Moving with cats (and toddlers) at the height of summer. How to I keep them in?

[Knofje]

Our cats are used to being totally free range, cat flap open at all times. They've never known any different and we've never moved house with them. Am I right in thinking we'll need to keep them in for 2 (or is it 4?) weeks after the move?

All being well we'll be moving in the middle of July. The DC are in and out of the garden all day so I just leave the back door open all day when the weather's good but even in bad weather they're in and out 101x a day. Both DC can open internal doors, as can the cats. They're Siamese and extremely vocal when displeased.

How on earth am I going to keep the cats in? Restricting them to one room surely wont work, either the DC will open the door or they'll just do it themselves. Keeping them in the shed seems way to risky to me, I'll need to be in and out of it all the time. MIL suggested getting a dog crate for them and giving them (more or less) free run of the house when the DC are in bed / we're out.

I desperately want to keep them safe but I don't want all any of us to have a nervous breakdown in the process.

Please tell me I'm not going to have to crate them.

Anyone?

When we moved we kept our cat in one room during the day and then free range of the house at night.

We only kept her in for a few days though as we were doing lots of structural work on the house which would have been quite loud and distressing for her if she was alone in a room. However she's never been one for wandering very far anyway so I wasn't too worried about her disappearing.

What I would say though is make sure that when you do let them out, that its before a meal so that they are hungry. That will hopefully stop them going off too far.

Put a high up bolt on the outside of the bathroom door and keep cats in there when kids are likely to be opening back door?

Lock the back door and only let kids in and out under supervision? So you keep the key with you at all times, not in the lock?????????????

Oh, high bolt on the bathroom door could be the solution. Thanks.

Both cats do tend to go quite a distance, or at least I assume they do. They often stay away for a few hours, goodness knows what they do or where they go. One is a bit dim (so likely to get lost) the other is ballsy (so likely to go to exploring and not know the way back), so I think I will have to keep them in for at least two weeks.