How to relocate four outdoor/community cats to a new location?
January 31, 2025 6:18 PM Subscribe
We may be moving soon, and there are four semi-feral outdoor-only cats that most likely need to move with us. We are not sure how to do this, if it is even possible, or even if it’s a good idea. Do you have any experience here? Lot of details inside.
We live in a large southern city that is home to a lot of feral cats. Not long after we moved into our current house, a litter of kittens was born under our porch. While we know now that we should have trapped the litter and taken them to the humane society, that is not how things turned out.
Four years later, two of these porch cats, a brother and sister, have lived outside ever since. They are friendly to us but they run and hide from strangers. Two other cats have become regulars here, too. They are more feral than the bro and sis, but they are also friendly to us, just less so. We feed all four of them every day (breakfast and dinner), pet them on our porch, and provide them heated shelter in cold weather. None of them can not live indoors (we tried and it was a disaster.) All four have been neutered/spayed and ear clipped, too.
We may be moving to a new house that is about a 1.5 miles from our current one. Since we have no idea who will be living in our current house after we move, it seems to us that these four cats would have to move with us. No one else in our neighborhood feeds them so they would likely forever haunt the porch of the current house, waiting to be fed. And the next people who live here could hate cats. But most importantly, we love and care for these cats and would be heartbroken to leave them behind.
Our new house has a large, detatched garage. This is our current plan:
1. Clean out and secure the garage so it is escape-proof
2. Outfit the garage with several nesting spaces where the cats could hide and feel safe (the garage has several large windows, so they would not be cooped up in darkness)
3. Build a screened-in catio and attach it to the garage via a small opening, allowing the cats to go outside safely as they acclimate
4. Trap each cat, one at a time, and relocate them to the garage, securing them inside with access to the outside world via the catio.
5. Over the course of weeks or months, continue feeding and caring for the four cats inside the garage/catio while they get used to their new surroundings and hopefully “bond” to the garage as their new base of operations
6. After enough time (how much?) has passed, allow the four cats to come and go as they please via a small door in the catio to the backyard
Even doing all this, moving will still, of course, be terrifying and stressful for these poor cats. And we recognize that even careful planning and acclimation could still result in the cats running away forever or making it back to their original home (which seems entirely possible, as its only a mile and half away). We're not sure what else to do, though.
We also don’t know our new neighbors (who could really resent someone moving in and bringing four semi-feral cats with them) or what the neighborhood is like overall (if there are a lot of big dogs around, for example). Do we give our new neighbors a heads up? And of course there will be feral cats who are already living around our new house who will be territorial to our four.
So in conclusion, is this a terrible idea? Do you have a better idea? Have you moved a feral cat colony before and had success? Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
We live in a large southern city that is home to a lot of feral cats. Not long after we moved into our current house, a litter of kittens was born under our porch. While we know now that we should have trapped the litter and taken them to the humane society, that is not how things turned out.
Four years later, two of these porch cats, a brother and sister, have lived outside ever since. They are friendly to us but they run and hide from strangers. Two other cats have become regulars here, too. They are more feral than the bro and sis, but they are also friendly to us, just less so. We feed all four of them every day (breakfast and dinner), pet them on our porch, and provide them heated shelter in cold weather. None of them can not live indoors (we tried and it was a disaster.) All four have been neutered/spayed and ear clipped, too.
We may be moving to a new house that is about a 1.5 miles from our current one. Since we have no idea who will be living in our current house after we move, it seems to us that these four cats would have to move with us. No one else in our neighborhood feeds them so they would likely forever haunt the porch of the current house, waiting to be fed. And the next people who live here could hate cats. But most importantly, we love and care for these cats and would be heartbroken to leave them behind.
Our new house has a large, detatched garage. This is our current plan:
1. Clean out and secure the garage so it is escape-proof
2. Outfit the garage with several nesting spaces where the cats could hide and feel safe (the garage has several large windows, so they would not be cooped up in darkness)
3. Build a screened-in catio and attach it to the garage via a small opening, allowing the cats to go outside safely as they acclimate
4. Trap each cat, one at a time, and relocate them to the garage, securing them inside with access to the outside world via the catio.
5. Over the course of weeks or months, continue feeding and caring for the four cats inside the garage/catio while they get used to their new surroundings and hopefully “bond” to the garage as their new base of operations
6. After enough time (how much?) has passed, allow the four cats to come and go as they please via a small door in the catio to the backyard
Even doing all this, moving will still, of course, be terrifying and stressful for these poor cats. And we recognize that even careful planning and acclimation could still result in the cats running away forever or making it back to their original home (which seems entirely possible, as its only a mile and half away). We're not sure what else to do, though.
We also don’t know our new neighbors (who could really resent someone moving in and bringing four semi-feral cats with them) or what the neighborhood is like overall (if there are a lot of big dogs around, for example). Do we give our new neighbors a heads up? And of course there will be feral cats who are already living around our new house who will be territorial to our four.
So in conclusion, is this a terrible idea? Do you have a better idea? Have you moved a feral cat colony before and had success? Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
I like your plan. I don't think it'll be easy, but I think it's the right thing to do. And no matter how hard it is, it's ten thousand times better than leaving those cats behind.
We haven't been through exactly the same thing, but I'll say that one of our cats we adopted was an absolute killer feral nutcase, and two years later he's a happy indoor lap cat. It is possible!
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:50 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]
We haven't been through exactly the same thing, but I'll say that one of our cats we adopted was an absolute killer feral nutcase, and two years later he's a happy indoor lap cat. It is possible!
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:50 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]
Informed consent? My mother lived to 99¾ outliving all her peers. She reported numerous examples of well-meaning younger relatives moving Elders "to be closer to the grandchildren", making that one dimension of the Elder's life paramount. That distanced the old person from all their [surviving] friends and all sorts of familiarity [the postman, where the light-switches were, how to flush the toilet, where there were bumps in the garden path] to a new location with new challenges. I guess none of the rellies added a period of involuntary detention to the protocol.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:22 AM on February 1
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:22 AM on February 1
Are the cats litter box trained already? Is your expectation that they will use a litter box inside the garage, or will the catio include places a cat would naturally use, like flower beds?
Also, are you prepared to always be on high alert when entering or exiting the cat zone? There is a strong chance that if they ever escape, they will get permanently lost in a new environment, trying to get back “home”.
Is the natural predator situation the same, or will the cats face new threats they aren’t prepared for?
posted by funkaspuck at 4:16 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]
Also, are you prepared to always be on high alert when entering or exiting the cat zone? There is a strong chance that if they ever escape, they will get permanently lost in a new environment, trying to get back “home”.
Is the natural predator situation the same, or will the cats face new threats they aren’t prepared for?
posted by funkaspuck at 4:16 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]
My friend moved her permanently-outdoor cat to a new neighborhood. (Cat is not feral, but was a stray who started hanging out for food.) The advice she got was to keep him in an enclosure for two weeks before allowing him to explore the new territory. She screened in the back porch temporarily. Results not guaranteed, but it did work for them.
The garage plan sounds doable to me. Feliway plug-ins may be useful to reduce stress levels?
posted by mersen at 5:12 AM on February 1
The garage plan sounds doable to me. Feliway plug-ins may be useful to reduce stress levels?
posted by mersen at 5:12 AM on February 1
We bought a house 2 years ago that came with 2 permanent feral resident cats that had been TNRed by the previous owners (as well as various interloper cats who wander in for a few days and cause trouble before disappearing). Before selling the house, the previous owners talked their neighbor into continuing to feed the 2 permanent cats, and he still does. Otherwise, they mostly live in our yard, including using our outbuildings (which the previous owners left full of junk) as their primary winter shelter. They have grown accustomed to us but are not friendly/petable/domesticable. The previous owners did not talk to use in advance, and no one gave us any warning about this. Luckily, we like cats and have 2 of our own who are indoors only, so it's fine. I don't know what would have happened if the new owners had been cat haters, but it probably would have been bad.
tldr: I think your plan is the best possible compromise because it is unfair to the cats and the new owners to foist this situation onto them.
With luck, it may turn out that after they've been inside a few days, one or more of your cats decide they actually are domesticated now and have no need to leave the garage and catio.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:49 AM on February 1
tldr: I think your plan is the best possible compromise because it is unfair to the cats and the new owners to foist this situation onto them.
With luck, it may turn out that after they've been inside a few days, one or more of your cats decide they actually are domesticated now and have no need to leave the garage and catio.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:49 AM on February 1
Anecdata: when a neighbor moved and asked if I would care for her feral cat after she left I was delighted! I don’t feed outdoor neighborhood cats because generally they belong to someone or someone else is caring for them and I don’t want to “steal” the cat. But I was absolutely happy to do so when given permission, which is probably something my neighbor didn’t know about me. So if you haven’t already, consider asking the neighbors what they would suggest. Maybe they will miss the cats if they leave!
posted by Secretariat at 7:33 AM on February 1
posted by Secretariat at 7:33 AM on February 1
If they're socialized but not people-oriented it sounds like you'll be moving barn cats.
Typically you move them and keep them enclosed 2-4 weeks so they don't get lost. Most of the time people use giant dog crates but if the garage is 100% sealed that can work.
From what I know about socializing feral/stray cats you may be able to get them to use a small kiddy pool or underbed storage bin with bark or potting soil rather than cat litter. If they do use litter, you're halfway to getting an indoor cat.
This whole move thing might make them change their mind about the outside. Are you prepared for them to "self-domesticate" and become pets?
(Tom cats that decide that they love the indoors are my favorite Insta topic. )
posted by fiercekitten at 8:33 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]
Typically you move them and keep them enclosed 2-4 weeks so they don't get lost. Most of the time people use giant dog crates but if the garage is 100% sealed that can work.
From what I know about socializing feral/stray cats you may be able to get them to use a small kiddy pool or underbed storage bin with bark or potting soil rather than cat litter. If they do use litter, you're halfway to getting an indoor cat.
This whole move thing might make them change their mind about the outside. Are you prepared for them to "self-domesticate" and become pets?
(Tom cats that decide that they love the indoors are my favorite Insta topic. )
posted by fiercekitten at 8:33 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]
Your plan sounds really solid! One of my family members had developed close relationships with many local feral cats. As a big move approached, he was extremely stressed about the well-being of the cats and did a lot of work to try to find other homes for them. His destination was several states away and in a totally different climate and type of housing. He ended up speaking to his neighbors before moving and found one that was not only willing but excited to take on the care of some (but not all) of the cats. It turned out that they also visited his house pretty regularly, and he was fond of them. My family member provided a ton of food to the neighbor for the cats that stayed behind and now gets occasional updates that they are still living large in the old neighborhood. For the remaining cats that were less known to the neighbor (and generally wandered less in the first place), he ended up trapping them, moving them to the new apartment, and acclimating them to indoor life. They hated traveling (epic yowling), but they immediately understood litter boxes once they landed and have used them readily since day one indoors. They don't even show an interest in going outside now that they are in new unfamiliar surroundings. They are definitely on the shyer end of the cat spectrum and spend a lot of time hiding out in their preferred indoor spaces, but they seem perfectly satisfied by looking out the windows and getting reliable meals daily without any drama from other ferals.
Good luck, you got this!
posted by luzdeluna at 5:45 PM on February 1
Good luck, you got this!
posted by luzdeluna at 5:45 PM on February 1
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The question I would be asking myself is, are the cats loyal to you or to the food? I am sure you are right in that they are more friendly to you than strangers, it goes back to the old line, don't bite the hand that feeds you. Have you ever gone away for more than say 3 days? What did you do then? It is not clear if you currently rent or own. If you own and are selling or renting to someone after you move, why not have a conversation with them first? See if they would consider becoming the disher out of the food. My gut says that the cats would prefer to stay with a new family that is feeding them than be transported to a new location, being forced to acclimate and ending up with same old food that they possibly could get in the old location.
Offer the new inhabitants a months worth of food supplies. Tell them the situation. THen, if it does not work out for them or the cats after some time (a month?), you can always execute your plan. The cats would be less likely to return to old house if they learned that new feeders are not as reliable as you are.
I admire your determination to make this right for the cats. I am sure that someone will add a different and better than my plan, but I think it is worth considering as a reasonable course of action.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:56 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]