Merowl?

March 2, 2008 6:24 PM

Moving a cat that partially lives outside.

So I'm moving with a cat that spends the day and some nights outside. How do I help my cat adjust to a new neighborhood without getting lost? Or do cats just know how to do these things?

posted by Pants! to pets & animals (13 comments total)

We did this once. When we got to the new place we kept him indoors for a few days until he couldn't stand it. When we let him out, he was gone for about two weeks (long enough that we assumed he was gone for good), but he came back in perfect health. I like to think he went back to the old place (about 30-40 miles away), realized that there were new people there, and then came back to the new house.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:31 PM on March 2

My sister did this with her cat 6 or 7 times without incident over 12 years. She never did anything special, just stayed outside with him for ten minutes or so the first time she let him out in the new house.

Then, when he was about 16 or 17, my sister moved him from a temporary stay at my parent's house to her new house. After about two weeks in the new place, he didn't come back. We were all pretty distraught and did the usual things which brought him running (including having my dad call for him, which always brought him running before), asked the neighbors and eventually decided he was gone. He was actually living under the bushes in the neighbor's yard and when he finally let the neighbor get close enough, she called the number on his collar and got my parent's house. They called my sister, who retrieved her cat. She does not let him out anymore (he's still around, going on 18 this year). So, I would say you don't really need to do anything except be absolutely certain he has a collar with the proper phone number on the tag.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:37 PM on March 2

I’ve done this a couple times. I just kept her inside for the first few days and then let her go. She did not run off and go missing, presumably because she knows she gets fed inside the house.
posted by ijoshua at 6:38 PM on March 2

When we moved with our cat a long time ago, we kept him in the house (basement at night at while we were gone) with all the things he needed (litter box, food, water) for about two weeks, and then he STILL disappeared for two weeks once we let him out. He did come back, but he was young and in good health. An older cat (see above) may or may not do so great. There is always a chance he will not come back, or that he will get a new family along the way.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:41 PM on March 2

Did this recently, two cats, did nothing special. Showed them the food, showed them the cat door. Done.
posted by johngumbo at 6:47 PM on March 2

moving to a place with increased traffic might be a challenge especially in combination with a new neighborhood. is it possible to keep your cat indoors for a while?
posted by krautland at 7:27 PM on March 2

It depends on how far you're moving. If you let your cat out soon after moving, there's an extremely good chance that they will try to go "home".

If you're within 10 miles (and possibly further since cats are pretty good at finding their way and cats that sometimes spend more than a day away from home probably know the neighborhood for miles around), your cat has a good chance of finding "home". You might have to go pick them up from the old neighborhood if they haven't figured out how to (or that they should) get back to the new place yet.

If you live a lot further away, you run the risk of the cat trying to get back to the old place and never finding it. I've heard of some cats disappearing for a week and then coming back to the new place and others disappearing for good.

In either situation, I recommend keeping them in the house for longer than is comfortable. They will probably be very obnoxious if they're used to going in and out at will. If they've been more restricted in their wanderings, this will be a lot easier. It sounds like yours will be in the former category, so you might want to keep them in the house for extended periods of time before moving to get them used to the idea. I actually don't know if that will work, but it seems worth a shot.

My cat was allowed to go outside in the evenings/afternoons at my old house, but only while people were home and we always called him back in before going to bed. Then we moved across the country and for various reasons, he doesn't go outside anymore. He barely misses it, actually. He's tried to poke his head out the door a few times in 2.5 years, but otherwise he doesn't seem much interested in heading out the door. This is likely atypical cat behavior as he is always very wary of new places.
posted by ErWenn at 7:34 PM on March 2

In my country outdoors is the norm for cats. Vets recommend two full weeks indoors before allowing your cat outside. The longer you keep the cat inside, the more it fixes on its new home.

In practice we cracked after about 10 days.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:44 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]

I've done this lots of times with several different cats, never had a problem.

Keep the cat inside for a few days after the moving is done. By this I mean after all the furniture is in and the family is living there normally rather than during the chaos of moving. How long you wait probably depends on the cat, mine go stir crazy after two or three days and move really well so that's all I wait but up to a fortnight is totally reasonable. You mainly want the cat to feel settled in the new place so he realises it's home. A relaxed cat is a lot less likely to bolt and hide plus he needs time to bond with the new house, get his scent everywhere etc.

Keep to a normal routine during this time. Lots of attention to the cat, very regular feeding times. If you can incorporate something else into feeding times, e.g. shaking the biscuit tin before putting the food down, then that can really help for coaxing him in later. I've been known to switch from always available food to set mealtimes over a transition period like this, but you need to start something like that before you move if it's necessary. Having a decent collar with a phone-numbered name tag is really important. Put it on a few days before the cat goes out if he doesn't wear one normally, you want to be sure it's going to stay on. This way neighbours know the new guy has a home and it will help if he goes missing.

Then the first time the cat is let out do it a bit before the evening feed. This way the cat will be motivated to not run off (cos he's hungry), and you'll be around all evening/night in case he doesn't come back in straight away. Go out with the cat for at least a while. Not trying to control him, just hanging around and doing stuff and making it clear that this is your new home too. Eventually you'll call him in for dinner, hopefully beguiling him with the biscuit shaking, and keep him in all night. I like to leave the door open during this initial trip outside so the cat can feel comfortable coming in and out, and it's important not to be stressed and wound up over it or the cat is more likely to feel it and run away from you.

Assuming things go well you should be able to let the cat out from then on. Personally I keep them in the first few nights at least (although these days my cats stay in every night night anyway), for the next few weeks I don't leave them shut out when I'm away from home for long periods and try to favour the open door coming and going policy, and I continue to be as regular as possible with the mealtimes and other routines.

It can take two or three weeks until the cat feels fully settled, learns where everything is in the area, has carved out a territory with the existing cats in the area and comes and goes the same way he does now, but that stuff will all come.

(note I don't know if your cat is a he or a she but just used 'he' in my comment cos it's easier)
posted by shelleycat at 7:51 PM on March 2 [2 favorites]

Oh and moving itself is really stressful so keep your cat inside from the day before you start packing things up and moving stuff around. Even consider putting your cat into a cattery for a few days over the transition period. I've known cats to bolt just before the move, they know when something is up and they generally don't like it.

The only time I've seen my cats stressed by a move is when they arrived at the new house before any of our furniture. Being in a new place with all new smells and nothing to hide under was hard on them. As soon as the furniture arrived they settled right down. Every other move (heh, there have been quite a few) has been the other way round, move cats after the furniture. Being left in the empty house with familiar smells apparently isn't a problem and they've always been pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Do the best you can since your cat will settle down once life goes back to normal anyway, but I figured I'd throw it in there as something to consider.
posted by shelleycat at 7:58 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]

My family always had indoor-outdoor cats, and we moved quite a bit. A couple of cats have been to a couple of houses.

When moving, we keep the cats inside for a couple of weeks. They don't like this, but it helps them get used to the new place and get calmed down after the stress of the move. I would say two weeks is minimum.

When we do let them out, it's initially under supervision, or at least as much as we can give them. We would go outside with them, they'd run around, bolt, we call them a couple of times just so they knew we were there, and they'd pick up on things pretty quick.

They disappear, like indoor-outdoor cats do, but never directly after the move. I guess they've never tried to find the old home?

I think the important thing is getting them fixated on the new place. Really make sure they stay indoors for a few weeks to a month, so that they get the indoor routine and realize this is where they're going to stay.
posted by schroedinger at 8:27 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]

I evacuated for Hurricane Katrina with my cat. We stayed in different households (approx 10) in the first few months. I found that leaving one of my shoes outside the door when he would go out, helped him find his way back to me every night.
posted by JujuB at 9:04 PM on March 2

In my experience, cats don't know wtf is happening when it's time to move so it can be a doubly traumatic experience for them.

I've done this several times over the years, with single/multiple cats of all ages/temperaments and not yet lost a cat (touch wood)

First off, ensure your cat is microchipped and you have some clear photographs of him/her for posters, should the worst happen and the cat escapes.

If you can, set aside one room in the place you are moving to for the cat, on the day of moving. Ahead of time, put usual bedding litter trays(a bit of used litter is good to provide familliar smell) cat toys and a Feliway diffuser/surface spray in the room and if you can, some familiar furniture and some of your worn/smelly clothing. Set up the usual feeding bowls and water (Handy Tip: take a couple of bottles of water from the home you are moving from and put that in the water bowl the room too, about 3 days supply is good, on day 2 you can mix it with the water from your new home)

Put the cat into the room on the day of moving, shut and if possible lock the door. Put a large, bold notice on the door "Do not Enter". Tell everyone helping with the move that the cat is in there and no one must enter.

Once all your furniture is in, movers and helpers have gone, you have had a chance to draw breath and your new home is quiet. Go in and spend a little time with your cat and take it a little food. Then leave him/her to it, in the room for another hour or two. Later that night, make sure all doors and windows are secure and let the cat have a wander around the new home, a little bit of supervision is ok, but don't heap a mass of attention on the cat, this will likely raise anxiety levels by confirming "yes, there's plenty to be worried about here". Don't forget you are going to be stressed up on the moving day too - hence waiting for the house to be quiet, before you see to the cat.

In general, with cats that have had free access to outdoors/indoors, I've kept them inside for a minimum of two weeks. Yep, it might be hell, but it does give the cat a chance to orientate themselves a bit - looking out of windows, getting the new smells/landmarks into their head.

After 2 weeks, when the neighbourhood is quiet (you'll soon learn the best times) and just before feeding time, let your cat outside for a bit of a supervised mooch around. If your cat is harness trained, then so much the better. For the 2 weeks it's kept inside, you can try and harness train him/her too. Cats vary, I recently trained a 20 yr old cat who I moved from his rural home with his own oak wood/riverbank/total free run of his world to the harness within a couple of days. He might just have been a particularly wise and placid, seen-it-all-before type, but it shows it can be done with some cats.

After his/her first mooch about, if time allows, get into a routine of letting the cat out and supervising him/her just before feeding time for about a week.

After a week, allow the cat to go out unsupervised just before meal times, but do keep him in at night for at least a month. Meal times are a very useful marker for setting up routines with animals. If your cat has something to come home for, it will be easier for him to associate his/her new home with sanctuary if he gets chased or frightened. If you can, fit a cat door that is lockable (in and out), I've found these invaluable when I want a cat to come in and stay in.

Reading through, the above does sound very involved and a bit complicated, but in my experience, it works and gives the cat the best chance of getting over the move and getting used to the new home and routines. Also, if the cat is safe indoors, it takes a whole level of worry off of you too, and with moving home, every little helps.

Good luck!
posted by Arqa at 2:03 AM on March 3 [1 favorite]