Moving cats to new house - four-hour drive - help!

[Heartbrokenmum73]

Me and the kids have moved four hours away from our previous home (split with ex, long story) and initially stayed with my parents (two-bed flat!) so our three beloved cats stayed behind at the old house with ex and neighbour taking care of them.

We're settled in our new house now and we're all increasingly desperate to see the cats again and missing them terribly. I've never had to think about these kind of logistics before and am worried about a) how to get them here, b) whether to bring them all together or one at a time and c) how to help them settle here.

Any advice would be very helpful and here's a few details about the moggies themselves as I think their personalities are obviously going to affect the above concerns.

Cat 1 is male, 7 years old, extremely laidback, has no problem with going in the cat box and is quite adaptable. He's the least of my worries, tbh.

Cat 2 is also male, 6 years old, very highly-strung. Has been in the cat box once since kittenhood (when he went to get neutered) and it took two of us to get him in. He yowled the entire journey (all of five minutes) and was not a happy cat for days afterwards (although I think that's more to do with being fiddled with). He and my 8 year-old DS are very close and it's killing DS to be without 'his' cat so there's no way I'm not bringing him!

Cat 3 is female, 2 years old. No real trouble when going to be spayed. She's DDs special pet.

Also, the new place doesn't have a cat flap and no chance of getting one because we rent and the back door is a french door! When I was a kid we had no cat flap and all of our many cats managed to negotiate life without one, I think I'm overly concerned that it's all too much change for my current cats.

So, wise cat-owning, cat-loving, cat-expert MNs - help! And apologies for the long post.

I'd do it all in one go, purely because you might be frazzled afterwards and you won't be looking forward to doing it again.

Put the stressed one on zylkene for a few days before hand, you can get it off amazon to calm him.

You can get stuff from the vet which I'd suggest trying before Amazon although in my experience, albeit limited, of travelling long distance with cats, none of it works terribly well. I did take 2 cats in a cat from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, followed the instructions and they were sleeping when we left Aberdeen and awake by the time we reached Dundee.

A friend had to move from Edinburgh to Southampton and then back. On the way down she actually hired a professional driver to make the journey for her. On the way back she did it herself and whatever she used run out halfway too.

Good luck they might be fine. My most recent one was a train journey from Aberdeen to Edinburgh and little girl cat made no fuss at all.

Good luck! Our last move was a 10 hour drive, my dh very kindly took our three cats and two children in his car, while I was all by myself in mine! The vet gave us some tranquilizers, that apparently didn't work so well - much yowling and meowing. When we got to our new house, they took off and explored, and were fine.

I traveled with a fifteen year old cat, flying cross country in U.S. When I got to airport, Phoenix was yowling, not constantly but often. Before the first flight, I gave her the tranquilizer the vet had prescribed, and she quieted down completely. Her eyes were open, it was like she was in a trance. No sounds from her at all.

Then I had to get rental car and drive her to vet's for boarding. It was an all day trip. She's gone now. Miss you, Phoenix.

Ha, strange that you've ALL mentioned some sort of sedative! That was the other question I forgot to put in. It's a difficult one because I'm already down South so not the one doing the actual transferring of the cats. I think all at once is the best idea actually - that way they can all be confused and traumatized together!

My poor middle cat is NOT going to be happy at all...

I won't comment on zylkene (which I should imagine is OK) but I definitely would not recommend any sort of tranquilisers. They can be dangerous to use on cats without clinical supervision.

I've travelled extensively with cats (even taken one on a touring holiday - although that is not for every cat) and I would say that you should simply secure them in their carriers, make sure the carriers are secured (eg to seatbelts or some other stay in case of accidents), part cover with a light rug or coverlet to make them feel secure and then get on with things.

You'll likely get squawks of protest but as long as they're just 'Oh Woe Is Me' yowls, just ignore it and they should quiet down after about 15 minutes. Thereafter, there will likely be the odd protest squawk every 20 minutes or so to be sure you realize they're still there - just say their name and then ignore all over again. The odd finger through the carrier bars should do the trick if absolutely needed.

Unless it's an exceptionally long trip, or conditions are extremely hot, I wouldn't water or feed them either. Have both available if needed but they're unlikely to be used in my experience. Have a tray available as well (they're always useful to bang straight into the receiving house on arrival) but cats usually cross their legs on journeys.

And under no circumstances allow them out of their carriers while the car is moving. If you think they need a water or a pee, pull in to a service station or layby to let them out inside the car - after ensuring that all car windows and doors are firmly closed.

Just some thoughts.

Update:

Well, just spoken to ex on the phone and he reckons he's going to bring all three of them down on Saturday when he comes to visit the kids! He knows all too well how No.2 cat behaves, but wasn't there for the one and only cat-box escapade so has no real idea of what he's getting into. When he turns up with his arms cut to ribbons he'll understand I wasn't kidding. Will let you all know how it goes - fingers crossed...

My yowling when in cat basket cats happily transferred from the Lake District to Surrey in large dog/kittening crate including when we met half way and took them out of one car and travelled the last leg with me - a complete stranger.

It may be worth buying one for such a long drive as they then have access to a litter tray too.

A large crate such as a dog crate is actually a good idea if you have a car or van that can accommodate it. They can often be borrowed/hired cheaply for a short period.

We did 5 hours with 4 cats when we moved up here, we used a dog cage with their blankets, a litter tray and some food/water dispenser thingys that attached to the bars. They slept most of the way and were totally fine

Same couldn't be said for the JRT, Labrador and Newfoundland!! Right royal pain in the rear ends travelling!

OP for loading trickiest cat into carrier, do you (or rather ex) have a top loader? Can he scruff cat? Also if you can get back legs in first it seems a bit easier to stuff the rest off them in load cat.

Agree with top loader rather than front loader basket. Our dopey cat gets in his basket voluntarily then moans like hell once you pick it up!!!

Buy some adhesive puppy pads to line the floor of the travel cage with (voice of experience - one of our travel phobic cats suffers diarrhoea on long car journeys).