Moving house with a cat - tips and suggestions

Some years ago, when I moved from one house to another with my cat, I was fortunate enough to have both properties for an overlap of a week. Suffice to say it did not make moving home any easier (if anything it just prolongs the disruption!) except for one, very significant, exception. 

As a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist, and an avid life-experimenter, it gave me the chance to test a theory about moving house with a cat that I had been thinking about for a long while. And it taught me a huge lesson. 

Your cat’s home is their castle

We know that a cat’s home is his or her castle. The sanctity that those four walls bring are not just physical, offering protection and shelter, they also bring emotional security through familiarity, continuity and, critically, scent safety.

Cats live in a world of scent like we live in a world of colour. It’s how they navigate the world and recognise others within it. Indeed, it’s the reason why our cats rub on us every day – in anointing us with scent from pheromone glands in their cheeks, along their backs and between the pads of their paws, they are ensuring that we smell just like them – and are easily recognisable, even in the dark or at a distance, as trusted family. 

They need to top this up frequently and regularly. The chemical constituents of the pheromones break down over a period of several hours, and the change in that smell triggers our cats to anoint us again – thereby keeping the scent information up-to-the-minute. 

Scent safety is key

Cats also leave scent around our homes. This happens naturally, just from where they lie down and rest, walk around, or rub. But they can also step this up by deliberately adding more scent to furniture, carpets, rugs or even uprights, such as door frames – by scratching, or in more extreme circumstances, spraying urine or even middening (the cat behaviour term for depositing poo, in view!). 

Such high-level intensifications are pretty difficult to ignore, and usually indicate that either your cat is unwell, or deeply anxious or unhappy. 

However, you may have noticed a more gentle increase in scent marking if your cat just needs a bit more emotional reassurance. Perhaps a new cat moved in across the street and your kitty is feeling a bit insecure? Chances are that they might start to scratch the mat just inside the front door – thereby marking the threshold with more of their own scent in order to override the scent of the other cat that you are inevitably bringing in on your shoes, into their domain. Yes, it really can be that subtle.

Such is the importance of the inner sanctum of your cat’s home that even the smallest disruption in scent continuity can be enough to trigger your cat into making an effort to reestablish scent harmony. 

Cat on your laptop? Here’s why!

Ever wondered why your cat wants to lie on the newspaper while you are trying to read it? Or why they rub or roll on new items that you’ve brought home? Attention seeking, for sure! Making the ‘new thing’ smell reassuringly like the rest of your home? Yes, absolutely. 

With this in mind, imagine what it must be like for our cats when we don’t just change one thing in our house, but the whole thing, all at once. 

There’s little doubt that moving home is stressful for us – but we have cognisance of what we are doing, and although it might be unsettling for a while, we soon get used to our new surroundings and cope with the changes. 

Moving home is stressful for cats

For our cats though, the loss of their old familiar home can be upsetting. Everything is new, different, and they don’t know where they are in terms of physical location. The house itself will smell unfamiliar, or worse, like other cats or other animals – which can be disconcerting for a species that is not a social obligate and does not deal well with the appearance of strangers. In your cat’s mind, if you can smell it then it must be there somewhere. 

The good news is, however, that there are steps you can take to minimise the stress felt by your pet and to make their settling in process as smooth and comfortable as possible.

So, how can we make moving house with a cat less traumatic?

Preparing a cat for a house move

Ok, so here’s the thing. Your cat will know long before the removals people turn up that something big is happening. This is not some feline telepathy at work – it’s simple observation of human behaviour! Your cat will have been watching you acting oddly for days, if not weeks, and then finally, you get the cat carrier out of the loft, confirming all their worst fears - and with a swish of the tail and a bang of the cat flap, off they shoot.

To avoid this disaster, four things need to happen:

1. Carrier familiarity
   Your cat must view their carrier as a nice place to be – this means that long before the move the carrier is integrated into your home as part of the furniture and your cat can explore it, sleep in it and play in it, just as they would if it was a cardboard box.
2. Don’t lose them now!
   Your cat needs to be kept securely in one room with food, a litter tray and a bed, some days before significant household disruption starts to take place, especially if they’re a sensitive character. This avoids the risk of them disappearing just days before you move.
3. Safety first
   Your cat needs to be somewhere safe and secure on the day of the move, well away from the house and all the disruption and chaos that’s an inevitable part of the process. Use a cattery if this is the only way you can be sure of your cat’s well-being while you are distracted.
4. Vet support
   If your cat is very sensitive or nervous, ask your vet for advice on some temporary medication to help your cat cope with the changes that are to come. There are some very effective options now available which have the benefit of being ‘memory modulators’ – in other words they can help prevent the long-term effects of trauma, as well as alleviating short-term anxiety. 

How to settle your cat into a new home

1. As soon as you are into your new house, allocate one room to your cat. This room MUST have a secure door and windows, and I’d go so far as saying it should have a lock on the door so that no one can accidentally enter and let your cat out by mistake. 
2. In this room, you need to have your cat’s food, water, and a litter tray (placed as far from the food and water as possible). It should have several hidey-places – large cardboard boxes on their sides are ideal for this, and you should provide soft, familiar bedding for resting inside them.
3. Ideally, your cat also needs a high place to perch. This really helps them to feel more secure. Don’t worry about the room being small or boring – it’s a temporary hide-away and security is way more important than entertainment at this stage.
4. The only visitors your cat needs at this early stage are you and anyone else they are bonded to. Your cat doesn’t need the company of strangers – this will only increase their anxiety.

Following the move

How long you keep your cat in their allocated room will depend on their individual confidence, and how calm things are in your new house. 

You will know when they are ready to explore further when they’re happily coming to greet you when you enter their safe room, will eat with you there, and have a little play. These are good signs that your cat is adjusting.

At this stage, encourage your cat to rub on a clean blanket or cloth when they’re interacting with you. Take this immediately to the next room that they’re going to explore, and rub it around the walls, door frame, and furniture. Now carry them into the new room (with all other doors and windows shut and secured) and allow them to explore. Hopefully, their own familiar scent in the room will make them feel right at home, and you can then continue to do this with all the other rooms in the house, gradually helping them to feel comfortable in each one at a time.

When to let your cat outside at their new home

If your cat is used to going outside, it’s imperative that they’re secure, comfortable and relaxed in their new home before being allowed out. There’s no set rule for how long this takes after moving house with your cat, but a minimum of three weeks is usually recommended. 

So, back to my cats and moving experience all those years ago. As I was lucky enough to be able to travel from one property to another for a few days before the actual completion, I acted on my own advice. Taking a cloth on which my gorgeous boy-cat Alex had been sleeping, I wiped it on uprights and skirting boards in each room in the new house. Fast-forward to the day of the move: I popped Alex into his allocated safe room as soon as the removals people had left and stayed with him while he explored. Alex sniffed, looked around and then started rubbing me and the items in the room almost immediately. He enjoyed some dinner and then settled down for a nap. It was as though he was already on home territory; that he’d been there before. And in some ways, he had!