3 Tips For Moving Home With Your Cat
Posted on: 4 May 2015
Moving home can be a difficult and stressful time for everyone involved. However, oftentimes people overlook the effect of moving home on their household pets. Cats are often more domesticated than dogs, and as such can be more troublesome to relocate. As such, here are three tips on helping your cat during these big changes.
Put Your Cat's Safety First
The stress and anxiety that moving home brings can lead you to become distracted. As such, it's important that you keep your cat's safety in mind while you deal with the pressure of preparing to move.
One of the best things you can do it put your cat in one room and close all windows and doors. This will ensure that your cat is safe and hasn't sneaked out of the house while the movers are loading boxes into the removal van. You may feel like this is neglecting your pet; however, it won't take long to move all of your boxes so they won't be left for any length of time. Make sure you provide them with food and water early in the morning, to ensure they have enough to see them through the afternoon.
When moving, keep your cat in its basket until you've sorted the first room of your new property. Make sure you have some of the cat's familiar items in the room (such as bed and toys) to ensure the room doesn't feel too foreign to them. For extra comfort, you can wrap one of your jumpers around a hot water bottle to make your cat feel secure.
Once you've moved all of your belongings from the moving van, you can let your cat out to explore a little. Again, ensure all windows and doors are closed as you don't want your cat roaming a new neighborhood without supervision.
Help Your Cat Settle In
When cats are trying to mark their territory, they will rub their head on the furniture and walls to lay down their scent. This will help them to become familiar with the area and will increase their sense of security over time. Obviously, your new property won't have any of these scents so you should take steps to help your cat familiarize itself with the area.
An easy way to do this is to dab the cat's face with a soft cotton cloth to pick up their scents. You can then dab this cloth around places where the cat is likely to be, allowing it to feel safer and more secure in the area.
Moving home can be traumatic for a domesticated cat, so ensure that you are frequently on hand for the first couple of weeks. A regular feeding schedule will allow you more daily contact with the cat, reassuring it that everything is alright and they have nothing to worry about. Scheduling the meals for the same time every day will allow the cat to anticipate the meal rather than worrying about it.
Let Your Cat Outside
For the first two or three weeks, you should keep your cat confined to the new house. Even if they are showing signs of becoming familiar with the property, keeping your cat indoors will stop any accidents from happening in your new neighborhood. Additionally, this lets them form a secure bond with the property which will make them feel safer about returning.
A great way to break your cat into its new surroundings is to schedule small outside breaks throughout the evening. At first, these breaks should be small; however, gradually increase the length of time outside as your cat becomes more confident. Always return home and feed the cat as this will create a link between returning from outside and being fed. This will increase their sense of security in the property and will stop them from disappearing when allowed into the back yard.
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