Moving with a sensitive cat

[saitou_amaya]

After a long house hunting process, my husband and I finally found the perfect house! I’m super excited but worried about how our cat will handle the move. She will be going from a 1,000 square foot two bedroom apartment to a 2,300 square foot 4 bedroom house. We have two cats. Our older cat is a bit more chill and better adjusted. I’m sure he will settle in fine. It’s our younger one I’m worried about.

We got her a couple years ago when a feral mom cat delivered and raised her kittens on our patio. This one wanted to live inside so we kept her. But this little apartment is all she has ever known in life. She has never been in such a big space or had to climb stairs. She is very timid and hides when people come over. And she is my little shadow and follows me everywhere, even the bathroom.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to minimize the stress for her? And help her get used to such a big space? Is it better to give her the whole run of the house to scout out her new home? Or keep her confined to a bedroom at first? I’m worried if we keep her confined though she will be looking for me. Also, any advice on making sure kitties know where the litter box is when they move to a new space would be appreciated. In our small apartment the litter boxes are in the living room which is exactly as awful as it sounds. I’d like to have the litter boxes in either a spare bedroom or the finished basement.

[Zu_Zu]

Do not clean the litter boxes when you move - take them with the old litter ., cats will scent to their litter boxes … don’t confuse them by using new boxes with new litter.

Good Luck with your move ~

[CleverUserName]

You could try Feliway…it could help to reduce stress. Also, I found kitty treats with a calming herb in them when I moved my cats overseas. I forget what it was called, but it’s worth looking for, if you have a boutique pet shop near you (the big chains didn’t carry it).

I would suggest confining both cats to a small space for a day or two. They need each other. The suggestion about the kitty box is good, too. Then, let them explore the rest of the house when you’re home and able to dedicate time with them. One of my cats immediately hid under the kitchen cabinet when I brought them here (who knew there was even space there!). He stayed there for about 12 hours, while the other one ventured around. He came out in his own time, and never went back under it. They will be ok! Just be there for them…you’re their constant, and that’s what they will need.

[Rackonteur]

We did the opposite of you, OP, when we moved from a 3BR house to a studio apartment. Mysensitive kitty was traumatized and kept wanting to hide under the bed – which was a platform bed she could not get under. When I sat on the floor with her she huddled in my lap growling. My other kitty handled the move much better. I spent the whole weekend with them both but had to to go work on Monday.

I got some calming spray – not Feliway, I could not afford that – but it did no good.

We have moved again twice since that move and sensitive kitty has been fine with both moves.

People I have known with cats in big houses have sometimes had more than one litter box. Some keep it in the laundry room, which I think is a bad idea because of the noise and stress of the washer and dryer, but the basement is so far away, and you’d have to keep the door open or put in a cat flap.

I would have one litter box on each floor, or, as one of my friends with townhouse did, put the litter box in one of the bathrooms and let that be the kitties’ bathroom.

[shiloh]

I moved from one very small house to a studio and while the cats were not thrilled about it they were glad to get away from the poisonous vibes at the last house. Then I moved to where I live now and they were a bit overwhelmed at first but since all the same furniture and whatnot had come along they were reassured. Now they love it and love running thru the house and tearing up and down the stairs. The really love looking out the windows. I have never seen them so happy!

Your kitty will adjust. If not and it’s a bit overwhelming try confining to a room where all the things are most familiar - like the living room or bedroom. Once she adjusts, then you let her out. This new place sounds huge, so a bell on the collar might help in case anybody decides to go walkabout and find a hidey place to cram themselves.

[Romany]

The old-fashioned way is to put a little dab of butter on a paw or two. She licks it clean, enjoys the flavour, enjoys the calming sensation of washing, and becomes happy.

The modern way would be to use feliway, or ask the vet for a happy pill - literally valium - which worked wonders for one of our cats who was super-stressed by having contractors in the house.

Good luck with the move!

[PintoPony]

My two cats went from a tiny one bedroom apt to a multi level house which included a full basement and walk up attic. Talk about a HUGE change!

I followed the dirty cat box advice. Luckily they were able to stay at the apt until all the moving was done so they weren’t in the way.

I limited their access to the first floor only for a week or so since thats where I was most of the time then started adding supervised visits to the upstsirs and basement.

They transitioned very well and love being able to have long chase games!

[peedin]

When I adopted my kitteh Ursala, I kept her in my spare bedroom for several days. Her litterbox, food, and water were in the room. I visited her several times per day and petted her and we talked. After about 5 days, I opened the door and let her out. I have a two story townhouse and her room is on the second floor. She eventually went downstairs and poked around cautiously. I let her be out an hour or so then she went back upstairs. I did this for a few days, letting her be out longer and longer. Took about another week for her to fully acclimatize.

[Herbaceous]

I had an older, very sensitive cat who I moved from a large detached house, to a very small apartment, and then back to a smallish detached house. I was very surprised at how well he handled the moves; I was expecting it to be horrible and stressful for him but he was much calmer than I expected. I think that it helped that he was very attached to me, and usually as long as I was there he figured things were going to be OK.

Your kitties may well enjoy the larger place; I know mine hated being cooped up in the tiny apartment (we only lived there for a year - I did consider leaving him with my parents during this time but like I said, he wanted to be around me more than anything else). He loved the larger house with a great view of the backyard.

As for the stairs, I’m sure she’ll figure them out. Has the other cat seen stairs before? With my current two cats, when we took them to the cottage, one had obviously seen stairs before and the other had not. The tortoiseshell zoomed up to the top of the stairs and then sat on the top step saying “Sister! Come up here and play with me!”. The tabby gave them a good sniffing and then slowly figured out how one ascends the stairs. It took her maybe 2-3 minutes…next thing I knew the two of them were busy zooming up and down the stairs repeatedly at top speed. Great fun!

[stressgirl37]

Even though eventually she will appreciate the extra space, I would confine her for at least a few days, maybe more. She will likely hide anyway, but little by little she will come around.

[danacat]

In advance of moving, I would prepare a roomy ‘cat cave’ (safe space – deep and dark) in a part of the new house where you will be spending the most time – perhaps living room. Cat cave can be anything from a large cardboard box to a blanket thrown over a big chair with legs. In the cave you will put whatever your cats currently like to sleep on – a throw or cat bed cushion, etc. – something that is familiar and has their scent on it. Put their litter box (with old litter as ZuZu suggested) right in front of cave or even in cave if it’s large enough + water/food dishes.

When you move cats to new house, set their carriers down facing the cat cave, open the doors and leave cats alone to venture out in their own time. They will more than likely head straight into the cat cave – place from which they can observe the goings on, take in new smells and feel safe – cat cave is also a safe place they can retreat to as they investigate their new home and realize you are there too.

IME cats like to investigate new surroundings on their own terms – and mostly at night – they then go back to cave in the day time when there is household activity. So don’t be surprised if you don’t see your cat or cats out of the cave duriing the day. A big help is to initiate play – coax them out of cave with feather wands etc. on a regular basis but still on their terms. Also, your older cat might give the younger cat confidence to explore – monkey see monkey do.

Basically the whole point is to give your cats an immediate safe home inside their big, new home until big new home becomes home. And I think cats love a lot of room – the more the better = more stimulation, exercise etc.

Not implying you would ever do this – but the worst approach is to dump cats out of carrier in a new house. They will scatter like frightened deer and cram themselves behind the washing machine or in the back of a closet for a week. Way too traumatizing. New house = the enemy unless you have a seriously well adjusted cat used to travelling and being in new places. I’ve got one cat I could take anywhere with no problem. The other 3, no way!

[chestnutmarebeware]

Honestly, I did everything suggested here when I moved with my feral-as-a-kitten cat, and I still didn’t really see her for six months or longer after the move. It just really freaked her out. I had to move her food and a litter box into my bedroom (yay!) because she refused to come out. Some cats are simply less equipped to handle change than others, and it could take yours a long time to get over it.

Good luck! I’m moving into my new house in a few months, and I expect to have a repeat of her reaction, even though she’s an old-lady cat now.

[saitou_amaya]

@chestnutmarebeware

Honestly, I did everything suggested here when I moved with my feral-as-a-kitten cat, and I still didn’t really see her for six months or longer after the move. It just really freaked her out. I had to move her food and a litter box into my bedroom (yay!) because she refused to come out. Some cats are simply less equipped to handle change than others, and it could take yours a long time to get over it.

Good luck! I’m moving into my new house in a few months, and I expect to have a repeat of her reaction, even though she’s an old-lady cat now.

Ugh, honestly I’m thinking that is show she is going to react as well. She is just SUCH a fraidy cat. When we have company over, she will not leave our bedroom ever. Even when my brother stayed with us for a week, she wake me up at like 2am while he was asleep so I could escort her from the bedroom to the living room for food/bathroom.

Still, there is a ton of really good advice on this thread and I’m going to do all of it to hopefully try to minimize her stress. I’m going to set her up in one of the extra bedrooms with an already pooped in litter box and the closet open and homey for optimum hiding. She also loves to sleep in my suitcase so I will put that in there too.

I feel extra bad because two weeks after we move in we are going on a weekend vacation and my dad will be staying to watch the cats. In retrospect I probably wouldn’t have booked a vacation two weeks after closing on a house but here we are with non-refundable Amtrak tickets…

[DMK]

There’s a ton of good advice here, and it is all based on the idea that cats are territorial and have to feel “ownership” of their territory. I think your plan to have her stay in that room initially is a good one.

You may also want to swap out territories before you turn her loose in the house because sometimes moves like this can create friction between two cats who formerly coexisted peacefully (it’s because the territories are new). So after a few days, maybe try putting her in another room where the other cat likes to hang out and putting the old cat in her room for a few hours so they can “readjust” to each other’s scents without the stress of trying to decide who owns what piece of turf, then you can put the old one up and let the timid cat “safely” explore the house and learn all the places before letting them do all of that while together.

And if you have to keep her in that room while you go on vacation, definitely do the above described slow reintroduction process. More than a few people have moved multiple cats only to find they didn’t resume old friendships and alliances in the new territory and this is mostly caused by one of the cats being all of a sudden more timid than before, and the other getting a bit cocky about claiming more territory.