Advice for moving with a high-stress cat

[lonelocust]

Has anyone moved with a high-stress cat before? It's likely I need to do so in a few months and am worried about Gabriel. It took him a long time to get comfortable, but now he's a very happy cat, and I want to minimise his stress if he has to move. I've moved with cats before, but only ones that were generally very calm and fine with whatever.

Luckily it would only be short distance, so while he won't be happy with 20-30 minutes in the cat carrier, he's had to do longer to go to the vet. I'm more worried about the issues of suddenly being in a new place.

 

[Columbine]

Get plenty of scent soakers, such as cardboard scratchers, blankets etc. Let him go to town on them all before the move. When you move, be sure to create a safe room for him (with litterboxes, beds, cat trees, toys, water etc), and scatter them around the room. That way he'll have a strong scent presence and sense of ownership from the start, which should really help him settle in.

Bach's Rescue Remedy may help him with the move, as may Composure, and it never hurts to have plenty of Feliway on hand

Good luck with your move and new home

 

[Ms. Freya]

Columbine has some great suggestions.

When we moved (and one of our crew is extremely timid) we set up a safe room in the new house. All of the cats' food litter and a few scent-soaked blankets and favorite toys went in there. Then, we made a point of not going in there with boxes or things while the move was happenning, although we'd g in and check on them every once in awhile. Basically, they got a safe room, just like when they first joined the household and once the move was done, they could come out and explore on their own terms. We were actually surprised by how quickly everyone fund their things and settled in, although they did head straight back to their safe room for the first couple days if anything startled them

 

[lonelocust]

That was one of the things I had in mind. I'm planning on moving the cat fort, all their favorite fuzzy blankets, the potted tree (Gabriel is in love with the tree), and Gabriel's favorite chair, as well as necessities like food and litterbox first. Luckily the destination house has a fairly large finished attic that doesn't need to immediately be put to any particular use other than cat room so I'd already had that in mind as the cats' moving room. I hope since it's two floors up that is would be the quietest from all the stompy people coming in with furniture and such.

Cardboard scratchers is a great idea to add to it. They both love to tear up paper and cardboard, but I usually give them pieces for a few days then toss it when it's in bits, but I can collect that for a while for extra pre-scented items.

What exactly are scent soakers though? I'm not familiar with the term, and the top Google hits seemed to be pretty random and advertisements for completely random cat items. 

I'm also weighing pros and cons of keeping them cooped up longer vs. feeling safer. For example, my husband and I could just stay with them after we bring them to the new place a bit early, spend the night on a mattress in the cat room the day before the movers come. That would have more feeling of not just being stuck somewhere new and weird, but would extend the time they'd have to be in a space less than half the size of their normal stomping grounds. 

 

[Columbine]

Scent soakers are just things that absorb and hold a cat's scent well. Cardboard scratchers are especially good for this as they quickly get thoroughly marked/scented by scratching, and are small, light and portable enough to easily move anywhere in the house - making the cat feel at home from the start. Obviously, all their other possessions are great too, but the cardboard scratchers can fit pretty much anywhere and are a great way to boost confidence in a new place