so it's all set up before we bring in any animals. We're planning on moving Sky and his stuff in first, and once he gets settled in move in the kittens, and after they're settled move in Maya so she has to deal with as little change as possible once in a new place. It's the best way we've been able to think of without having 4 freaked out animals on our hands at once. Do any of you have ideas on a better way to make the move as stress-free as possible for everyone? Or tips or anything? Would moving them all at once be better after all? I've never moved with this many animals and especially since at least Maya and Sky are inevitably going to have problems adjusting I want to make sure I do it right.
Maya is a 4-year-old spayed female longhair tuxedo who was an abuse rescue. Since I've had her she's become much more outgoing and trusting than she was but she's still a very timid and skittish cat and doesn't handle change well. Her reaction to even the furniture moving is to hide for days and not let anyone touch her. She's the only one who's been through a move and she stopped eating once we got to the new house for the first several days and ran from anyone who looked at her for a month. She's the only one either of us owned before my boyfriend and I were together (I adopted her about a year before) and she's definitely bonded to me but is completely comfortable with him.
Calypso and Aria are the kittens, 10 and 11 months old respectively. Both are spayed females, Calypso a shorthair tortoiseshell and Aria a longhair lynx point. Though they aren't littermates they're bonded like they are and are best friends. They do everything together. Aria is a daddy's girl and will follow my boyfriend everywhere and check on him. They're pretty much your typical kittens; they run around and wrestle or chase each other constantly, and as soon as they get worn out pass out on a lap. They love everyone and pretty much nothing fazes them.
Sky, my dog, is a 2-year-old neutered male Australian Shepherd mix. He's very high energy, very smart, and follows me everywhere I go. He was abandoned before I got him and has separation anxiety, especially in new places. Because of his past before I got him he has some socialization issues. He's fine with cats as long as he's supervised and with more time and work I'm sure he'll be fine with them unsupervised as well. He has no aggression problems, he's just very eager to play with them and they don't appreciate it. He is fully crate trained and has a crate he sleeps in so that he's unable to get to the cats at night when no one's up to watch them, and he has no problem interacting with the cats through it.
Of course I'm worried about making sure they all get settled in, but I'm also worried about the fact that I'm currently a temporary co-mom to my mother's cat Zoey, who lives with me at the moment. What led to that is a long story I won't get into but Zoey will be going back with my mother. I believe Zoey will be fine with the change, she's a very laid-back cat and doesn't get stressed easily, but she and Maya are good friends. Zoey is the only cat Maya will play with and they sleep together. Losing her on top of the move is sure to be a ton of stress on Maya and I'm not sure how she'll react.
Our current plan of attack is to move all the furniture and whatnot in so it's all set up before we bring in any animals. We're planning on moving Sky and his stuff in first, and once he gets settled in move in the kittens, and after they're settled move in Maya so she has to deal with as little change as possible once in a new place. It's the best way we've been able to think of without having 4 freaked out animals on our hands at once. Do any of you have ideas on a better way to make the move as stress-free as possible for everyone? Or tips or anything? Would moving them all at once be better after all? I've never moved with this many animals and especially since at least Maya and Sky are inevitably going to have problems adjusting I want to make sure I do it right.
