Advice on moving house with cats please

[Jodie]

We're moving next week. Have Toby and Lottie booked into a cattery, as our home is quite small and there's nowhere to easily keep them safe (am sending them with a couple of things with their scent on and also ours). Always we are towards the top of a big chain so not anticipating keys until late afternoon, so don't want cats stuck in cat carriers for 2-3 hours.

They are used to going out, so will have to stay in. How long would you keep them in for? Lottie is a home lover, but Toby adores being outside and he is a regular visitor to two neighbours. We are only a two minute walk up the road (out of his territory though), so dreading he will try and return.

I'm going to put them in one room the first day (which will have a Feliway diffuser) before letting them have access to the chaos in the rest of the house. I've ordered some Zyklene which I'm going to try them on for a few days while things are most stressful. Also, got a scratch pad and scratch post.

Does anyone have any other advice? They are nearly 15, have never been in a cattery and have always lived here, so the whole thing is going to be a real shock.

[Baggypants]

Personally I would keep them in one room for longer than a day. When we moved (from the UK to Portugal) I kept them in the bedroom at the new house whilst we were moving our stuff in - then I thought the following day it would be ok for them to see the rest of the house but they were terrified and just hid behind a sofa and seeing as everywhere was a tip (!) it was best for them to stay in the bedroom for quite a few more days and then we allowed them access to the rest of the house a bit at a time.

I would keep them inside for a good couple of weeks so they bond with the new house - otherwise it sounds like Toby is likely to get the scent of the old house and venture back!

[greenkitty]

Toby needs to have a strong sense that this is his new home given that you are so close to his old one, I would say 3-4 weeks.

[Jodie]

Thanks for your replies. The room we're putting them in to start with is quite big and most of their stuff will be down one end. They can easily be left in there for as long as it takes - Toby's main concern will be his empty tummy, so I suspect he will be the first one choosing to go further afield. I know we'll be busy, but I'll take time to just go in there and sit with them every now and again, so they now their family are around.

We're expecting Toby to be difficult, he used to sit by the back door when he was a kitten asking to go out, before he'd even got a taste of the big wide world. He goes crazy for catnip, so will probably get some of that in for him so he can have a daily fix and a few cats treats, that way he may have more to come home for.

[meriad]

when I moved 7 years ago I had Molly who then would have been about 14 and Jamie and Abbie who were nearly a year old. I had them in a cattery for one night only - took them the morning that the movers were coming and collected them next day. I;ve only got a one bed flat so had no where really to 'lock' them up so they had run of the flat from the minute they came home. The absolutely loved climing up / over / under / into all the moving boxes - I think they thought Christmas had come early

Personally, take the cue from the cats - see how stressed or not they are

As for keeping in - I agree with Julia; try for as long as you can; but at least 4 weeks

[Crewella]

I agree with Meriad, I recently moved house with my 6, and some were out of their safe room and on the (familiar) sofa with us after a day and others stuck to the safe room for rmuch longer - I left it to them.

I would stick to several weeks before letting them out, though.

[Simons Cats]

When we moved Ella was 3 and we'd recently adopted Archie, so he was very young. When we had our London flat being cleared, I stayed with them in the kitchen. Archie slept all the way through and Ella hit on the top of the kitchen cupboard. They were fine in the car coming down and then when we got here we popped them into the bathroom as the room that would least likely need access by anyone,

We then allowed them out when everyone had gone and they were fine. I think the fact we were there meant they were happy and they wanted to be involved in putting everything away and LOVED the boxes.

We allowed about four weeks till Ella was allowed out, Archie wasn't "done" yet so he wasn't allowed out. We'd picked somewhere very cat friendly at the end of a close with a big green area behind, so we thought Ella would be quite safe. She stayed in the garden the first few times anyway