Moving my Cat

buzzybb

so the family has all moved away and we have a cat so iv decided to take the cat to dublin.any advice on house training a cat? she is normally an outdoor cat in the country and hunts but she would come into the house in the evening or to eat.i know it with be difficult for her to adjust to constricted space as she is used to fields!! any advice on what i might need to do? i will even have to toilet train her as normally she would have done this outside.

Orla K

Cats take to litter trays very well. My cat which was an adult stray never had an accident (one he learned what the litter tray was) Keep it in a quite area of the house.

Get a scratching post(if you don't want you couch in bits, or in my case the door frames) and things to keep it entertained.

Keep it inside for a while, or it might wander off looking for him home in the country. I'd keep it in for a month but I think other people might be different.

Maybe for the toilet training use compost or whatever it's used to using and after a while switch to a cat litter.

buzzybb

thanks orla.just hope she settles in ok. i like the idea of compost. thanks.

missus cat

deffo keep in for at least 3 weeks

buzzybb

missus cat wrote: »

deffo keep in for at least 3 weeks

Just wondering how do you introduce it to outside surroundings?? im afraid that she will scatter off the minute i bring her outside. i plan to keep it inside for at least 2 weeks.but im off to france for the summer so my sister will have to do the rest in dublin. i think maybe keep it as a house pet at all times might be the solution.

missus cat

may be hard after being outdoor cat. once it gets used to surroundings should be ok.

mymo

I would keep her in for 3 weeks at least, let her get used to the place and get settled. It will be hard at first, she'll probably drive you insane trying to get out:D, but stick to it and she'll give in. Get her used to the sound of you tapping the food bowl before feeding her as this is handy for calling her back if you do let her out again.
When or if you decide to let her out again, do it in the morning before you feed her. Let her have a sniff about but not get out of the garden, then tap the food bowl and call her, she should come to this if hungry. Do the same in the evening and keep it up for few days, gradually increase the time between when you let her out and when you tap the bowl.
If she's used to the country I would keep her in as much as possible, if not altogether. There are many more dangers and strange things in a city that she might not be used too.

buzzybb

thanks mymo. it makes alot of sense.im moving her up in a few days so im trying to get her used to the new cat box as she hates them.and she hates cars but luckily my vet gave me sedatives for the journey. some people recommend bringing things from home that smells like the home she is in now.that it will give a sense of security. hopefully with all this advice she will settle in.thanks again guys.

morganafay

If she settles in well to being indoors for the first few weeks, then maybe it would be a good idea to keep her indoors. If she seems really desperate to get outside still after that time, then maybe she'd like to go outside too. It depends where you live, if you think it'd be too dangerous with a lot of people and traffic, then I'd say keep her in, if you want.

If you do let her go outside, then the first time, I would leave a door open and let her wander out when she wants, and bring her back in after maybe twenty minutes. Keep feeding her inside so she knows to come back inside for food.

Good luck with her. When I moved house (just from the country to the edge of a town, so not much difference) I was away for the weekend, when my family decided to move that weekend. We had some of the cats in the house and the others in the shed (2 of my cats don't get on, so they couldn't all be together!) and I told my parents to keep them in for a week, but they let them out after two days! But they were all fine.

Mink

I recently went through what you're doing - moved from country to a town with a tiny garden. I would agree with pretty much all the advice above.

You can also rub a bit of butter on her feet first few times you let her out, helps her find her way back if she goes out of sight of the house.

Just do it gradiently & supervise the first few outings, make sure she's hungry when going out.

Don't let her out after dark or near to dark. I don't do this anyway as this is the more likely time for cats to get run down, get lost & also get dogs barking - thus annoying neighbours.

The Sweeper

Mink wrote: »

You can also rub a bit of butter on her feet first few times you let her out, helps her find her way back if she goes out of sight of the house.

This is an old wives tale with a grain of truth. The logic is that a cat will only stop to wash when they're very comfortable where they are. If you put butter on her paws, she'll be inclined to wash it off. The idea is that if you make her wash herself in her new surroundings, it will have the effect of calming her down because cats only wash themselves when they're calm.

If she escapes and panics before she knows where she lives, however, no amount of butter will help her find her way home. The only way to get her familiar with where she lives is keep her indoors for the first few weeks when you move.

tc2010

Cats are far more intelligent than there given credit for

ive moved in and out of every environment with my cat and worry every time

keeping it in for a while always does the trick. youd be suprised how quickly they adapt

just keep it indoors and buy it a few things. for all you know it might even get used to being an indoor cat and not bother going outside much