So the end of the journey comes and you’ve arrived at the new home.
It’s a good idea to use Feliway plugins in the main areas of the house you’ll be staying in at first. It’s also a good idea to give us a small space to start out in too.
This time, the Woman started us with our large carrier in the sun room with the Feliway. (Note: this is not a game of Clue. No one was killed). We started there because the woman was having the carpets cleaned and there wasn’t carpet in the sun room. She also thought we’d like the sun. We weren’t interested so we stayed mostly in our carrier as there weren’t many places to hide. She stayed there with us most of the time.
That night we were moved up to the master bedroom where we snoozed near them as much as possible. Actually we hid in the closet too.
The next day, our stuff came and we were moved back to the sun room because that room didn’t have to have any furniture that needed to be placed there immediately. It was our safe room. We could have been put in a bathroom but this allowed the woman to spend a little time with us. The important points though were:
- Have a room in the house for us to explore first and slowly let us make our way down to the rest of the house.
- Make sure we cannot escape when the movers are moving things in.
- Consider a Feliway plugin or other calming device in the room that will belong to the cats.
After the moving in was done, we were moved back to the master bedroom with all our stuff. We were kept in there for the rest of the day and the night. The next day we were allowed out that evening for an hour or so under some supervision. Gemini and I did fine. Ichiro not so much. We were herded back up to the master bedroom, which was our final safe room, when the woman went to bed.
For the next few days the door to the master bedroom was left open during the day and we could come and go as we pleased (or not). We continued to have a litter box in there and were fed up there. We had Feliway plugins. We were locked in there at night with the people.
We continued this pattern for about ten days, when the woman noticed Ichiro exploring the house on his own. At that point she started feeding us downstairs but keeping some food and water upstairs in the same room. We continued to be locked in at night for a full two weeks. We were then allowed to explore the house as much as we wanted. There was no stress from anyone. In fact, Ichiro seems less stressed by visitors now than he was when we lived in our other homes. He likes to sit at the stop of the stairs and watch workers and delivery people. He sort of adopted the whole upstairs as his. He also has some other hiding spots downstairs in case he can’t get upstairs before the woman answers the door. But that’s just him.
And that’s how easy it is to move with cats. Doesn’t it make you want to go traveling with yours?
that is an interesting way to do it….mom has never had to move ALL of us, but likes this idea a lot….
This is pretty much how we did it when we moved.. but we used the master bathroom which is in the farthest point in the house (less traffic) and was one of the bigger rooms we were’t having to put stuff in.
I put the cats, their cat tree, and their not freshly cleaned litter box in there with them along with a quilt I used a lot to cuddle in and some food they loved and water.. They were obviously nervous, but not so much so that they didn’t eat.. we made sure the bed was put up first, made it with sheets slept on the night before and when we let them out and they saw the bed they visibly relaxed and then slowly moved on to investigate the rest of the house.
Unfortunately, movers had stuff to put in the master closet which meant they had to walk through our master bathroom to get there. The closet is also carpeted, so in both the cases of the carpet cleaning and the moving, the bathroom wasn’t a good choice. Thinking back on it, this has been a pattern in most of the homes the woman has lived in, so when we are in a bathroom, it’s usually the second bathroom that’s much smaller.
And our cat tree arrived with the movers because there was no way that was fitting in her little car!
Oh Meow y’all sure had a lot of time bein’ locked up. Sowry ’bout dat. Da Feliway dusn’t work fur us. And it dusn’t even smell purretty fur mommy. MOL Mommy takes a whole diffewent appwoach to fings than y’all and course we do fne. So weez glad yous way worked fur y’all. And mommy and us wuld gladly go on a twip or yes purrlease a house wiff 2 stowries. 🙂 Have a gweat day.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
It sounds like your new home has the seal of approval from Ichiro. I am glad no-one got stressed, except maybe the humans.
We like your advice about getting used to a new home slowly.
That makes sense.
Sounds like you kitties survived the big move quite well
and are getting used to your new place 🙂
That cat tree has lots of good views.
Purrs Georgia and Julie,
Treasure and JJ
When Binga, Boodie and Sparkle moved to the house we are living in now, it was larger than the old house, and my human shut off part of it and let them get used to each part of the house gradually. It didn’t take long because everyone loved the new house instantly!
Arriving is always the best part!
Thanks for all the great tips.
Purrs,
The Chans