Cat - Moving House

Will my cat be upset by the move?

Some cats seem to take house moves in their stride, but for others the loss of their familiar territory can be very traumatic and settling in can pose problems for owners and cats alike. Cats are territorial creatures and when your cat is the new kid on the block he may find himself being less than welcomed by the local feline residents. Cats that are kept entirely indoors may adapt more easily to a new home, since their territory still contains familiar people, animals and objects, and integration into an existing feline population is not an issue. However, indoor cats can still develop behavioural problems following a house move and whether your cat has an indoor or outdoor existence the way in which you prepare him for the move and deal with the first few days in the new home can be very important.

Preparing for the move

Feline territory is divided into three main zones: the core, the home range and the hunting range. The core territory is where your cat eats, sleeps and plays and in the wild this area is very stable and secure. For your domestic cat the core territory is usually represented by the house, although for some cats it may be smaller and consist of one or two rooms within the house. Disruption within the core territory can be very distressing.

Minimising upheaval within the core territory is important and when you are preparing for the house move it is sensible to keep the boxes and suitcases out of view so that the home remains as constant as possible for your cat. Obviously there comes a point where the packing cannot be contained and at this point it may be kinder to put your cat in a cattery than allow him to experience the dismantling of the most important part of his territory.

How should I introduce my cat to the new house?

Once you have moved into your new home it is advisable to wait until at least one room in the house is completely unpacked before bringing your cat into the house. This ensures that the environment that your cat comes into is as stable as possible. Restricting your cat’s access to the rooms where the unpacking has been finished is a sensible precaution to minimise the change going on around your cat. Introducing your cat to one room at a time will also prevent problems of overwhelming him with too much new territory too quickly and, even if you are a very efficient house mover and have all of your rooms up and running within days, it can still be beneficial to restrict access to one or two rooms for the first few days.

Using scent signals

One of the ways in which you can increase your cat’s acceptance of his new territory is to make it as familiar as possible. Putting your cat’s bedding and food bowls from the old house into the room will help, as will supplying familiar toys and furniture. In addition you will find it beneficial to apply Feliway, which is a synthetic feline facial scent, to the room. This product, which is available from your veterinary surgeon, acts to make the environment appear familiar to your cat and will help him to settle in. The most convenient form of this product for use in this situation is the diffuser. It would be sensible to set up the diffuser at least 30 minutes before your cat enters the room and preferably twenty four hours before if that is possible. As you expand your cat’s territory within the home by giving him access to more and more rooms you can use Feliway in each new area.

How long will my cat take to settle in at the new house?

There is no easy answer to this question as every cat is an individual and will react differently to the challenge of a new home. Most cats start to relax within a few days of moving, but there are others that take weeks to adjust to their new environment. One of the most important coping strategies for cats when they face a new challenge is hiding and it is important to allow your cat to do this if he wishes and resist the temptation to bring your cat out from his hiding places. It can be distressing for you to see your cat huddled on the top of a wardrobe or peering out from under the table, but you need to give your cat the opportunity to observe his new home from a safe vantage point and to come to terms with the changes in his own time. Forcing cats to come out to meet the world can seriously backfire and make the settling in process far more drawn out in the long run. Obviously if your cat shows no signs of adjusting, or if he refuses to eat for more than a couple of days, you will need to take action and you should consult your veterinary surgeon for advice. The aim is to encourage your cat to want to come down from his safe haven and so working to make the home more attractive in feline terms and providing tasty food treats and special play may help. It is best to wait until your cat initiates some exploratory or interactive behaviour – no matter how tiny an action it may be – and then offer something desirable. In this way your cat remains in control of deciding the speed of progress in exploring and is rewarded for doing so.

When can I let my cat out into the garden?

For owners of cats that go outside one of the hardest decisions to make after a house move is when to open the door and let the cat out! There are a number of old wives’ tales concerning this subject and various techniques, such as putting butter on the cat’s paws, have been suggested as ways of ensuring that your cat comes home again! Cats live in a scent orientated world and they find their way from place to place by following scent tracks and gradients. This means that your cat will return home to where his scent signal is strongest and most reassuring and therefore the practice of restricting your cat to the new home for a couple of weeks makes perfect sense. By staying inside the house for this period your cat will build up a strong scent there and, when it eventually ventures outside, there will be a significant scent gradient to follow back to the house. Feliway can also be used to assist in the forming of a stable scent profile and some sources suggest that it encourages cats to return to their new home, and can thereby decrease the amount of time that you need to keep your cat confined before letting him out for the first time. It can help to give the first taste of freedom at a time when your cat is most likely to stay close at hand and therefore waiting until just before a regular play time or a period of social contact can be a sensible approach. If your cat is meal fed then letting him out just before a meal is due may be beneficial (although large meal feeding is not advisable for cats – see handout on Behavioural approach to obesity). With the prospect of a meal looming your cat should be keen to stay near to the house and if you call him in for dinner just a few minutes after letting him out, you will be reinforcing the behaviour of coming home. You can even train your cat to come when called for food in the couple of weeks that it is confined to help with this, alternatively you might want to consider harness training your cat.

Planning some garden activities for yourself the first few times you let your cat out can also help him to orientate more closely to the house and immediate surrounds.

What can I do to stop my cat from returning to my old house?

When owners move relatively short distances one of the most common problems that they face is their cat returning to the old house. There are numerous tales of cats walking significant distances to get back to their old home and while some go straight to the house and demand to be let in, others seem content to sit in their old garden or wander round their old hunting ground. There are two possible approaches to this problem, firstly to increase the attraction of the new home, in feline terms, and secondly to decrease the reward associated with the old home.

It is possible to increase the bond to the new house and garden by ensuring that positive associations are made in the form of provision of valuable resources. Working to ensure that food, shelter, affection and privacy are available in abundant supply will help to maintain your cat’s interest in home. However, the way in which these resources are offered is important and owners need to guard against being too over powering with their pets. Too much human intervention in the form of oppressive affection and high levels of owner initiated contact are likely to increase the likelihood of cats moving out. Adopting a more off hand attitude, which leaves your cat asking for more company, will be far more effective. Games with a fishing rod toy can be very helpful as they give you the opportunity to interact with your cat whilst still allowing him to engage in some independent play. Offering food treats without trying to make any direct interaction can be another way of rewarding your cat for staying home while allowing him to feel in control.

Decreasing the value associated with the old stomping ground can be a little more difficult, especially for a cat that is an efficient hunter! If the old patch had a good supply of prey, and your cat was frequently rewarded on his hunting expeditions, it can be very hard to convince your cat that returning 'home' is not a good idea. However, if the reward appears to be strongly associated with the house, and with the warmth, comfort and security it offers, things can be a little more straightforward. Co-operation with the new occupants is essential, since they need to work to make the old home less appealing, and this is usually much easier if they are not particularly fond of cats! Ask them to make sure that there is no food available when your cat returns and also not to offer any form of social interaction with your cat when he enters their garden. This may sound simple but it is important that the lack of interaction is consistent. If hostile interactions such as water pistols are used it is important to remember that many cats can rapidly associate this hostility with the new inhabitants and quickly learn to only come back to the house when the new people are out! Of course any rejection shown by the new inhabitants to your cat must not be harmful and people need to be prepared to use their brains as well as their brawn when trying to outwit a cat.

A combination of increasing the attractive value of the new home and decreasing the attractive value of the old one will offer the very best chance of keeping your cat at the new house.

Will there be problems with other cats in the neighbourhood?

One of the major concerns for owners of outdoor cats is the potential conflict from other cats in the new neighbourhood. It is certainly true that newcomers are not made particularly welcome in the feline world, but one of the most significant effects of neutering on feline behaviour is to decrease hostility to outsiders. In an urban area where 90% plus of the cat population are neutered this certainly helps. Integration into the local population is largely a feline matter and there is little that you can do to smooth the process, but it can be helpful to talk to other cat owners in the area and work out a time share system for the first week or so. This enables the newcomer to explore the neighbourhood without risk of attack and to leave some scent signals for the resident cats to read. Such indirect communication can smooth the way for the first face-to-face encounters since the incoming cat has a familiar scent.