In a couple of months time I am going to be moving house, which is going to be really hard on my cat.
I have some Gabapentin tablets that she takes before vet visits to help with the actual moving days, and am looking at the Feliway diffusers which will hopefully help.
I’ve been reading lots of advice pages about moving, but would really love to hear some personal stories of people that have successfully moved with a cat too.
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When I move with cats, I try to move cats before things. I take the cats, food, water, litter and some clothing with their smell on, let them explore the new place. Then I lock them in a room when I move my things. Like, cats in a room far from the entrance, things in a room far from the cats to reduce the noise. It’s not perfect but it’s so less stress than emptying the apartment with the cats in.
If you have only one cat, you can take a poop. Poop is home.
I don’t know if this is good. If the cats explore the new place when it’s empty and then have to adjust again when everything is placed seems like they have to go through change multiple times.
On the other hand, some cats love change, so it depends on their personality. My cats love every slight change to furniture, even just a new position.
Long move then?
We try to have a friend or family to watch the cats while we do the actual move part, so they only have to stress about the travel. I’m not familiar with Feliway stuff, but I would not mix those with gaba unless you’ve checked with a vet that there are no potential risks.
Go ahead and check with a vet, but we’ve used Feliway (spray onto blanket/towel, and diffusers) together with gabapentin after those both being suggested to be used together for a cat that had severe anxiety about vet visits. It’s a safe combo. Don’t put the Feliway on the cat directly though.
Also, making one trip with belongings and a second with the animals seems wise.
It’s not too long, but it is a couple of hours drive away. She also gets very stressed just going to a cattery (or anywhere else) so I think setting her up a safe place within the home while things are getting loaded on the truck will probably be the best option for her, that will at least minimise the number of times she is moved.
The Feliway is just a pheremone spray not an actual drug.
