Advice on moving house, cat adjusting to new home!

Bubs99

Hi,

We will be moving to a new house in 3 weeks, about a mile from our current home. We have a new puppy and an 18 month old cat. Our cat has adjusted perfectly to our current home and loves roaming the field and gardens and teasing the neighbours dogs. He then comes in for his naps a few times a day and stays in every night.

Our new puppy has gotten used to our current home and goes to the door when he need to go to the toilet etc.

We are worried how our cat will adjust to the new home. I have heard that cats often run away back to their original home. The new house is much bigger with a large front and back garden, both safely enclosed (for the dog). I have gotten a baby gate for the stairs so our puppy cant go upstairs.

I also noticed the other day that our next door neighbour of the new house has a rotweiller. I know our cat will naturally be terrified of the rotweiller at first, the new house is in a large estate surrounded by houses and gardens but its not too close to the main roads either which is good, but I am very worried about our cat.

Does anybody have any advice or have they experienced this themselves? How did you get on? Do we keep him indoors for one week or a month? (he will go nuts, he loves going out hunting)

I am so nervous. I don't know what we'd do if we lost him.
We do plan on getting him microchipped beforehand and he wears a collar all the time although he loses them ALL the time also.

Nody

Keep him inside until he's comfortable with being inside and recognise it as his new home (usually takes a week or two depending on personality, expect hidden cat for a few days though). Ensure you play a lot with him once he comes out to exhaust him and give him good spots to look out the windows etc. Once he's beyond that stage walk out with him and leave the door open for short moments if still needed.

The reason I stay still needed is I had a cat who would spend similar times as yours outside from a kitten to about 2 years old. After that he moved inside permanently (new house was not suitable to let him out) and he's perfectly happy inside cat for the last 5 years.

Roanmore

We had this issue with our cat when we moved 4 years ago (she was about 5 at the time), the above poster mentioned hidden cat, that’s exactly what happened. She went under the sideboard and stayed there for about 16 hours. We had a litter tray set up for her which she used.
Eventually we took her out into the garden and stayed with her for the first few days.
The day she started to first roam we nearly lost our lives, she disappeared around the back gardens for over an hour and then strolled back as if nothing happened.
We put a cat flap in the back door and it was the best thing we ever did. She comes and goes now when she wants. She doesn’t venture very far these days but will take the odd wander.

Ever2010

We've moved twice now with our lot. The first time we kept them in for about a week - maybe slightly less. They spent most of their time on the window sill and around the back door! we let them out with us while we were in the garden. And didn't let them out when we had left the house for about a week. They were grand.

This Summer we moved again and our eldest female was out on the day after we moved - closely followed by the others. No bother whatsoever!

Just take the first day or two to let the cat explore the new house - then when it starts to look to go out, maybe bring it out to the garden with you while you do some cleaning up/gardening or whatever.

planetX

The fact that your new house is only a mile from the old would make me inclined to keep the cat inside for longer than usual - around 2 weeks is a common recommendation. You want him to form an attachment to the new house because once outside he could easily find his way back to his old home. microchip and a collar are a good idea.

Bubs99

Thank you for all the advice. I am naturally still nervous but we will follow on what you advised and also our vet which is keep him indoors for atleast a week so he can get used to the house and find his favourite spot.

We read that if you place cat nip around the house also and introduce the cat to the house before you move in can help too. I am getting him microchipped soon and we bought him another collar which he constantly loses.

I am nervous of the rotweiller dog next door scaring him away but we muct face it and try. I will keep you all posted. Thanks again.