Moving With Your Cat: What Precautions To Take?
Moving is a disturbing stage for the cat because it inevitably leads to the loss of all its bearings. It is therefore incumbent on its masters to use common sense to limit stressful situations as much as possible. Let’s take a look at all the precautions to take so that the cat does not feel lost in the middle of this commotion and acclimatizes as best as possible in its new environment.
Moving With Your Cat: What To Do Before?
Even if his master does not always realize it, the cat devotes a real devotion to his place of life, whether it is a house or an apartment. There are his habits – this homebody who likes the routine is a champion in the matter! – and when everything is perfectly organized there, he hates that things change. A veritable pheromone machine, he deposits them everywhere, with his feet, his cheeks, his anal glands. Extracting him from his environment is enough to make him anxious, sometimes to such an extent that the depressed awaits him.
Before moving, it is best to follow the following tips.
Postpone the dusting of furniture until later: it is preferable that the smell of the cat is still present on the furniture when moving into the new home.
Only pack all the cat’s little things at the last minute, such as his water cup, his bowl, his basket, his toys and even the pouffe on which he loves to curl up and the pedestal table where he sits every day to look out the window.
Shake up the schedule a little in order to reserve more time for the chat than usual. We take the opportunity to play with him or cuddle him. This allows you to take a break but it is also very important to soothe and reassure him.
Try to keep the cat in the quietest area of the house, especially when tackling the dismantling of furniture. It’s not always fun, and humans are quickly annoyed by this type of occupation. However, the cat is very sensitive to the mood of his masters. If he senses them stressed, he will be too. Depending on his character, he can even become aggressive.
Moving With Your Cat: What To Do On D-Day?
It is preferable that for the day of the move the masters plan to entrust their cat to a friend or a neighbor so that he does not see what is happening in what he considers to be “his” domain. Needless to add to his stress of the last few days, because he has certainly perceived certain changes, if only because of the piling up of boxes and the incessant comings and goings of his masters.
Making sure that the cat is not present on moving day is also a precaution for everyone. Not very comfortable, even frightened, the cat can – by wanting to flee – be the cause of a fall. Or, he may wish to leave the house to take refuge a little further, and this is really not the time to spend time looking for him. On moving day, the timing is always very tight and it’s a trying time, where everyone is more or less on edge. It is therefore useless to add more.
His masters can pick up their little companion when the truck is fully loaded, the house completely emptied and it is finally time to raise the sails to reach their new place of life. So we install kitty in his transport cage previously sprayed with pheromones for cat in order to create a soothing environment during the trip.
Moving In With Your Cat: A New Beginning
We are there and we will have to do everything to get the cat used to this new home. In the immediate future, it is recommended to install the animal for a few days in peace, in a closed room, while its masters arrange the other rooms. Limit the extent of its perimeter at first allows the cat to take its marks without anxiety.
To promote peace of mind for the kitty, it is very useful to leave at his disposal the pouffe and the pedestal table that he never left in the old accommodation and which still carry his smell, just like his toys, his basket, the food that he he prefers and, good idea, a radio on. You also place your litter box there, making sure that it is cleaned regularly. One can also buy a cat tree if he does not already have one.
After a few days, when the furniture is finally in place, the cat will have to gradually discover the house or apartment where it will not fail to mark its territory by rubbing its head everywhere. Again, do not hesitate to use a vaporizer or a pheromone spray for cats or to connect a pheromone diffuser in every room of the house. It is an excellent solution for the cat to get used to its new environment in complete serenity.
It is best to wait until the little feline has gotten used to this new interior space before allowing it to discover the garden. For a fairly curious and not very fearful cat, four to five days after the move is reasonable. If the animal is anxious by nature, it is better to wait a good week to ten days before letting it go to the garden. It is advisable to stay by his side at the beginning, and take advantage of these parentheses to cuddle him and play with him, which will reassure him.
Be careful if you move into an apartment with a balcony if the cat is not used to it. It is necessary to take all the precautions so that it does not fall, such as the installation of a net for example. It is essential that he has time to acquire the notion of danger.
Moving And Stress In Cats
Moving can have a devastating effect on a particularly homebody or sensitive cat. The damage to his balance does not take long to reveal itself, and does not generally go unnoticed. The attentive owner of his cat notices a mood changinga sadness which sets in, a lack of appetite sometimes… in short, a discomfort who deserves a consultation with the veterinarian if after a few days everything is not back to normal.
Cats are like humans: each has its own personality. Some live very well the move while for others it is a very destabilizing catastrophic situation. This is why we really need to take extra care in this time of great change, before, during and after.
